Congratulations to Sarah Mussi for her triumph in the Children's category of the 2007 Glen Dimplex Awards.

I read The Door of No Return earlier this year and really enjoyed it.

The surge of children's books set in Africa recently has been extraordinary. Was it really only last August that Amanda Craig commented in her Times column that it had been a long time since a children's author dared to write about Africa? That column elicited THIS BEAUT LETTER from my dear Mum (at a time when she was also going into Waterstones and carefully adjusting copies of ‘Sophie and the Albino Camel' to make them more prominent - not that I've ever done that, of course!).

From Burkina Faso, we now switch gears and move onto bi-lingual Cameroon as Dibussi Tande of Scribbles From The Den goes down the memory lane to blog about: “Four Myths About the Unification of British and French Cameroons“:

Anglophone nationalist leaders and scholars, in turn, have quickly recognised the importance of rediscovering Anglophone history as an invaluable political resource in combating the regime and raising the consciousness of the Anglophone population. They have therefore attempted to bring back Anglophone identity into the historical space, strongly contesting some of the myths created by the regime and organic scholars. We have only room here for a few examples.

Although each myth is discussed extensively on the said blog post, for the sake of brevity, only the core points would be listed below:

Myth # 1: “Cameroon has always been one and no more”
Myth # 2: Reunification was warm-heartedly and freely embraced by both parties
Myth # 3: The constitution of a reunified Cameroon was agreed upon in Foumban in 1961
Myth # 4: The 1972 Unitary State was the outcome of a massive vote by Cameroonian people.

Cameroonian blogger, Rosemary Ekosso of Enanga's Pov shares the opinion of an article in the Proletarian : Africans need true independence not imperialist ‘charity':

I found a 2005 article that reflects much of what I have been saying on this blog about Africa's relationship with the West.

As I have said before, what galls me is the hypocrisy that permeates everything the Western world, or at least its governments, would like us to believe about ourselves. The article that follows is reproduced with the kind permission of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB). It reflects the socio-economic and political views of its author, and while I do not consider myself to be a socialist or communist, I was struck by the careful research that produced it. It shows what people can do when they start thinknig for themselves. I was particularly interested in the following statement, which is attributed to John Pilger:

“At present, for every $1 of ‘aid' to Africa, $3 are taken out by western banks, institutions and governments - and that does not account for the repatriated profit of transnational corporations.”

Still on African issues, Imnakoya of Grandiose Parlor has this to ask: “AFRICOM: Where does Nigeria stand?“:

The bone of contention here is a statement attributed to Nigeria's President Musa Yar'Adua after a meeting with President George Bush where the former was reported to have announced that:

“We have discussed on security issues, security within Nigeria, the Niger Delta, the Gulf of Guinea and peace and security on the African continent. We shall partner AFRICOM to assist not only Nigeria but also the African continent to actualise its peace and security initiatives. It is an initiative to have standby forces in each of the regional economic groupings in Africa.” - Via VOA, December 13, 2007..

Imnakoya has this to say about the issue:

In what can be considered the first major international media event for YarA’dua, not only did he present himself as a green-eared president going by his “I will never forget this moment….” ’star-struck statement’ - not sure if YarA’dua was simply at awe of the magnificence of the White House or swept off his feet at meeting the ‘notorious’ George Bush - whatever the reasons may be, YarA’dua came across, embarrassingly, as a media relations mediocre. His statement on AFRICOM - which now deserves some white-washing - is an indication of how lax our foreign affairs department is. Shouldn’t the department have assessed the likely post-meeting scenarios and prepared accordingly - prepping the poor YarA’dua on what and what not to say, and how to say what he ought to say, even before he left Abuja for Washington?

Oluniyi David Ajao started with throwing an insight into the popularity of e-gold (a digital gold currency) in Nigeria. Other online payment systems might indeed follow the same growth pattern, in Africa: Why is e-gold popular in Nigeria?:

Not a few Nigerians take part in global commerce via the World Wide Web. According to Internet World Stats, there are about 5 million Internet users in Nigeria. This is only 3.57% of Nigeria’s 140 million people (2007 official census).

These people need to make payment online to facilitate their participation in e-commerce. Aside buying and selling online, others invest in foreign stock markets, foreign currency market (Forex), High Yield Investment Programs (HYIPs), Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) schemes etc.

Erik Hersman blogging for Thought Leader, highlighted what he saw to be the problems with participating in e-commerce, from Africa - especially South Africa: The problem with e-commerce and online payments in Africa.

A lack of true online payment options is crippling African e-commerce, and South Africa is no exception. The inability to accept payments for products and services on equal footing with the rest of the world means that many viable business options are not available for merchants in Africa.

The few options there are for African e-commerce take a certain amount of business history, wealth or contortions to attain.

Erik Hersman makes some suggestion towards the end of his blog post:

I would submit that the solution for Africa needs to be bank and carrier agnostic.

So, the beginnings of possible solutions are being seen, but no one has created the ultimate e-commerce option for Africa. Of course, if PayPal were to just allow us all to go through a little more stringent verification to ensure that we are real people with real businesses in Africa, then it would scoop up most of the online business overnight.

However, he got a direct response from Oluniyi David Ajao who is suggesting that it is indeed possible to participate to some extent in e-commerce from Africa, today: Is a common African e-commerce platform possible?:

The few options there are for African e-commerce take a certain amount of business history, wealth or contortions to attain. […]

These are also true, but only to some extent. Erik Hersman obviously had the mainstream payment systems that evolve around the major credit/debit card brands in mind. But even with only MasterCard and Visa in mind, it is still possible for an African merchant to participate fully in the global e-commerce arena.

He goes on to list and explain some online payment methods that can enable full e-commerce participation from virtually any African country. He concluded thus:

I believe I have proved beyond reasonable doubt that residents of Africa can indeed participate in global e-commerce, even today! I fully understand the angle you are pushing - Erik Hersman - but I believe your model of an African e-commerce platform would only be feasible, if African countries had a tight economic union. A union with common financial regulations and common economic policies. The European Union is a classic example.

As of today, this is not the case. Not even the regional blocks (at least I am very sure about ECOWAS) are united economically though efforts are being made in this direction. I know of two examples of your e-commerce model that already exist in Europe and work well for Europeans: Moneybookers and ChronoPay.

Is African e-commerce platform possible? Yes it is. However, Africa countries need to unite for this to be possible. Every other thing shall follow. Finito.

Grandiose Parlor joined the conversation by asking: Could Airtime Driven e-Commerce Work in Africa?:

There are similar Pan-African driven discussions as Erik-David’s debate on the blogosphere and mainstream media, but I feel given the socio-economic and political state of the continent - beyond their intellectual appeal, many of those conversations are dead on arrival: There are just too many limiting factors that make the realization of the vast majority of Pan-African concepts too difficult - if not impossible. Don’t get me wrong, Pan-Africanism is a great and sweet concept - who wouldn’t want to have access to the second-largest and second most-populous continent in the world?

Even in Nigeria - a country I’m most familiar with, and it’s immediate extension, the West African subregion - the creation of an online payment system that is “bank and carrier agnostic” is still difficult but carries a better chance of happening and succeeding.

Grandiose Parlor has this to ask:

One “common denominator” characteristic of most Nigerians - including those in the informal economy - that I’ve discovered is that they all purchase airtime minutes. Could those minutes be used some how as legal tender for online transactions and e-commerce?

Are you based in an online merchant based in Africa? If yes, what challenges have you been facing? Have you used any of the suggestions from the bloggers? Join the conversation by posting your comments.

It reads like something out of an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, but is a real life account that happened here on the streets of Nigeria.

30 heavily armed robbers invaded the Oba, Nsukka branch of a first generation bank, fired shots into the air to scare off people and proceeded to break into the bank. This was in broad daylight, 1.00 p.m. to be precise.

The two (2) policemen on duty rose to the occassion in amazing style, responding with what was apparently accurate marksmanship. Minute by minute, the casualty among the robbers rose: One, two, three, four … wounded (or dead?).

Police reinforcement came rather late:30 minutes later. Too long in a life-and-death situation. The story concludes:

Bank workers who came later met a dead policeman with a chest wound and an unconscious one with his finger hooked on the trigger. His magazine was empty.

Yomi Says concludes with an appeal for the Nigerian government to look into the plight of the police men and women who are underpaid and not motivated enough to consider risking their lives protecting their country.

Imagine what would have happened if the reinforcement had arrived on time, and not 30 minutes after the show was over. Who in government is listening? Who will crusade for the welfare of these men? Who in government will listen to their conscience and equip our police force adequately?

I salute these two great hearts. We certainly need more heroic stories and living legends like these.

Looking at business and technology in Nigeria, Oro blogs writes, “Workplace 2.0: An Early Warning for Nigerian Corporations.” He starts by highlighting how technology has re-defined the way we write, and the boundaries (if any) of today's office.

Computers, mobile phones, in-flight eMail access, teleconferencing, blackberry, iPhones and other tools of the New Economy have changed the dynamics of the workplace. From our earlier factors of production (especially land and labour), we have moved on to new factors as represented by knowledge and technology. It is not unlikely to hear of regular Monday morning reports sent in a few minutes into the day, using a mobile device from remote locations. Neither is it strange to overhear conversations – a few seats away from your 22A window seat – such as, “I’m on my way to Mumbai but the CFO will send you the signed document in less than 7 minutes; I have just signed and returned the document to him.” Five years ago, if you had seen your colleague – through those glass walls that used to separate office spaces – jumping up and down after a few minutes of pacing and speaking with himself (and playing with a stress ball), you would have called the manager’s attention to a possible stress-related mental situation. But today, you would understand that he’s sealing the deal with the four-continents-away corporation, with the aid of his Bluetooth-enabled hands-free headset.

African men care very deeply about their football teams, including the teams they ‘adopt' from abroad. In Ouagadougou there are passionate Manchester United supporters and equally passionate Chelsea supporters, and today they got together for the Cup Final.
Sparks flew…

From Burkina Faso to Cameroon, Scribbles from the Den blogs about “How Cameroon Auctioned Its Internet Namespace…“

Early in August 2006, the Internet was awash with reports of a “typo-squatting” scheme involving Cameroon. According to these reports, “Internet authorities in in the West African nation that owns the .cm top level domain (TLD) have been accused of authorizing a DNS wildcard that has the effect of redirecting all accidental .cm traffic instead of returning an error.”

In layman’s terms, Cameroon Internet authorities were redirecting all misspelled .com addressed (e.g. www.dibussi.cm instead of www.dibussi.com ) to an advert-based website (agoga.com), where they were making millions of dollars in pay-per-click advert revenue (Pay-per-click is an advertising system where advertisers pay an agreed amount for each click delivered to their site).

While not technically illegal, since the misspelled domain names are not being registered but simply redirected to another site, these actions raised serious ethical concerns.

Still in Cameroon, another Cameroonian blogger highlights the recent woes of ex-World Bank President, Paul Wolfowitz and the nominant of his replacement, Robert Zoellick.

Enanga's Pov blogs about Robert Zoellick and the World Bank: Putting the Fox in Charge of the Hen-House

In Cameroonian Pidgin English, when a person refuses to give up on something, he is said to “hold grass”. This image is drawn from small animals clinging desperately to grass to avoid being washed away by water.

We all saw how Mr. Paul Wolfowitz, (now, thankfully, former) head of the World Bank, held grass for weeks after it was brought to public notice that he was embroiled in a sordid scandal involving a female companion. Well, Mr. Wolfowitz was swept away by the flood of public opinion. And now the US government is offering to replace him with someone who is, as evidenced by the article below, even worse, especially for the Third World.

The grass-holding of the US government, which in the past few years has squandered whatever moral currency it ever garnered as the leader of the “free world”, should be a cause for great concern for those of us who cannot hold grass when faced with an unprincipled giant.

From Cameroon to Ghana, where Paa.kwesi's blog pays a brief tribute to the late wife of Ghana's 1st President Dr Kwame Nkrumah (also late) in Thinking in English : Fathia Nkrumah, icon of an era.

Fathia Nkrumah is dead. 8:07pm GMT, the message arrived in my email inbox.

Perhaps, the last iconic survivor of an idealist era in Ghana's history, her passing should remind us of the highs and lows of our recent existence and that there is a difference between promise and fulfilment. May we the living pay her tribute by recognizing that because we are neighbors, we must get along, share in each others' pains and joys. No, we are not descended from one ancestor, do not speak the same languages, eat different foods, celebrate different Gods; but we do share the same space. May our dealings with each other display this understanding that after all is said and done if my house is burning you will necessarily feel the heat. We are in each other's business all the time. Let's all be friends.

My respects and condolences to her family. Due! Fathia, rest in peace.

Now to Liberia. A new blog named The Trial of Charles Taylor has been set up to provide news and analysis on the war crimes trial of former Liberian President, Charles Taylor. We're highlighting the Dramatic start to first day of Taylor trial which was posted on 4th June 2007.

In a dramatic opening to the Charles Taylor trial today, the man long-awaited to face justice in the dock in The Hague failed to show. And his lawyer, Karim Khan, interrupted the opening statement of the Special Court for Sierra Leone’s Chief Prosecutor, Stephen Rapp, by clumsily walking out of the courtroom in defiance of a court order to continue representing Taylor for the day — in an unexpected move, Taylor sacked Khan and asked to represent himself. Rapp, and his Sierra Leonean colleague, Mohamed Bangura, continued to methodically present the prosecution case, reading out prepared statements across the room from an empty defense section — bar the court-appointed duty counsel, Charles Jalloh, who throughout the proceedings continued to sit back in the second row from where Khan originally sat, and three seats back from the gallery. Jalloh, from the Special Court ’s Principal Defender’s office, took over on instruction by the Chamber to represent Taylor in the absence of the accused, and after Khan walked out despite a threat of contempt of court by Presiding Judge, Julia Sebutinde.

Nigerian blogger, Trae, concluded a two-part piece of things he dislikes about his country Nigeria in Things I hate 2: Nigerian styled importation

I hate the importation craze in Naija; yes I really do hate it.

I know importation is necessary in a globalized economy. What, with the comparative advantage theory and all; but Nigerians have taken it too far. Sometimes when I’m walking by and sight stacks upon stacks of imported items, a lot very storage dusty I shake my head and wonder when they’ll ever be completely sold out. In my opinion supply enormously outnumbers demand. As some people say all that remains now is for us to start importing tooth picks. Close your eyes and imagine Dayo Adeneye and Kenny Ogungbe of Kennismusic bragging about their imported tooth picks (P. Diddy style) on TV and you’d get my drift.

I hate it when I hear Nigerians say with relish (instead of with shame…well that’s how I opine they should feel because that’s definitely how I feel when I hear them) that the goods they’re selling are imported or the stuff they’re working with are imported, can’t be gotten any where in the country and so them and their business are the real deal.

I also hate the customer obsession with owning or identifying with imported stuff. Close your eyes here and Imagine Nike and Doshima of Cool FM Abuja on the radio program Girl Talk with their phonetics, annoying girlish demeanor and all.

Upwardly Mobile is the blog of Yomi Adegboye, who describes himself as “a non-conformist pastor & entrepreneur”. He discusses “A Different Type of Pyramid Scheme“. He starts by defining his topic:

You may already be aware of the numerous pyramid schemes being run in the country and around the world. For benefit of doubt, here is the definition of a pyramid scheme: a fraudulent scheme in which people are recruited to make payments to others above them in a hierarchy while expecting to receive payments from people recruited below them.

He then goes on to highlight what he sees as a similar trend, in some churches in Nigeria today.

What may amaze many church people is the fact that such a similar scheme has been run in church circles for years. The ‘gospel’ of sowing and reaping was introduced to the church not too long ago. The basic idea is if you ’sow’ financially or materially into the life or ‘ministry’ of a ‘man of God’, you will reap multiples of what you have sown. If you do it regularly, then you can expect a steady flow of financial and material harvest.

Of course, this is not a Biblical doctrine or practice. The whole idea was formulated into a doctrine by misapplying a few Bible verses as usual. Teaching it as a doctrine guaranteed that this man-made scheme would work perfectly. The result is a self-sustaining pyramid scheme.

Usually sitting at the top of the pyramid is one regarded as a ‘great man of God’ that the next level of preachers and christians give to. Then the lesser ‘men of God’ give to those on this level, and so on and so forth. At the bottom of the pyramid are regular church members who are told that they cannot be blessed by God if they do not keep their pastors in comfort (read: luxury). Of course, like any other pyramid scheme, those at the bottom have to climb up at least one step of the ladder before they can start ‘reaping’ anything, but it so nicely presented that most professing believers in this setup do not even realise that they are part of a pyramid scheme.

The concluding paragraph of the blog entry sums up his thought about this phenomenom.

It is a truly awesome and elaborate scheme. It is coated with Bible verses to give it legitimacy, but it is a pyramid scheme all the same, the product of ’smart’ carnal-minded men who see Christianity as a means of getting rich.

We will start with election day post from Thinking…Imagining… In a post titled “Thank God Nigerians are not Suicide bombers!,” Segedoo highlights an attempt to blow up the national headquarters of the INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission) head office in Abuja, Nigeria:

A 33000 litre gas tanker was loaded with fuel and Gas cylinders was driven to a slope opposite the INEC office and allowed to roll down but instead of a driver at the steering wheel, a stone was placed on the throttle. The tanker as stopped by electric poles and the side walk!

Thank God that Nigerians love their lives enough not to be suicide bombers otherwise, the whole presidential elections would have been halted abruptly.

The World According To Adaure blogs about the disorganization in the elections in “NIGERIA VOTES 2007 PART II: THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION“:

The news coming from around the country is obviously discouraging and is what was expected from I-MESS, I mean I-NEC ,the electoral body. Which brings me to the subject of disorganization. When will Nigeria and Nigerians get organized. Everything is a problem, a fight, big-big wahala. Census na kwanta, Voters registration the same thing, election sef na by the miracle of God we have am. KAI HABA DANGOROBA SHEGE!!!. For example I found my self taking charge of an audition that had gotten out of hand because of the number of people who turned out to the station. Now why did some people feel it was their god-given right to jump the line? Worse still is the fact that people never want to listen to simple instructions. Even when they do, they want to challenge and profer their own perceivably better process. What I call I-T-K mentality. This situation, the elections and just some other things around got me thinking about the War Against Indiscipline Campaign in the 80's. Can we go back to that? And if so will it work without the MILITARY operating the program because as it has been shown during this election period, NIGERIANS ARE VERY AFRAID OF THE SOLDIERS.

The US-based blogger, Adaure Achumba, then went on to list some of the irregularities that perturbed the presidential election.

We move on to Tayo Odukoya, a young Nigerian blogger (Break of Dawn) who took part in the elections from Lagos, Nigeria. He shares his funny experience in a blog post titled: “Nigerian Presidential Elections - My Voting Experience“:

[…]The first observation was that the voting spot was quite devoid of people. If you read the registration process on my previous post “INEC Registration Exercise. Have you registered?“, you'll remember that due to the crowd of aspiring registrants, I had to wait for some time before I could get registered. This situation was different. There was not a single voter in sight, contrary to the gubernatorial elections when the queues were very long (read Tolted's experience on her blog here]) and some people did not get to vote. This lent credibility to a rumor that many Nigerians had decided to boycott the election due to a speculation that their votes would not count (or be counted for that matter!).

There were several INEC officials in sight, so I presented my voters card (sorry voter's paper) to one of them and waited patiently while he scrutinized it. He then proceeded to check the voters register for my name after which he said to another seated official “INK HIM”. I drew back unconsciously. How would they “ink” me? I hoped it was not some INEC slang signifying arrest of political miscreants … one has to be wary during these election days. I was later made to understand that inking was just a means of marking my thumb nail so I couldn't vote again that day. “OK” said I, and I heaved a sigh of relief.[…]

Source: BlackLooks.org

Post-Election Day Posts

Ore's Notes shares the experience of a female Nigerian blogger in “The Presidential Elections“:

So, we had the much-anticipated presidential elections yesterday. In my area, all seemed to go quite well. As I was getting ready to leave the house at 8am, my brother told me that he had just read that the polls would not open until 10 as the voting materials had only been flown in from South Africa the night before. Well, whatever! I took the opportunity to eat breakfast and left the house around 10.[…]

The voting seemed to have been uneventful in her area. She concludes:

[…]Almost everyone else went to get a chair and we all sat, talked, drank, ate and generally passed the time in a pleasant (or not so pleasant for those in the direct line of the sun) way. When the officials came, the voting commenced within minutes and we played pseudo musical chairs, as the line moved and we shuffled from the chair we were sitting on to the one in front. It was all so eerily organised, I struggled to believe that this was a Nigerian queue (sorry, NYSC, the banks, fast-food eateries and just about every other institution I have had cause to visit bring up infuriating memories). Okay, well, this was no ordinary Naija queue, this being Lekki and all.

Now, we wait for the results.

Thy Glory O Nigeria..! is a blog run by Adeola Aderounmu. He/she is not happy about the recent elections, and castigates the country in a blog post titled: “WHY NIGERIA WILL NOT BE GREAT SOON“:

Nigeria calls herself the giant of Africa. Please can someone tell Nigeria and Nigerians to wake up! Giant of where? Nigerians are giants only in their homes. They live under an illusion of pre-independence glory. They count on the dense population as a criterion to pronounce giant as a title. The events that have played out recently in Nigeria have precipitated the country to the lowest level of pity. Indeed, no one can take away the influence that Nigeria cast on the Africa continent or worldwide, but those influences will never be counted as greatness. Never!

In great countries and in giant nations, election time represents the voice of the people. It is a time to keep fate with a performing government or seek a change when necessary. Public offices are designed as positions for servants who must be ready to give account of their performance at any point in time during or after serving. In great countries with functional democracies, the arms of government are functional and independent. Simply, the executives perform its duties, the senate makes laws and judiciary interprets the law and constitution. The people of a great country know their rights and they demand for it. […]

The conclusion of this blog posts summarizes the pain of this blogger:

[…]After May 29th, I will be really disappointed if the likes of Obasanjo, Atiku, Iwu and the others who have contributed to the demeaning of Nigeria in the last 8 years are not placed on trial. We need to take control of our lives, our destinies and our future. It must start from someone, from somewhere and this is another opportunity. If we don’t probe and try the outgoing administration and its key players, we will be setting a pace for the new administration that we are not destined for greatness. I have nothing against still having the like of IBB or Buhari on trial. They are living burglars. We need to stop thieves in high and low places and put everybody on alert for national revamping. Making Nigeria great is not going to be a day’s job. It will be a collective duty on virtually on frontiers of our lives. But Nigeria will never be great if we don’t resolve to take the first step. Many more generations will be wasted and people will continue to wallow in poverty despite the wealth of the nation. My heart bleeds for Nigeria, a rich country where values are not placed on human existence and where sycophants are glorified.

Twinstaiye (Pause to Ponder) declares My Vote Counts and goes on to explain why he thinks so:

I voted for Umar Yar'Adua in the last Presidential election, and from the result released so far, just like I anticipates, indicates that my vote actually counts.

The truth is, a lot of people stayed away from this election, and I felt have they participated, it could have make a difference. At the polling station, those that we queue together with, have different story to tell about the way they will vote. While some of them believed that PDP had failed us as a party, they insist they will vote for PDP so that their vote counts at the end of the day since it is evident from the last Governorship election, that PDP will surely win going by the pattern of voting.[…]

We conclude this special round-up on an optimistic note by highlighting the concluding part of a blog entry of Wetin Dey Happen?, a blog that chose to play The Devil's Advocate:

Fellow Nigerians, we must now prepare to move forward – we have a President-elect in Umaru Yar'adua, a man of quiet strength, moral integrity and financial probity, who is ready to build on the great work of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, and take our great nation to the next level. This is not the time for petty recriminations and blame trading. If we look to the so-called “advanced nations” of the world, we will see that the elections process was not invented perfect. There were flaws, which were worked out over time, and gradually minimised, but not eradicated. The election of President Bush in 2000 showed that even America, the most advanced democracy in the world, still had problems with it's election process.

Fellow Nigerians, I strongly urge that we all join hands to help in moving our nation forward.

Long live the Federal Republic Of Nigeria, and God bless you all.

Pre-election

Yomi Says blogs about pre-election campaign in Lagos state, Nigeria's economic hub, by President Olusegun Obasanjo (Uncle Sege): “Uncle Sege [Olusegun Obasanjo] and the Elections: Lies and Propaganda“

NTA aired the campaign rallies of Musiliu Obanikoro yesterday. Uncle Sege was there to promote his boy. If that was all he did, I would have no problem, but when a person in the shoes of Baba Iyabo lies and gets into blind propaganda in public, it is a shameful thing.

Baba Iyabo said that 8 years ago when the present administration of Lagos came in, he approached them asking that Lagos work hand-in-hand with them to develop its infrastructures; but that Bola Tinubu said, ‘No’. That was an outright, bare-faced, blatant lie.
Fortunately, there were some elderly citizens present, watching the telecast with me. None of these elders are into partisan politics, and all of them are principled, objective individuals. They all spoke up immediately to say that Baba Iyabo lied about that, and they accurately recounted what took place 8 years ago.

He then goes on to list some key areas in which he thinks the Federal government has failed Nigerians.

Musings of a Naijaman seems to have a scoop on the outcome of the elections before the elections even took place:

[…]In Nigeria, the political drama continues to unfold- what with the almighty PDP refusing to field governorship candidates in Rivers and Imo States rather than obey a Supreme Court judgement reinstating the rightful winners of the primaries. Nigeria can produce such bizarre results at times- from all that I hear about them, Araraume and Rotimi Amaechi, the candidates in question are hardly beacons of moral uprightness and yet one cannot help but support them in the injustice being meted out. Speaking to family and friends in Nigeria over the weekend, it seems as usual that Nigerians are resigning themselves to divine intervention- feeling completely helpless before the PDP behemoth. Frequent references were made as to how God intervened when Abacha thought he had his civilian succession sorted. The same mood of “what can we do?” pervaded the panel discussion at SOAS last week with Reuben Abati and Professor Akande- the general consensus was that the elections would be massively rigged but that Nigerians would accept the results. To put the icing on the cake, Patrick Wilmot, the writer and academic who was present at the SOAS event quoted the Secretary of the PDP as having predicted at a forum at Chatham House that PDP would win the elections by about 75 per cent. So ladies and gentlemen, there you have it, the results for the 2007 Nigerian elections, announced well in advance of any actual casting of votes.[…]

Omodudu wants to mobilize bloggers to cover the elections in “Calling Nigerian Bloggers…“:

Can blogging do for Nigeria what blogging did for the American elections? Will bloggers use their blogs as a tool for on-the-ground citizen journalism. Will bloggers post, up-to-the minute reports as the elections unfold? Will bloggers at least attempt to thwart the efforts of the individuals who have planned to rig the gubernatorial elections? Will bloggers take pictures and make videos of the pluses and minuses during the elections? Will we stop talking about our cats and shoes for one day, and focus on an issue that will determine how we live our lives in the next for years?

Snap a picture, make a video, write a comment. God bless you all.

Election Day (Saturday, March 14th 2007)

Ore's Notes is a blog run by a female Nigerian blogger. She shares her experience on voting day in “Voting in Progress …“

[…]As I moved closer to the front of the queue (These damned queues - I felt like I was a corper all over again. Even the sun cooperated in recreating the mood by beating down on our heads with cheerful ferocity.) people started complaining about not being able to find their names in the registers. This meant that they were not able to vote.

Na wa! Why is it always one thing after another? Just when we were all commenting that these elections were turning out to be so organised too….

An INEC official was found and she speculated on whether the officials had the complete list of voters' names. She then went off, accompanied by one of the voters just so she wouldn't abscond, to look for the missing names. In the interim, a new queue was formed for people who had tried to vote, but whose names were missing. I stayed on my queue and when I got to the front handed my temporary voter's card to the official. Fortunately, my name was there and he asked me to bring forward my left thumb so that he could mark it with ink. I moved on to the second official, who marked the inner portion of my voter's card and gave me the stamped and signed ballot forms. I then moved to a side table to select my candidates on the forms.[…]

In a blog post titled “Voting in Lagos“, Chippla's Weblog shares a piece by a young Lagos-resident Nigerian on what it took to cast her vote.

[…]It would be an understatement to say that I was perplexed by the insistence of the INEC officials to stick to instructions—for I was shocked. But then, whomever it was that gave such instructions must have been myopic! For what was the essence of capturing voters registration data electronically during the registration exercise, if it was not to be used in a smart way? Where was technology being applied in the voting exercise? Why does the system in Nigeria choose to frustrate and punish people on the basis of ‘orders from above', while other countries seek means of making life easier for their citizens? I was beginning to wonder if I was actually living in the 21st century and if the entire voting exercise would be fair.

The first vote was cast about an hour and a half after the INEC officials arrived. At this time, there were over 500 voters on the queue, which was growing by the minute. One of the male voters commented that it was due to the large population that things appeared unworkable in Nigeria. I chose to disagree with him. Planning, organization and dissemination of information were all that was lacking today. Even if there happened to be only 10 voters on the queue, poor logistics, organization and planning, as one saw in this exercise, would have resulted in an inefficient and complex voting process.

INEC officials setting upIn addition to that, if the INEC officials happened not to be properly trained they would have to work extra hard to get simple things done. This would in turn result in unkind words and insults from agitated voters. On my part, I was deeply disappointed with all the ‘noise' INEC had made about being ready for the election process. Come to think of it, I dread to imagine what the presidential election would look like![…]

Yomi Says shares some thought about the day's event: “Monitoring the gubernatorial elections“

Up till now (11.15am), polling officers are yet to arrive at many polling stations. At other stations where polling has started, there are reports of shortage of materials.

It doesn’t look good. As usual, this leaves good room for malpractices. In the past, this has resulted in a situation where legitimate voters get tired and leave and pre-completed ballot papers are presented for counting at the end of the day.

Whether this delay is deliberate or merely a logistics problem from INEC, it leaves a lot to be desired.

Post-election

Black Looks' blog post title says it all: “A novel in rotten democracy“

Nigeria went to the polls on Saturday for the first leg of the elections - the second leg voting for the President and national assembly is next Saturday. Today the Supreme Court ruled null and void the INEC’s (Electorial Commission) disqualification of Vice President Atiku Abubakar and at least 6 other governors. Nigeriaworld’s choice of headlines “Democracy Rules” is way off mark as violence, rigging and general thuggery seemed to have ruled the day.

Ike Okonta as always does an outstanding job in placing Nigeria’s elections in an historical and political context and asks a number of questions:
Will the elections hold? Will clear winners emerge? Will alleged losers accept their defeat with good grace, actuated by the larger national interest?

Grandiose Parlor asks “Was the Nigerian Elections Satisfactory?“

If the reports of the Saturday elections are to be reckoned with - it was a gross display of violence, fraud and total disregard for law and order.Just as political thugs and Niger-Delta militias were hijacking the process, some party chieftains and their goons were seizing ballot boxes, shooting and killing members of rival parties. Even INEC, the electoral agency in charge, omitted pictures of candidates in some states. As several mainstream media sites have reported, polling started very late in several polling stations nationwide.

When there are hard evidence that no state in the nation was free of violence or electoral fraud, yet the President deemed the elections satisfactory. Is Mr. Obasanjo in touch with reality at all? Or maybe I need my head examined!

We end this blog round-up with the entry by Break Of Dawn, in “Gubernatorial Election Results“

Finally, the Nigeria gubernatorial elections for the year 2007 have come to an end. There have been lots of mixed feelings about the exercise but INEC has declared the voting to be free and fair. Security was tight as armed soldiers and police were deployed all over the country to check violence and possible disruption. That notwithstanding, lots of issues were still recorded. I'll cover the election process in a later article. Right now here are the [partial] complete results of the 2007 gubernatorial elections.

He then goes on to outline the election results as released by INEC. However, the concluding part of the blog post makes an interesting read.

Suddenly, the real reason for the 2-day unnecessary public holidays seems to have dawned on people. People initially thought it to be a gimmick by the presidency to keep Atiku away from the elections, and they were wondering if public holidays would be declared this week as well. Presently, it has been suggested that this tactic is actually against the AC … because if the court had ruled in Atiku's favour before the governorship elections, it would have been more difficult for the PDP to have rigged or for the INEC to announce inconsistent results in favor of the PDP. Obasanjo wants to have the last laugh and say “I told you” … but Time will tell.

God save our country Nigeria. Long live Nigeria.

————————————-

Author's note: The subsequent part of this piece will focus on the up-coming Presidential elections in the same country.

Ramblings of an African Geek, a blog run by a Ghanaian, shares some high points of last week's celebration in a blog entry titled: “The Flag is still flying……………“:

Ghana turned 50 on Tuesday and a host of foreign dignitaries showed up to help us celebrate our position as the first sub-saharan country to be given permission to run our own affairs.

More interesting to me than the official celebration though, was the public response to the event.

Accra and Tema have been covered in flags for a couple of weeks now.

There have been brisk sales of flags and Ghana themed memorabilia.

Just about every car, taxis included, is flying the flag. Literally the city has been awash with red, gold green and black. Even more so than when Ghana was starting to dominate teams who were expected to murder us in the World Cup.

On independence day people showed up at the square to get seats early in the morning. Reportedly by 4:30 A.M it was impossible to find a seat even if you’d paid for one.

Oluniyi David Ajao, a Nigerian based in Accra Ghana, shares some photos of the main event: “Ghana 50th Independence Anniversary Parade photos“:

Ghana is 50. Oh! You know that already?

Well, I was at the Independence Square in Accra on 6th March 2007, the day of the Independence Anniversary, and took over 100 photos of the event.

See the Photo Album of the 50th Independence National Parade here.

My Pen and My Paper gives a thumb-up to Ghana in the entry: “Giving it up for Ghana“:

I hereby give Ghana my kudos and a big BOW!!! I never knew - now I know. On two occasions-3 and 2years ago, I had been to Kumasi in Ghana, to the KNUST, with the first two letters “K” and ”N” referring to Kwame Nkrumah. I enjoyed my trips, took many pictures and made many friends for keeps. What attracts me to Ghana is the peaceful environment - its almost in the air, and everybody just walking peacefully, minding their own business, no wahala - compared to Lagos-state hustling-life-style. If Ghanaians were white, I would have said my observations had a reason, but considering they are as black as I am, some even blacker, I remember I wondered “what is the secret of this people“. To be entirely honest, there are a whole lot of things that Nigeria can learn from Ghana…lesson#1 is: how to line up at a bus-stop. I was so surprised to see a tall man lined up behind a child at a bus-stop. The thought that crossed my mind was, if this could happen in Nigeria.

The Trials & Tribulations of a Freshly-Arrived Denizen…of Ghana doesn't have much to say about Ghana's Independence day, but shares a photo of the front cover of New African: Happy Birthday, Ghana!: You are Jubilee! ;-):

Happy Jubilee!!! This is a cover of the latest edition of New African. The cover is, well, not surprising. It dedicates a good 45 pages, including the odd advert, but almost fifty anyway(!!) to Ghana!

THE iPINIONS JOURNAL also adds some salient points about Ghana: “Good (news) Friday: Ghana celebrates 50 years of independence“:

On Tuesday Ghana kicked off 12 months of celebrations to mark its 50th year of independence. This milestone is especially noteworthy because Ghana was the first black nation in Africa to sever the Lilliputian chord of British colonialism in 1957. And since then it has been heralded as a beacon of stability and sustainable development on a dark continent plagued by corrupt governance, economic stagnation and civil strife.

Nevertheless, Ghana’s growing pains have been considerable. And most notable in this respect is the fact that - after cajoling the parliament to rubber stamp legislation to confer dictatorial powers and make him president for life – Kwame Nkrumah, the socialist father of the nation, was ousted in a military coup in 1966. Although, given the way his name and likeness (as in the bronze statue pictured left) are revered in Ghana today, you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone there who thinks his ouster was justified.

Sociolingo’s Africa blog shows to share links to some international news websites, and how they reported the event: “Ghana: Celebrates 50 years of independence“

Ghana’s 50th anniversary of independence on 6th March has generated quite a lot of comment from around the world. As to be expected heads of states converged on the Ghanaian capital Accra and reports abound.

It was not all merry. Abocco's blog shares some salient points about the state of Ghana today: “Reliable electricity and energy at Ghana@50“:

I've talked to a lot of Ghanaians back home about the excitement regarding the celebration of Ghana's golden jubilee. A lot of them have complained about the amount of money being spent to celebrate Ghana's golden anniversary of independence when they do not have reliable power (electricity) and constantly have ‘lights off'. Ghana has outgrown the Akosombo dam and it cannot produce enough energy for its population. When I heard Obibini Takyi's Akosombo Kanea on radio a week ago, I had found the perfect song for a blog entry about Ghana's energy crisis, a topic I haven't touched yet. What a perfect time to do that in the midst of the Ghana government's promise to give its resident citizens uninterrupted power supply for almost two weeks to commemorate Ghana's 50th anniversary of independence?

We conclude this round-up, with “An overview of Ghana@50“, as written by the blog thepeoplesvoice.org:

Momentous, festive and the pinnacle of Ghana's Independence celebrations is March 6 and a delightful President John Agyekum Kufuor has asked the citizenry to give thanks to God for how far he has brought the nation. Giving to Caesar what belonged to Caesar, he gave the political outline of Ghana's independence and lauded the first President of Ghana, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah and his colleagues from the United Gold Coast Convention who, in 1947 launched the last phase of the process towards independence.

It so happens that I desire to create an Internet utopia in Nigeria. I have a dream of providing Internet access to every Nigerian citizen. This became stronger when I was having a discussion with a friend yesterday and in our discussion, we identified that there are a lot of problems that could be solved.

I have fallen into the temptation (many times) of wanting to solve all these problems. Today, I might decide it’s going to be web applications - I mean lots of Nigerians are going online these days and there is not enough local content and so I think being a web developer will help solve this problem. Tomorrow, I identify that lots of Nigerians have Internet-enabled mobile phones and there’s lots of applications that can be built upon this platform. Honestly speaking, I will probably list about 20 or so problems that I can solve but to make any significant difference, I will require focus.

He goes on to highlight the main problem facing Nigerian Internet users today:

A lot of Nigeria’s local traffic still goes outside before it finally comes back. If you’ve ever used a VoIP application before and were trying to make a call to a Nigerian destination, although you’re even in the same state as the destination you’re calling, you will still experience serious latency; let’s not even talk about network gaming - with the current structure, it makes little or no sense for all those fast-paced games.

He concludes by offering a solution:

The solution to this problem is undoubtedly to create an Internet exchange point. Last year, I was made aware of discussions amongst ISPs to interconnect and I was glad today to find the Nigeria Internet Exchange web site. The site is really informative and I’m impressed by the fact that they’ve done a good job in really letting you know how to interconnect and the procedures required to do so. This will come in handy when creating the Nigerian Internet utopia. For now, I’ve gotten no suitable name and oh I’m reading up on IPV6.

From ICT, we move to money. Deola Akinyemi declares: Money - The More you Look, The More you See

Just about a month ago, when I wrote the article on Nospetco, Hazonwao, Wealthzone, Uphenry and other high return investments in Nigeria, the key thing on my mind was sharing information, creating awareness and sensitizing people. I have gotten a lot of thank you mails to this effect, and I thought I had done a good job. Little did I know however, that I was the one who would benefit the most from this enlightenment gesture.

I have always known that the hand that pours water on others cannot be dry. I had also known that the hand that pushes others up, cannot be down, but I have been shocked at how much information I have also come to gather in the course of providing information to you. In the course of the last one month I have come to hear about many more investment and money making schemes in Nigeria. Some of them, I’m still researching, and some I have decided to plunge in head on as well. There is one where you invest N6,000 and earn up to 2.5Million Naira in one year, that is worth trying as the risk is very low and it’s a banks product. There is another where you invest N70,000 and get the opportunity of earning about N300,000 and diamonds within 2-3months depending on you. I also got information about another where you invest a fixed amount and earn up to 30% per month, and yet another with over 200% returns in 8 weeks. I can’t contain them all in one post, but check out this two, and watch out for the others in future posts.

We switch gears and travel with Chippla's weblog, as the author blogs about the capital city of Nigeria in a post titled “On Abuja“:

The Nigerian capital city of Abuja is something of an oddity. Conceived in the mid 1970s and built from scratch on land obtained by the Federal government of Nigeria, Abuja is the next best thing to Lagos when one speaks of cosmopolitan Nigerian cities. In reality though, Abuja is very different from Lagos. While the latter is heavily congested and suffers from infrastructural decay, the former, it appears, has managed to blossom, maintaining a sense of decorum and orderliness that can hardly be found in any other large Nigerian city.

Unlike Lagos, Abuja enjoys the status of ‘federal capital.' This was the status held by Lagos from October 1960 till December 1991. Having the status of federal capital directly translates to the allocation of extra funds from the public purse to maintain existing infrastructure and build new ones. Thus, today in Abuja, one finds residential buildings, roads and flyovers being constructed (albeit at a rather slow pace) for a ‘befitting' federal capital city. The city of Abuja could rightly be described as a huge construction project, which still has a long way to go. Worn down structures and road signs are regularly replaced—in contrast to what one often finds in other Nigerian cities.

Chippla then goes on to highlight other features of Nigeria's capital city and offers an advice for the government of Nigeria:

By law, the current Abuja administration, headed by Mr. Nasir El-Rufai (who is also called ‘Mr. Demolition Man' for ordering the demolition of illegal structures and buildings in Abuja, even those owned by powerful and once untouchable politicians) will be out of office in May 2007. The next Nigerian government must appoint people who at least have the guts of Mr. El-Rufai to manage the capital city. Going by the records of Mr. El-Rufai's predecessors, the making or breaking of Abuja largely rests on the individuals who govern it.

Yomi Says - a blog about web and mobility, the church, Work & Business, and life in general - highlights the fact that a private telecom operator (PTO) in Nigeria is now offering a special range of phone numbers that are not locked to a specific geographical part of Nigeria: Multi-links first PTO to launch Unified Licence numbers

Last week, private telecommunications operator, Multi-links launched its Unified Licence numbers. Customers with these numbers will be able to use their Multi-links phones in all parts of the country where there is Multi-links network coverage. The new numbers start with 07027.

Existing customers may migrate to the new numbering plan or retain their old numbers.

With service availability in over 6 cities including: Lagos, Ibadan, Abeokuta, Ilorin, Ijebu-ode and Sagamu, and the new national roaming facilities, Multi-links is gradually closing the gap between itself and the GSM boys.
While it certainly is a wide gap, it is worth cheering still. Starcomms and Multi-links seem to be doing a good job in leading the PTO pack. For subscribers, its better days ahead. Very soon we should be able to ask, who needs a GSM phone?

Election time is near in Nigeria, and Oro blogs about one of the aspiring presidential candidates: When A Professor Endorses Another:

Yesterday, in Lagos, Prof. Wole Soyinka publicly endorsed Prof. Pat Utomi and announced him political party’s support for the other Professor. While I am not too surprised by the much-awaited endorsement, I am not ignorant of the weight it lends to the candidacy of Prof. Pat Utomi. Over the last few years, Prof. Soyinka has established himself as a leading social crusader with both national respect and global influence, and his warnings about the political environment have always been taken seriously by both sides of the equation. So strong are his public comments that some not-so-smart paid public servants spend our tax-money trying to unravel the words of this igilango Oyinbo. Simply put, Prof. Soyinka’s endorsement of Prof. Utomi goes to show that like minds think alike, and that there are more forces for the good of Nigeria than there are against.

Not quiet far from politics, Grandiose Parlor blogs about the Niger Delta in Nigeria: The Niger-Delta Scam

If the insurgency in the Nigeria oil rich Niger-delta is allowed to continue unresolved, it will cumulate into a catastrophic event of epic proportions with dire consequences on the socioeconomic and political stability of the nation. This is not a dooms-day prophesy, or a forecast that requires some complicated regression analysis; it’s simple common-sense.

The following paragraphes however, convey the crux of the matter:

It’s getting seriously irritating to read about hostages been taken and released every other day. How much has been paid as ransom since the bandits perfected this scam-strategy? Where does the funds come from, and whose pockets does it go? I suspect a cabal runs these militia and it’s quietly profiting from the scams at the detriment of all Nigerians, particularly the innocent indigenes of the Niger-delta.

It’s long overdue for the respective governors and state assemblies of the militia-prone regions to be challenged for their complacency. In fact, they should be investigated; I won’t be surprised if they have strong ties with the Niger-delta militia after all.

Still in the Niger Delta, Black Looks blogs about US Marines & the Niger Delta:

Recently the National Geographic magazine published a feature piece on the Niger Delta “Curse of the Black Gold: Hope and Betrayal in the Niger Delta”. For those familiar with the issues of the Niger Delta there was really nothing that has not been reported by human rights environmental activists and Human Rights Watch over the past 15 years. What is new and cause for concern is the article “Nigeria and the United States: Convergent Interests” published by the Center for International Policy. A few months back I was contacted via my blog by a US contractor called Carol Chapital asking if I was willing to assist on a project in Nigeria.

We are preparing a study which is required to be reviewed by subject matter experts. Your name was provided as an expert. If your name is inappropriate with the academic subject experts, I apologize for the inconvenience.

The concluding paragraph of this blog entry however, reveals some very interesting statistics:

To put the scale of wealth into perspective and to emphasise the stakes for Nigeria, the US and more recently China, the World Bank reported that 80% of oil wealth is owned by 1% of the population; 70% of private wealth is abroad whilst 3/4 of the country live on about $1 a day - at least 15 million of those live in the Niger Delta (there are estimated 12 million Ijaws - an ethnic group that covers a very broad range of languages and city states)- though as the latest census did not include ethnic origin that number is somewhat arbitrary in 2007). President Obasanjo has made it clear that his policy towards the Niger Delta is to eliminate the militants and subjugate the non-violent movement for self-determination and resource control that started with the late Ken Saro Wiwa. It is therefore not surprising that the US has become directly involved with this Nigeria as part of their overall AFRICOM policy and in Nigeria’s case to protect their petroleum interests. Obasanjo will soon leave but the PDP will no doubt win the elections and realistically the same group of elite forces will continue to run the country so it is highly unlikely that there will be any changes in Nigeria’s relationship with the US.

If you have never heard of Nospecto before, it is an investment opportunity where you put in 450,000 naira and get 40,000 naira returns monthly, it’s also a joint venture business arrangement, where you share profits with the owners of the company at a rate which makes your share 40 out of every 450 in a month. Nospetco’s arrangement is the standard convinient arrangement for devout muslims, who because of their beliefs in not collecting interests on their money can only be comfortable with sharing profit.

He goes on to ask: NOSPETCO - How much longer!

It is wit to be able to ask the right questions, know when to move in, and know when to move out. If you ask the generation that is between 45-60 today, they’ll tell you about the finance houses of the 70/80s and how in one little sweep, millionaires became paupers. Those who do not know the past are bound to repeat it!

His in-depth analysis is worth reading.

Nospetco is high risk, and an investment you should make with your eyes open and your brain alert. A certain Ade guy* (The site also has useful information about Nospetco), used good strategies that are more difficult today. I also played with it before, went in and out bigtime. There are however some current happenings that in my humble opinion are red lights for investmenting.

Another Nigerian blog Timbaland asks: Nospetco: Time to exit or what?

The story started getting interesting when I learnt they had increased the initial investment capital from ₦300k to ₦450k. A couple of friends of mine and I were setting up a private fund to invest into the opportunity but had stalled for a number of reasons (including the increase in the initial capital required).
It was interesting to find out that Deolu Akinyemi had blogged about something I regard as being timely. It’s becoming clear that there’s a big possibility this fantasy is coming to an end. The Nospetco investment may quickly be going out of business if indeed these statements are true.

Still in the world of business and finances, Emmanuel Oluwatosin asks: In search of a business mentor?

Are you just starting out in business or already in business? Are things not turning out the way you planned? This is the time to seek a mentor – someone who will can show you the way, someone to teach and advise you and enable you to become a wise and effective human being. Stepping on the shoulder of a mentor helps you to avoid some mistakes and achieve success earlier than you expect.

These set of people are everywhere around you. You only need to identify what you are looking for in a mentor.

He then goes on to suggest potential business mentors.

Aid Industry in Africa and Cameroon's Version of Affirmative Action

Still on money, but this time in Cameroon. Cameroonian blog Enanga's Pov reproduces a report by The African Report.

Foreign aid: This kind of ‘help' is just no help at all

The multi-billion dollar aid industry has largely failed in Africa. Not only have they failed along with others in the aid industry, most nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have become part of the problem. Not that they will admit their failure. They refuse to share the blame for the grim record. Instead they have closed ranks - along with UN development agencies and bilateral agencies - and all sing from the same hymn sheet: ‘Aid works', they claim. ‘Give us even more money and we will complete the job…'

They would say that, wouldn't they? The alternative is far too uncomfortable. The rapid growth of NGOs dealing with Africa has given them enormous power, but they have been slow to adapt to their responsibilities.

Looking at aid from a different angle, Home of the mandinmories blogs about The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation's activities in Africa.

Besides funding research to fight disease that plague third world nations, the foundation is investing in companies that run power plants, which can pollute and cause respiratory disease. In fact, the foundation has been investing in lots of energy companies to earn more money to pay for vaccines and research.

And therein lies the contradiction.

Energy companies are not known for their environmental friendliness. But they generate great returns on investment. The cauldron becomes: should the Gates foundation shy away from what is otherwise a good investment or would it be better for the foundation to invest in solar power and fuel cells? Just where is the greater good?

Still in Cameroon, Scribbles from the Den is asking “Should admissions into state-owned universities be based solely on merit or should “sociological balance” be taken into account?” in Deconstructing Regional Balance and Higher Education in Cameroon:

At the root of the deadly crisis that engulfed the University of Buea in November / December 2006 were deep-seated disagreements over the application of the principle of “regional balance”, Cameroon’s attempt at affirmative action. The crisis began when Prof. Fame Ndongo, the Minister of Higher Education invalidated the list of successful candidates eligible to participate in the oral part of the entrance examination into the Faculty of Medicine which had been published by that university’s Vice Chancellor.

According to the Minister, the Vice Chancellor’s list was null and void because it was based solely on merit (it consisted of the best 127 candidates who sat for the written part of the exam) and failed to “respect of the sociological balance [of Cameroon], the guarantor of national integration and stability”.

Dogon Architecture and Tourism As A Therapy in Cape Verde

Now to Mali, Africa Shrine blogs about Dogon Architecture.

The homes the Dogon people of Central Africa are an excellent example of how the original container is reproduced almost literal form. Although these people live quite simply in our terms, their culture is very complex and closely aligned with nature. To the Dogon, home is not a particular building, but a series of stages, which includes several buildings. The home is closely related to the development of the individual. For example a Dogon wife stays with her father until she has had her third child. She does however sleep with her husband during the night and returns to her father’s house during the day. It is a hierarchical system where the family is spread over several houses until they have achieved the status required to own their own home. Their homes are not owned by individuals as such, but are stages in one could say, psychic development and are shared as such.

Our final stop for this week is Cape Verde, where Cape Verde - Land of Morabeza blogs about São Nicolau Island.

Visitors to the island may discover the town of Ribeira Brava, filled with many squares, narrow streets and alleyways, a typical example of colonial influence. The school-seminary is an essential site to visit, along with the parish church and the ancient Sé Catedral (Sé Cathedral). The seminary was the first secondary school in Cape Verde and the entire Western coast of Africa.

The town on Tarrafal is renowned for its beach of black sand, rich in titanium and iodine, and visited by many people in search from relief from physical pains, such as rheumatism.

Author's note:
* Deolu Akinyemi is making reference to a fellow Nigerian blogger, Dipo Tepede who blogged last year, about NOSPETCO.

The email usually pops unannounced in your mailbox with an enticing “private business proposal” or a “request for business relationship”. The style and content of such emails usually vary, however, the substance is always the same - someone with access to a huge sum of money (usually millions of dollars) needs your assistance to move the loot out of his or her country of residence. And for your hard work, you will receive a mouth-watering percentage of the fortune in question. This is the famous 419 Internet scam.

The blog throws a spotlight on a recent broadcast by the US-based news network ABC about scams coming out of Nigeria:

This evening, ABC's 20/20 (Friday, December 8, 2006 at 10 p.m. ET/PT), Chief Investigative Reporter, Brian Ross travels, to Lagos to expose the murky world of the 419ers, and turn the tables on some of these “masters” of crime who end up being the “mugus” (slang for big fool) - a classic case of outconing the conmen.

Still on scams and scammers, Oluniyi David Ajao's headline is simple and straight-forward: You can’t cheat an honest man:

…The scam popularly refered to as 419 is basically an “advance fee fraud” that is based on the greediness of the “victim”. It would take a very dishonest person to fall victim.
All the variants of 419 listed on Wikipedia are based on the greediness/gullibility of the willing victim…

There are so many indications that such attractive offers are scams. Huge sums of money are almost always involved. For example, you receive an email or text message that you have won $20,000 in a lottery. You are then asked to send $1,505 as administrative fees or something like that. Now, you would clearly know whether you staked lottery or not. If you didn’t stake any lottery, the only reason you would expect to get something for nothing, is dishonesty.

I am not holding fort for scammers and never will. My point here is simple: You can’t cheat an honest man (or woman :-) ).

This form of scamming is named after the section of the Nigerian criminal code, 419, which prohibits it.

Instead of spending his time responding to scam emails, the Ghanian blogger, Ramblings of an African Geek, likes to play with crocodiles. He shares some close shots of himself with a crocodile, in Paga, northern Ghana: Some road show pictures:

Me holding a crocodile tail at Paga, just south of the Ghana - Burkina border

Moving on from Ghana to Burkina Faso, we are told that Father Christimas is visiting this West African nation. Under the acacias writes: Father Christmas comes to Ouagadougou:

Christmas is coming apparently. However, in Gorom-Gorom, there is no sign as yet of the approach of Christmas, apart from the increase in price of sheep at the market.

So it was a shock to get to Ouaga and find at the traffic lights that, alongside the usual paper hankies and cellphone cards, inflatable Father Christmases are now also available for sale!

Happy Holidays!

Blogger, Keith Smith, has been a missionary in Burkina Faso since 1989 and has been blogging at Under the acacias. He shares a comment he has been hearing in recent time. However, he wants No Comment:

You’re Looking Old!

This was another unwanted comment, made twice by different people in the last few days here in Burkina. Apparently, my beard is significantly whiter than when I was here a couple of years ago. The comment was probably meant as a compliment, and might have been joined by the other unwanted compliment: “You’re looking fat!”

You can make up your own mind from these photos of me from 2003 in the rice field, and this week in Gorom. Maybe on this occasion it is just as well the comment section is closed…

Cameroonian blogger, George Ngwane, has recently been interviewed by Post Newsmagazine.

NGWANE republishes the interview: George Ngwane: The Independent Intellectual:

Mwalimu George Ngwane is a man of many parts. Writer, poet, peace activist, educationist, political analyst, pan-Africanist, and executive director of AFRICAphonie are all parts of this intellectual machine. Although he could amass easy lucre by simply praise-singing as most Cameroonian “intellectuals” have done, Mwalimu has remained consistent in voicing the peoples’ causes. His uncompromising stance for the people has had dire and sometimes heart-rending professional consequences. Yet, he remains undaunted and his active participation as spokesperson of the Committee for the Participation of Independent Candidates in the Electoral Process in Cameroon stands out as eloquent testimony.

The Trials & Tribulations of a Freshly-Arrived Denizen…of Ghana writes about the migration of Malians to Spain, and the horrendous experiences they go through. He was motivated to blog about this issue due to a programme called “Witness” he watched on AlJazeera English, via Metro TV in Accra, Ghana:

…Throughout the programme, I kept on pondering over the psychological compulsion for Malians to go to Spain for a better life. Even when Reuters photographer Juan—a surprisingly compassionate man who made his way all the way to Mali to see the family of one of the Malians who survived the ordeal in those waters of Spain, and with whom he had become close, some of this Malian’s family members maintained Malians had “no choice”, and that it is their “destiny”, and that “les prieres de ses parents ont sauve notre fils”.

Quite whether the prayers of parents saved this Malian prompts speculation that God must, assumedly, not have been listening to those who were also praying.

Ramblings of an African Geek raises very important issues about Internet bandwidth, open-source software and software piracy in Ghana in Linux in areas of low bandwidth:

I’ve been meaning to complain about this for a while.

One of the things I do here is help in linux outreach. Getting people to at least consider the use of open source software in their daily work. I end up helping quite a few people install linux on their machines.

The crux of the matter is however at the last paragraph of this blog entry:

I just wish there was some awareness on the part of the people who are trying to promote open source in developing countries that bandwidth can be a huge issue here and can affect how ‘free’ something is vs. readily available pirated software.

Oluniyi David Ajao is happy and blogs: “For once, we asserted ourselves“

Libyan leader Col Gaddafi was very recently involved in an impasse at Abuja airport in Nigeria with the dispute being his over 200 bodyguard entering the west African nation with thier heavy arms. Col Gadaffi who was attending a summit in Nigeria was not happy, yet the Nigerian officials at the airport insisted, and only allowed 8 pistols after much argument with the Libyan security officials.

Thank God, for once, we asserted ourselves. Under no circumstances should the Nigerian officials have allowed 200 heavily armed bodyguards into our country. Do they want to take us over? Haba! Ki lo de? Wetin happen?

We conclude this week's round-up of West African blogs with Gambian blog Home of the mandinmories asking Who Killed Deyda?:

Readers of this blog have come to live with a permanent fixture on the right side of the blog in the form of a photo, a poem and a question: who killed Deyda? It has been two years since he was murdered in cold blood on a deserted street in Kanifing. His killers still roam the street of the Gambia for all I know. His murder join the list of many more that has never been adjudicated in the annals of Gambian history. Names such as Ousman Koro Ceesay, Ebrima Barry and the martyrs of the student demonstration that followed his death at the hands of Brikama firemen. Ousman Sillah escape their bullet, but will live the rest of his life reflecting on how lucky he was to escape the assasins bullet. The scar of that fateful day will live with him till kingdom cometh.

I am not a member of the journalistic fraternity. Never claimed or aspired to be one, but I have an affinity for what they do and respect those that stick to the ideals of the profession. I don't know Deyda Hydara, never met him, but will forever respect him. He paid the ultimate price for something he believed in. That counts for something in my book.

The Broken Dam

I went to see the dam on Wednesday. It is about 1km long, mostly built of stone and mud, with a cement spillway in the centre. It is about 3m deep at the deepest part.

The dam itself was mostly in one piece, with parts of it eroded from where water had flowed over the top. But where the dam actually burst was in the two spots where the cement spillway joined with the main stone and mud part of the dam, as you can see in these photos.

The Trials & Tribulations of a Freshly-Arrived Denizen…of Ghana is one the other-hand, worried about the poor electricity supply in Ghana: As the Week Drew to a Close in Accra: Thoughts on Spintex Traffic; Utility Prices; Lessons of Belgian Energy Liberalisation for Ghana:

It was polio immunization week, and as a result, as I heard on Tv3 evening news on 31 October, there was not going to be any load shedding (read: “of the scale there has been”).

In any event, I cannot help but wonder whether the load-shedding exercise is not one too many, having outlived its usefulness. First, the holiday of 23rd October was granted a load-management-free day by the government. Now, this: a good four or five days, where electricity won’t go off for 12 hours.

Ramblings of An African Geek, another Ghanaian blog has Workflow issues:

I have a problem.

Blog writing for me has tended to be something that happens in the middle of the night when its quiet out, i have some privacy and I can spend as long as I need over the keyboard getting my thoughts in shape. Now I don’t get that anymore. The house is full and there really isn’t a secluded corner I can go sit in and work on my posting. Hence I have a long list of things I mean to write about, but I don’t get a solid block of me time to do it.

Maybe I need to wake up earlier in the morning and write then. Or find a place to hide after work where I can pull out a laptop.

I’ll figure something out.

Suggestions are always welcome

We move over to Cameroon where Scribbles from the Den writes about How an Idyllic Transfer of Power Turned Sour (II): The Ahidjo – Biya Honeymoon Ends in Acrimony and Blood:

By Francis K. Wache (Originally published in Cameroon Life, 1(11), Sept. 1991)

Biya is a weak man, a double dealer with a phobia for coups d’etat”. Ahmadou Ahidjo – RFI, August 23, 1983.

Paul Biya

Biya’s first government caused no stir… To all intents and purposes, [it] was Ahidjo’s. Bello Bouba Maigari, a young, soft-spoken, affable Northerner was appointed Prime Minister. At 35, Bello Bouba had been enmeshed in the intricacies and intrigues of behind-the-door politics. In fact, he traveled constantly to foreign capitals as a private Ahidjo envoy. He was publicly known Ahidjo’s protégé. It was murmured that Ahidjo was grooming him for power. In this light, Biya would have served as a caretaker President until 1985 when elections were due and Bello Bouba Maigari would have become President.

That is why, observers reasoned, he had worked as an attaché and Assistant Secretary General of the Presidency – to watch at close range the day-to-day art of ruling; he had been Secretary General of the Armed Forces – to get acquainted with the military; and lately, as Minister of Economy and Plan, he was to acquire first-hand knowledge of the country’s economic machinery.

Browsing through the Point today, a story on the court martial of Captain Yahya Darbo caught my eye. I wish I can say I told you so, but the abuse and indignity suffered by the victims will make your blood boil. This was what I wrote in march when these guys were paraded on national television and forced (in my opinion) to make confessions:

The Daily Observer ( here and here) has a run down of confessionals that the “alleged” coup plotters in the Gambia made. Yep thats right “alleged”. For all we know these people could've been tortured or threaten with torture to make those statements. Their confessionals in my opinion lend credence to my suspicion. All roads in this convoluted affair leads to Ndure Cham. Everyone keep harking back to what he told them. And since he is not around to refute them and the government is hellbent on punishing someone, they parade these people on television to narrate some scheme that they were supposedly part of…confessions

Cameroonian blog Ngwane highlights The Military And African Politics:

The reasons for military interventions (militocracy) in Africa are as varied as they are complex. They range from personal grievances of civilian regimes to the political and economic kleptocracy of civilian regimes.

In a struggle to cope with this predicament between the devil of tyranny (as in one-party system) and the deep blue sea of anarchy (as in multiparty systems) military rule has often been invoked. The balance sheet has largely been negative, with very few being benign, that is serving the interests of the people whether in a short or long political life span.

Still in Cameroon, Scribbles from the Den blogs about a recent Reporters Without Borders report about Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006: Africa a Mixed Bag:

Reporters without Boarders has released its Worldwide Press Freedom Indexfor 2006. Find below parts of the report that focus on the state of press freedom in Africa:

Press freedom is genuine is Benin (23rd), Namibia (26th), Mauritius (32nd), Ghana (34th), Mali (35th), South Africa (44th) and Cape Verde (45th) and comparable to that in Western democracies.

It does not exist or is constantly under attack in Eritrea (166th), Gambia (149th), Somalia (144th), Democratic Republic of Congo (142nd), Zimbabwe (140th) and Equatorial Guinea (137th). The same African countries have featured at the top and bottom of the Index for several years.

Ghana (34th) rose 32 places to become fourth in Africa behind the continent’s three traditional leaders - Benin (23rd), Namibia (26th) and Mauritius (32nd). Economic conditions are still difficult for the Ghanaian media but it is no longer threatened by the authorities.

Niger Watch highlights a recent international report: Dirty water ‘kills 1.5m children':

More than 1.5m children under five die each year because they lack access to safe water and proper sanitation, says the United Nations children's agency.

In the report, Unicef says that despite some successes, a billion people worldwide do not have access to safe drinking water from protected sources.

More than 1.2 billion people have gained access to safe water since 1990.

But sub-Saharan Africa remains a major area of concern, especially countries affected by conflict.

The Trials & Tribulations of a Freshly-Arrived Denizen…of Ghana blogs about the incessant power crisis in Ghana, and declares that “Accra is in the Dark Ages”:

Ever since the load-shedding started, the country’s electricity provider ECG, has decided to ride on the back of the “load management programme” by continuing to deliver increasingly execrable service.

Yesterday, on an evening that was not supposed to experience load-shedding at 6pm, the lights went out, eliciting a collective sigh of resignation and frustration all-rolled-in-one. Calls were made, and it transpired that there was “a fault” in one of the stations near the motorway of Tema. Later, I found out that it wasn’t quite near the motorway, but somewhere around Tema. Not to mention the lack of consistency in the lies (you don’t even know where the genesis of the so-called fault is?) but to buttress all that is the frustration associated with feeling the lights will come on soon when you call, only to find out that the problem has not finished being worked on!

Finally, Under the Acacias brings News from Burkina Faso, about privatization of gold mining:

Gold is the third largest export of Burkina Faso. However, most gold is hand-mined by locals (artisanal mining), who sell the gold at 5p/gram to the government. It is a dangerous and unhealthy process, which nevertheless provides much needed income for up to 200,000 Burkinabe. The dangers were highlighted by the collapse of a mine at Poura in August, killing 10 people. The government is now trying to privatise the mines, in an attempt to manage them better for the alleviation of poverty and boost employment, and Canadian and Australian companies in particular are moving into the country. Reuters reports: “This year, the government expects to receive 1.3 billion CFA (US $2.5 million) in annual taxes from mining companies, and foresees the creation of 800 new jobs every year for the next eight years. It also stipulated in its new mining code that companies must invest in community dev