Global Voices » kayode

From the Nigerian Blogosphere

kayode — Thu, 05 Jan 2006 23:43:15 +0000

As we experience the beginning of the new year, 2006, the Nigerian blogosphere's presents itself with new appearances that not only shows an impressive way forward, but also reveals the progressive and continuous awareness which is quiet commendable.

This year presents itself with an old but newly surfaced political blogger with alias Basket Mouth and a blog named “Nigerian Politics“, in his post titledRotational Presidency He expresses his concerns saying:

“I have watched with dismay and distraught the polemics and arcane logic the various political leaders and interest groups have put forth to support their clamor for power (especifically the presidency) to be rotated, and for the presidency to remain in the south after 2007.”

He continues

“This notion is obviously based on the premise that there are gains that will accrue to the region from which the president originates.”

and argues that:

“it reduces the status and import of the presidency and likens it to a regional or fractional one. It presumes, and perhaps even prescribes that the president holds the interests of his or her region above national interests. The presidency in its true essence prescribes that the president holds national interests above all else. That means the president is supposed to be impartial to the various interest groups and stake holders who collectively make up the Nigerian body politic over which he or she presides.”

Meanwhile CyBlug wishes and commends , a very active Nigerian reporter “Omoyele”, from elendureports.com, as he departs, as he writes:

“We wish him good luck in all his endevours and regardless , collectively all these guys are making a positive impact on the Nigerian Blogosphere, Internet journalism and the general consciousness of people both in and outside Nigeria .”

Nnneka at Confessions of the mind clocks 25 and writes:

“ITS MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!! IM QUARTER OF A CENTURY OLD AND IM IN WORK!!!!!”.

Black Looks reveals her interest in football as she wishes her readers, a happy new year. In her post titled “African Football” she discusses the impact the African Cup of Nations has on European football and the tricks managers and players come up with to avoid participation.

Teams try and find ways to either cut down on the amount of time their players spend training with the national team or prevent them from participating altogether.

She concludes that

“Its a sad day for African football when players who play in Europe do not want to participate in their continents greatest football prize. “

Meanwhile Gbenga Sesan at Oro in his post title “The Humour of Preparation and Opportunities” asks whether it is too late for a new year greeting. He encourages readers to download and read an article he promised last to share last December.

“Is it too late to wish you a Happy New Year? My last words last year in this space included a promise to make my December 30 presentation available… Please feel free to download and read Where Are You: Positioning You for Personal Development, Nation Building and Global Competitiveness.”

Henry Ekwuruke's asks whether Poverty is African? as he ponders:

“Why do we think being poor is an African phenomenon? Six months ago, the overly hyped Live8 concert, the G8 summit in Gleneagles and a euphoric Western media dramatised Africa as the “face of poverty”. Everyone went home with a sense of magnanimity and selflessness. But did they get the full picture? Regina Jere-Malanda looks at the philanthropic stunts of 2005, and scrutinises the pauperisation of Africa. She asks: Is poverty peculiarly African, and what lies beneath it? What does it really mean? Living on a dollar a day? Really?”

Nigerian scammers aka “Yahoo Yahoo” or “419″ stories continue to make the rounds and there is now a site dedicated to eliminating the menance called the Nigerian Anti-Scam Network. Their brief:

Nigerian Anti-Scam Network' is a movement that is composed of patriotic Nigerians who are concerned about ending the menace that online scam and othe cybercrime has become to our nation. We are not an NGO and we have no list of members. This is a movement of those who want to do the little that they can to rid society of one of its ills, nothing more. We send our ideas to one of our member sites and reveal information on the evils being perpetrated in our society. We have no mandate to arrest or prosecute anyone; we aim basically to expose the supporters and perpetrators of these crimes on our online messageboards so that people who are desirous of information can have a place where they can do a spot-check and thus avoid being spammed. Many foreigners have anti-scam sites that are little more than anti-Nigeria sites. We are Nigerians and as such we believe that we can give a more balanced opinion.

Orikinla Osinachi of the Nigerian Times posts a rejoineder to an article published in the Miami Hearld titled “Nigerian scam grabs dollars of gullible”. He concedes that greed is largely responsible but also blames the CIA, FBI and Interpol for failing to “arrest and investigate the criminals.”

the perpetrators could be traced. They could be traced through their telephones lines and also could be traced to the cyber cafes used by the Nigerian Internet Scammers through their Yahoo or Hotmail accounts. The IP IDs of the computers are not hidden.

He concludes that the scams could be stopped once and for all if Americans and Europeans stop being greedy and the CIA do their job properly.

Literary blogger, Molara Wood posts the Nigerian Writers Choice on the best books of 2005: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Victor Ehikhamenor, Tade Ipadeola, Uche Nduka, Wole Oguntokun, Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu, Femi Osofisan,

Nigerian blogoshpere this week

kayode — Sun, 27 Nov 2005 09:50:48 +0000

Jangbalajugbu-Homeland Stories posts on the Global Voice workshop, “Expression under Repression”. He felt honoured as he says:

I am glad I attended the sessions as I was able to see some things I have been taking for granted as regards blogging. I was also able to meet Rebecca and Ethan in person.

Chippla updates his past entry on the ex- head of the Nigerian Police Force trials in an entry titled Tafa Balogun—Justice Has Not Been Served

He refrenced back to his post on the subject which he blogged about on the On the 19th of January 2005.

There it was stated, according to mainstream media reports, that Mr. Balgoun was suspected by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission of stealing and stacking up to a billion Nigerian Naira (US$ 7.7 million) of public funds in his private bank accounts.

And thereafter laments on the justice system, whereby the subject in question was only sentenced for 6 months in jail besides confisication of assets, for such a grievous offence. As he laments:

According to reports from ThisDay of Nigeria, the Nigerian Daily Independent and Reuters of South Africa, Mr. Balogun will be spending six months in jail less the 67 days served in detention. He was sentenced to six months for each of eight charges to which he pleaded and was found guilty. The judge requested that the six months imprisonment for each of the eight charges run concurrently. Were this not to be the case, Mr. Balogun would be behind bars for 48 months, equivalent to four years. All of his stolen assets will be confiscated and he was further fined 4 million Naira (US$ 30,000).

NubianSoul on a holiday visit to Nigeria, commends the speedy pass through, at the airport. As she says in her post titled Motherland:

I got through immigration, picked up my bags and was in the main hall of Nnamdi Azikwe airport in 10minutes!.
It usually takes about 30 - 40mins to get through customs in NewYork!.

Remmy Nweke at “ITREALMs” announces that a Nigerian youth won the WSIS award. In the post titled “Nigerian youth wins WSIS award”, he says :

Eighteen years old Nigerian, Samuel Oloyede Odofin, has emerged the second prize winner for the development category of the World Summit Youth Award (WSYA) held as part of the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society WSIS-05 in Tunis. His emergence was based on the entry, Biotechnology: The Food solution .

Naijablog attends the Abuja craft fair, and laments on Nigerian tourism, its current state besides also giving tips on what tourists normally want to buy and how to get them to buy it. As he laments:

It’s a shame - Nigeria has huge tourist potential, but they don't seem to understand the basics here – marketing, publicity, presentation, attention to detail etc.

And thereafter suggests :

Why not have a heritage day (public holiday) like they do in South Africa?

We Westerners can't help ourselves and the way our desire is constructed - when we want to buy stuff (unless we're tacky people from Essex or equivalent) we want stuff that looks as authentic as possible. We want masks that look fetishistic and old (even if they are not). The trouble is, many Nigerians are in some way embarrassed of too many masks (and spiritual forces that may lurk). So the Western tourist doesn’t get to buy an old-looking mask, and no sale is made. Such a contrast to Ghana, where they know exactly what we want and sell it in droves.

The two other things tourists/Westerners want to buy are ceramics and textiles. There were one or two okayish pieces from the Bwari and Marabara (Kaduna) potteries, but they were way overpriced (its much cheaper to buy pieces at source).

And last of all Black Looks adds her displeasure to the most popular topic in the Nigerian blogosphere this week, with her title “going going…” but directed towards “Governor Alamieyeseigha”, the governor of Bayelsa state of Nigeria, who absconded bail in London.

Whatever Governor Alamieyeseigha imagined would happen once he absconded bail in London is not clear. What is clear is that this is sinking into a farce as Alamieyeseigha now finds himself cornered on all sides. Like a trapped animal he has no other recourse than to snarl desperately accusing the Federal government of plotting to eliminate him. The British police may try to seek extradition. The State Assembly has called for his resignation or face impeachment. The Inspector General of Police is investigating him and yesterday gun shots were fired by thugs hired by the Governor as his Johnathon Goodluck attempted to ambushed the Governor.

The Nigerian press is having a field day as photos of “Big Mama” are circulated in the mainstream and tabloid media. The Vanguard reports of a “bitter war” between Alamieyeseigha and Deputy Governor, Johnathon Goodluck.

But thereafter she expresses her worries on the deployment of troops to the region.

A more worrying development is the deployment of 200 special forces to Bayelsa State as once again the Niger Delta is faced with a military campaign. Citizens of Odi and Kaiama will not have forgotten what happened the last time troops were sent into the region.