Nigeria: Away With Bastardised Federalism

BY WOLE OLAOYE
 
When a person does the same thing the same way repeatedly with the same results and insists that the only way out is to continue doing what he has been doing before with the hope that somehow a deus ex machina device would transform his circumstances to arrive at the desired goal, I'm sorry nothing new would happen.
That is the summary of my reaction to the well publicized communiqué issued at the end of the meeting of the Northern Governors' Forum. I would be the first person to concede that the governors are perfectly entitled to their opinion on any issue. It is however the duty of the public analyst to take contending issues apart and examine them closely to enable the society forge some kind of consensus on a way forward.
I find it curious that the governors desire a federalist arrangement and at the same time don't want a federalist arrangement. For example, the governors don't want states to have their own police service but they want to have power to control the commissioner of police who is a staff of the federal government. "The Forum is not in support of creation of State Police. It however resolved to prevail on the Federal Government to embark on Police Reform that will assist the states in control and management of police affairs, and sound philosophy of modern policing by amending the provision of Section 215."
This suggestion makes one feel like laughing in vernacular. The claim that the states are not ripe for the responsibility of running their own police service is false. What makes the federal government more responsible than the states? I won't be tired of reminding us that we had regional police forces in this country before. It was the military that 'unitarised' everything in sight. 
That military mindset is all too evident in some of our democratically elected politicians today to the extent that they can't imagine an arrangement where federating states have their full complement of powers to enable them function properly while the federal level coordinates affairs without assuming any kind of coup-leader-style supremacy.
The governors see the current zonal arrangement as an essential tool to address political exigencies but insist that the six geo-political zones must not be enshrined in the Constitution. Interpretation: let's continue running our country on ad-hoc basis without any constitutional backing so that we can blunder our way to progress. I find the thinking behind that quite strange.
The governors' recommendation that states be allowed to generate and distribute power is in line with true federalism. But you can't have your cake and eat it. You either want federalism or you want something else. You can't accept some federal elements and reject the rest. 
There is nothing wrong with preferring parliamentary system of government or, for that matter, unitary system. There are arguments in favour for and against each system. But one must have the courage of one's convictions.
To cobble and graft various elements for the sake of expediency is not the way to run a country. We have reached a state as a nation where we ought to decide whether we are with the rats or with the rodents, but this game of bats and vampires will lead nowhere except to the initial starting point of confusion and under-achievement.
One other recommendation of the northern governors that caught my attention was the four-year tenure of elected officials. I agree with their recommendation that the status quo be maintained, but I must quickly add that the issue is not really the number of years an elected official spends but what he does with the mandate. Many governors have spent eight years in office but can't point to one solid achievement. I can't be bothered about the tenure; I'm more interested in deliverables and performance. 
I was not surprised that the governors want the immunity clause retained. They want to be protected from jail. The jury is still out on whether that is not where some of them belong.
Tomorrow it will be the turn of South-South governors, South-East governors, South-West governors, North-West senators, South West Assemblymen and women, Ohaneze, Arewa Consultative Forum, Afenifere, Ijaw National Congress, Idoma Union, Tiv Congress, etc.
While the rest of the world is making giant strides in various directions and fashioning brighter futures for their children, my country is still broiled in a debate on whether what we call Nigeria is indeed one country or two ... or six-and-a-half. We hardly agree on anything. 
It is a disease of the elite. The common people of this country are agreed on their needs - potable water, electricity, good infrastructure, affordable education and health services, security of lives and property and a level playing field that allows every individual to realize his best potentials.
The elite operate on a different wavelength. All they ever care about is the acquisition of power. When they congregate, they don't address the issues making life a nightmare for the people. They skirt around the problem and zero in on their main goal: power. 
But what is the use of power if not used for the greatest good for the greatest number of people? What have our leaders done with the power they currently wield in their various fiefdoms?
On a lighter note, now that the governors have served notice that they have set up an advisory committee on the Petroleum Industry Bill, let me serve them a dose of Igodomigodo's intellectual masturbation on the issue of derivation: 
"It's with maniacal bewilderment that I received the renewed onslaught by most Northern governors against the 13 per cent derivation revenue funds accruable to the south-south states, which in and by itself has constitutional imprimatur, I must say, however, that the debate is quite salubrious coming at a time when some of us are saying that this country must peregrinate the trajectory of a national conference to resolve once and for all our unsettled issues in this country."
Talking seriously, in order to achieve a brighter future, to reinvent our fatherland, to chart a new path to the realization of our national goals, we have to do things differently from what we had been doing before. We all ought to have outgrown expediencies as the basis of governance. 
To survive in today's world, we all have to think outside the box. Frequently, we get too comfortable on traditionally familiar grounds and settle in. We simply stay there. But these days, it's imperative that we act against our programming to truly succeed and find our own greatness.
It is time to step outside our various comfort zones.








source:Daily Trust

Attacks in Nigeria Kill 3

SOKOTO, Nigeria—Attacks targeting authorities in two major cities of Nigeria's troubled north left two suspected suicide bombers dead and killed three others, authorities said Monday.

Simultaneous bomb attacks yesterday in the major northwestern city of Sokoto killed a civilian and a police officer, said the regional police chief, Assistant Inspector General of Police Mukhtar Ibrahim. 

One of the bombers struck a compound containing a police station and regional police offices, Mr. Ibrahim said. 

Another bomber attacked a police station about two miles away, he said.

Man fatally shot during attack at Nigerian vice-president's empty house

KADUNA, Nigeria –  Police in a major north central Nigerian city say three gunmen have killed a man outside an uninhabited house belonging to Nigeria's vice president.

Kaduna state police spokesman Abubakar Balteh said they killed a shoe-shiner and injured two policemen who were guarding Vice President Namadi Sambo's house Monday. He said the house was under renovation.

Balteh said rioters had burned down the house during postelection violence that swept across northern Nigeria after April 2011 presidential polls.

Human Rights Watch says the violence left at least 680 people dead in Kaduna state alone. Fighting started after President Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian from southern Nigeria, was declared winner. Many in Nigeria's north thought a Muslim from the north should have become president.

Meanwhile, authorities say attacks targeting police in a major city of Nigeria's northwest left two dead Monday.

source:Associated Press

Venezuelan envoy to Kenya found strangled‎

The acting Venezuelan envoy to Kenya has been found dead at her official residence in Nairobi, with police saying she was murdered by strangulation.

Anthony Kibuchi, Nairobi's police chief, said that the diplomat killed on Friday had been identified as Olga Fonseca Gimenez, the charge d'affaires and acting ambassador of Venezuela in Kenya.

"Police can confirm that the diplomat was strangled to death this morning, and the body is still lying at the house as we investigate circumstances leading to the death," Kibuchi said.

Kenya's ministry of foreign affairs said Fonseca reported to the embassy in Nairobi on July 15 to replace Ambassador Gerardo Carillo-Silva.

Venezuela's foreign ministry mourned Fonseca's death in a statement, saying she had had a "brilliant and committed diplomatic career".

The ministry said President Hugo Chavez's government trusts that the criminal investigation by Kenyan authorities will determine what happened and who was responsible.

Kibuchi said investigations into the death had begun and police had questioned two staff members at the residence.

Harassment claims

Fonseca arrived in Kenya in July to replace Carrillo-Silva, who had fled the country after three male workers at the ambassador's residence filed a complaint with the police accusing him of sexual harassment, a lawyer representing the workers said.

Ngure Mbugua said he started representing the workers after police did not act against the complaints.

He said he pressed Kenya's Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ask the Venezuelan government to waive the diplomat's immunity against prosecution so that the envoy could be arrested and charged in Kenya or Venezuela.

Mbugua said Carrillo-Silva fled before the process was complete.

He said after her arrival the workers told him that Fonseca demanded that the workers withdraw their sexual abuse complaints against her predecessor.

Mbugua said that on Tuesday Fonseca called for a meeting between him and her lawyer in which she insisted that she would fire the workers who lodged the complaints because of insubordination.

Mbugua said Fonseca's lawyer, Njeri Mucheru-Oyatta, advised her against firing the workers because they have contracts.

Fonseca then said she would consult with the foreign ministry in Caracas, Mbugua said.

Mucheru-Oyatta confirmed their meeting and said in the early stages of the investigation it was impossible to tell the motives behind her murder.

Mbugua said the workers he was representing were recording statements with the police over Fonseca's death.

source:Al Jazeera

Games open with rousing romp through British life

True to the London Games' motto of 'Inspire a Generation', organizers put unknown youngsters in the global limelight rather than established sporting greats in the closing act of a madcap four hours of comedy, spectacle, noise and emotion.

"I declare open the Games of London celebrating the 30th Olympiad of the modern era," said Queen Elizabeth, the 86-year-old monarch, followed by a fanfare and explosion of fireworks.

The ceremony on a cool, cloudy but dry London night kicks off 16 days of sporting thrills and spills up and down the country, as more than 16,000 athletes from 204 countries vie for the Holy Grail of sport - Olympic gold.

Celebrating her 60th year on the throne this year, the monarch played a starring role in a ceremony which film director Danny Boyle turned into an unabashed celebration of the host nation stamped with an unmistakably cinematic style.

Early on in the show, which ran well over time, Her Majesty appeared in a short, tongue-in-cheek film also starring Daniel Craig in his role as James Bond.

Wearing his trademark tuxedo, 007 enters Buckingham Palace and the queen, with two corgis at her feet, turns from a writing desk and says simply: "Good evening, Mr Bond".

The moment drew a huge cheer from the crowd, not used to seeing Her Majesty play such an informal part in proceedings, and coincided with a resurgence in the royal family's popularity following the 2011 wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Doubles of Bond and the queen then parachuted from a helicopter above the stadium, built on the Olympic Park in a once derelict area of London's East End, before schoolchildren sang the national anthem and the Union flag was raised.

LOST IN TRANSLATION?

The quintessentially British flavor to the ceremony, accompanied by a stunning soundtrack of hits from Elgar to U2, caused plenty of confusion among international journalists struggling to describe it to readers back home.

"It couldn't get any more British if it came drenched in tea," quipped the Hollywood Reporter movie magazine.

But others from abroad warmed to Boyle's vision.

"It really played to what Britain does best," said Sarah Clarke, a visitor from South Africa, as she left the stadium after the show. "It was a British ceremony but absolutely we felt included."

The ceremony, inspired by Shakespeare's "The Tempest", began with Britain's first Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins ringing a giant 23-tonne Olympic bell.

Played out before world leaders, European royalty and dignitaries including U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama, the show switched to the playful recreation of an English rural idyll with grassy meadows, fences, a water mill and maypoles.

A cast including shepherdesses, sheep, geese, dogs and a village cricket team filled the stage during the one-hour prologue to the show that included a dramatic, low-level fly-past by the jets of the Royal Air Force's Red Arrows stunt team.

After "England's green and pleasant land" came the "dark Satanic mills" of William Blake's famous poem.

Titled "Pandemonium", the next phase saw the grass uprooted and fences torn down to be replaced by a blackened landscape of looms and foundries that conjured the Industrial Revolution.

To the deafening beat of hundreds of drummers, giant chimneys rose from the ground and began to belch smoke as a small army of volunteers, dressed as 19th century factory workers, forged one of the five Olympic rings.

The giant orb was raised to the sky to join the four others, letting off a fountain of sparks and drawing gasps from many in the audience.

All around, especially designed "pixel" light boxes installed next to every seat accompanied each scene and created giant images of waves, flags and words.

In the second of three "acts", Boyle paid homage to the National Health Service, an emotive subject in Britain where people hold the right to free health care close to their hearts.

Hundreds of dancing and roller-skating nurses and doctors pushed beds on to the now empty stage and when the beds were illuminated, they spelled "GOSH" for the cherished Great Ormond Street children's hospital in London.

"The atmosphere was electric coming out into the stadium - like we could take over the world with our beds!", said Rachel Dobbin, a speech and language therapist from London who performed as a nurse in the ceremony.

SPOOKY VILLAINS

Giant representations of famous villains from English literature, including JM Barrie's Captain Hook, JK Rowling's Voldemort and Ian Fleming's Childcatcher, rose from their beds.

They were quickly vanquished by dozens of Mary Poppins characters descending from cables criss-crossing the stadium roof, carrying brightly illuminated umbrellas.

Comedian Rowan Atkinson, adopting the globally recognized character of mischievous Mr Bean, brought the house down as he joined the London Symphony Orchestra playing a single note throughout the score of the Olympic film "Chariots of Fire".

The final act, starring hundreds of young nightclubbing dancers, was a breathless journey through popular British culture over the last five decades featuring music from everyone from the Sex Pistols to Queen and the Jam to the Who.

Sitting at a computer outside a small house on stage was Tim Berners-Lee, the Londoner who invented the worldwide web and enabled the explosion of social networking that is playing a major part at the London Games.

Mid-ceremony he tweeted to his almost 83,000 followers "This is for everyone" which also projected across the spectators.

Next came the parade of athletes, with the Greek team keeping up Olympic tradition and leading out thousands of competitors dressed in colorful national costumes.

They marched around the stadium in double-quick time, urged on by the up-tempo beats of the Bee Gees band and others. The world's fastest man Usain Bolt strode confidently with the Jamaican flag while playing up to cameras and cheering fans.

Libya and Egypt represented a new chapter in their histories after the tumultuous events of the Arab Spring while the first ever female Olympic athletes from Saudi Arabia, Brunei and Qatar made appearances.

Britain, dressed in white and gold and hoping to repeat its medals success of Beijing in 2008, entered last to thunderous roars and the thumping strains of David Bowie's lyrics "We Can Be Heroes" as ticker tape floated down from the roof.

Boxing's most famous fighter Muhammad Ali briefly appeared to hold the Olympic flag, looking frail, wearing dark glasses and leaning on his wife.

The Olympic torch, ending an 8,000-mile odyssey across the country, was driven in a speedboat up the River Thames by former England soccer captain David Beckham and handed to Britain's most successful Olympian Steve Redgrave.

He then passed it on to seven youngsters - Callum Airlie, Jordan Duckitt, Desiree Henry, Katie Kirk, Cameron MacRitchie, Aidan Reynolds and Adelle Tracey - who performed a lap of honor before approaching the center of the stage.

Surrounded by thousands of athletes, they lit some of the 200-plus copper petals which rose on stalks to form a single burning "flower".

Ex-Beatle Paul McCartney rounded off a night when music played non-stop, and at concerts across the capital, with a nostalgic sing-along of his old band's hit "Hey Jude".

source:Reuters

Pirates kill Italian oil worker in Nigeria

Nigeria Pirates killed at least one oil worker in an attack on a boat owned by Italian energy firm Eni's local subsidiary Agip in Nigeria's Niger Delta yesterday, the military said.
"The boat conveying some staff of Agip was attacked by sea robbers and one of the staff of the company died when he was attempting to escape and drowned," Onyema Nwachukwu, spokesman for Nigeria's military joint task force, told Reuters.
Two other Agip staff were missing after the attack in the Tarabora creek in Bayelsa state, said Nwachukwu.
Pirates off the coast of Nigeria tend to raid ships for cash and cargo rather than hijacking the crews for ransom like their counterparts off the coast of Somalia
But onshore kidnapping is a major business in Nigeria, especially in oil producing coastal areas like Bayelsa.
West Africa is a worsening piracy hotspot. Attacks in the Gulf of Guinea have increased in recent months as the area, spanning a dozen countries, is a growing source of oil, cocoa and metals being shipped to the world's markets.

Curtain up on London's Olympic showpiece

An expectant London was preparing to launch the greatest sporting show on earth on today(Friday) with excitement reaching fever pitch hours ahead of the Olympic Games opening ceremony.

Costing £9.3 billion ($14.5 billion) and featuring more than 10,000 athletes, the four-yearly sporting extravaganza will open officially after a rollercoaster build-up.

Seven years after London defeated Paris for the right to host the 2012 showpiece, the curtain goes up on superstars such as Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps and Roger Federer as well as an army of ambitious amateurs.

Iconic venues and landmarks such as Wimbledon, Lord's and Hyde Park will form the backdrop to the Games while the Olympic Park complex, hosting swimming and athletics, has transformed a previously derelict part of east London.

"We made five promises with the bid, among them to place athletes at the centre of the project, to create a magical atmosphere, to inspire the youth of the world and to leave a lasting legacy," said Games chief Sebastian Coe.

"It has been an extraordinary journey over seven years."

The opening ceremony, starting at 2000 GMT and expected to be watched by 80,000 spectators and billions worldwide, is being staged by Oscar-winning British movie director Danny Boyle.

His fellow film-maker Stephen Daldry, the ceremony's creative director, said the show would highlight "the rich heritage, diversity, energy, inventiveness, wit and creativity that truly defines the British Isles."

Jamaican track star Bolt insists he is "ready to go" in his bid to defend his double sprint titles.

"I'm always ready," said Bolt, who will carry his country's flag at the opening ceremony. "I've had slight problems, but I'm ready to go."

Fitness concerns, an early morning car crash and losing over both the 100m and 200m to compatriot Yohan Blake in the Jamaican Olympic trials raised serious doubts about Bolt's ability to defend his titles.

In the pool, Phelps, whose eight golds in Beijing took his overall medal tally to 16, needs three more to surpass the all-time record of 18 set by Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina between 1956 and 1964.

His seven-event programme gives him plenty of room to make more Games history and anchor a US team determined to continue its dominance against Australia and China.

Phelps is the two-time defending champion in all four of his individual events -- the 100m and 200m butterfly and 200m and 400m individual medley.

One of his biggest challengers is team-mate Ryan Lochte, who has emerged as a serious threat in both medleys.

Australia is bringing in the big artillery with James "The Missile" Magnussen and James "The Rocket" Roberts, in the prestigious 100m freestyle.

Magnussen is the 100m free world champion and the fastest man ever in a textile suit with a 47.10sec.

The US have a "Missile" of their own, however, in 17-year-old Missy Franklin, who is set to become the first US woman to swim seven events at one Games.

South Africa's Oscar Pistorius, known as 'Blade Runner' because he runs with carbon fibre prosthetic running blades, will make history as the first double amputee athlete to compete at an Olympics.

At the velodrome, Bradley Wiggins, fresh from his historic Tour de France triumph, will fire up home hopes.

Zara Phillips, the granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth, adds a royal lustre to the equestrian events at Greenwich.

Federer, having won a record-equalling seventh Wimbledon title, returns to the All England Club in southwest London looking to add singles gold to the doubles he won with Swiss compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka four years ago.

His rivals will be Djokovic and Andy Murray but there will be no defending champion Rafael Nadal, who pulled out to rest his ongoing knee problems.

The United States will be comfortable favourites in the men's basketball with a Dream Team boasting LeBron James and Kobe Bryant.

The final week of build-up to the Games has endured a number of embarrassing setbacks, most of which have involved mix-ups over nationalities.

North Korea's women's football team walked off the pitch at Glasgow's Hampden Park in protest at their players' photos appearing next to flags of South Korea.

source:AFP/NewsRepublic

OIL MRKETERS IN $2.4 BILLION SLEAZE,says Presidential Committee Report

A Nigerian presidential committee said on Tuesday that fuel traders fraudulently collected 382 billion naira ($2.38 billion) last year in subsidy payments for fuel that was never delivered.

The probe commissioned by President Goodluck Jonathan is the latest in a string of investigations into a petrol import subsidy that is rife with corruption and a massive drain on state finances.

"The first (step) is the recovery of the 382 billion naira," AIG Imokhuede, the head of the committee told reporters at the presidential villa after submitting the report to Jonathan.

"The next is possible criminal investigation and prosecution of the OMT (oil marketing and trading companies) ... also, the external auditors and any government functionaries who served will be further interviewed to determine the roles if any in the issues that were discussed."

Imokhuede did not name specific companies but some of the world's largest oil traders import petrol into Africa's most populous nation, along with marketers owned by some of the richest and most powerful Nigerians.

Nigeria is among the top 10 crude oil exporters in the world but due to decades of corruption and mismanagement it has to import most of its refined fuel needs.

Nigeria scrapped subsidies on gasoline imports on January 1, potentially saving the country over $6 billion. But more than a week of strikes and protests erupted across the country against the higher cost of motor fuel, forcing the government to partially reinstate them.

Nigerian legislator Farouk Lawan led a parliamentary probe into the subsidy earlier this year, uncovering $6.8 billion in fraudulent payments over three years.

RISK OF SHORTAGE

But now his committee's report is being called into question over allegations Lawan demanded, and took part of, a $3 million bribe from one of Nigeria's richest oil tycoons to remove him from the list of fraudsters.

Lawan's lawyer said he took $500,000 offered by the tycoon, but only in order to expose him, saying he disclosed it to parliament and left the cash with parliament.

Lawan's report not only highlighted the fuel traders crimes but also pointed the finger at high level politicians, including Oil Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke. Jonathan's probe has focused on oil companies rather than government officials.

The Finance Ministry has held off subsidy payments until probes into marketers have been completed, prompting anger from importers and risking fuel shortages.

People queued for petrol at inflated prices in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta on Tuesday. Nationwide fuel shortages and a spike in prices risks further public unrest.

Fuel union Jetty and Petroleum Tank Farm Owners of Nigeria (JEPTFON) is shutting down fuel distribution facilities this week and another labour group, the Depot and Petroleum Marketers Association (DAPPMA), threatened to join them within 48 hours if government did not pay outstanding subsidies.

The subsidy is stretching Nigeria's finances and draining oil savings. The minister of state for finance said in June Nigeria only had 370 billion naira ($2.29 billion) left to pay subsidies, out of the 888 billion in the 2012 budget.

The central bank has said the subsidy budget will run out well before the end of the year, which means they will need to raid savings to pay for it. Powerful state governors have said they will take the federal government to court for what they call "illegal" over-budget subsidy payments.

source: (Reuters/Google)

BREAKING NEWS:President of Ghana dies

Ghana President John Atta Mills has died after being taken ill, the presidency announced on late today(Tuesday), but details of his death remained unclear.

"It is with a heavy heart that we announce the sudden and untimely death of the president of the republic of Ghana," the statement said, adding that the 68-year-old leader of the West African nation died a few hours after being taken ill.

source:AFP/News Republic

Nigeria Wants Looted Benin Artifacts Return by Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

The National Commission for Museums and Monuments  Nigeria, is demanding the return of 32 artifacts from the collector, Robert Owen Lehman.

The artifacts were said to have been looted during the Benin Massacre of 1897 and said to have been illegally taken by the British Expedition as spoils of war.

Mr. Lehman, a banker and a great-grandson of a founder of Lehman Brothers, had purchased the Benin sculptures between the 1950s and the 1970s.

Yusuf Abdallah Usman, Director General of the Commission, issued a statement saying “Without mincing words, these artworks are heirlooms of the great people of the Benin Kingdom and Nigeria generally. They form part of the history of the people. The gap created by this senseless exploitation is causing our people untold anguish, discomfort and disillusionment.’’

Asked whether the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston,U.S planned to return the objects, Dawn Griffin, a spokeswoman for the museum, said only that “we have not received any correspondence from Nigeria.’’

U.S. Congress is pushing Obama to label Nigeria’s Boko Haram a terrorist group

As attacks by the Nigerian militant group-Boko Haram become increasingly violent, some members of the United States of America (USA) Congress are criticizing the Obama administration’s refusal to formally designate the group a terrorist organization.

The designation would put the group on a watch list and would bar American individuals and entities from providing it with financial or other resources.

Johnnie Carson, the ranking U.S. diplomat for African affairs, has been quick to condemn the group’s actions. He noted that some of its members have been slapped with U.S. sanctions, but he argued before Congress recently that Boko Haram isn’t a homogenous organization.

“We believe it is an organization of several parts,” Carson told the House of Representatives Sub-committee on Africa, Global Health and Human Rights earlier this month.

“We believe the individuals we have designated represent a core group which is desirous of attacking not only Nigerian targets of interest but also international targets of interest.”

Boko Haram, which means “Western education is sinful,” has targeted primarily Christians in an attempt to create an Islamist state governed by Shariah law in Africa’s most populous nation.

The group claimed responsibility for a series of attacks in December that targeted churches across the country and claimed the lives of dozens of Nigerians.

To some critics, Carson’s explanation doesn’t stand up against the group’s increasingly militant efforts.

“The U.S. government has a lot to learn about Boko Haram and their intelligence should remain high, but that should not be an excuse for inaction,” said Morgan Roach, a researcher at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative research center in Washington.

Rep. Patrick Meehan, R-Pa., introduced a resolution in the House in May urging the State Department either to designate Boko Haram a terrorist organization or explain its reasons for not doing so.

He introduced the resolution in response to the group’s increasing aggression, including the Christmas bombings and an attack on the United Nations offices in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, he said.

“We’re seeing a growing body of work, not a diminishing body of work, and I think the more those activities carry on the greater the demand will be for the Department of State to explain the position that they’re taking,” Meehan said.

Given the advancement in Boko Haram’s attacks, particularly its increased use of homemade bombs, some U.S. officials suspect that the group is receiving technical support and training from other extremist groups in the region.

Gen. Carter Ham, the commander of the U.S. military’s Africa Command, and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper have explicitly said that Boko Haram now is allied with two other major African militant groups, al Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb and Somalia’s al Shabab, both of which the State Department has designated as terrorist organizations.

“I think (given) the amount of training and the quickness with which Boko Haram has been able to improve their tactics, improve their attacks, we have to be looking a bit more closely at where this is coming from,” Roach said.

However, much disagreement among experts remains about Boko Haram’s ties to the other terrorist groups. Unlike the other groups, Boko Haram’s rhetoric is focused on Nigeria, not the United States, said John Campbell, a senior fellow for Africa policy studies at the nonpartisan Council on Foreign Relations. Slapping it with the designation might limit the ability of non-governmental organizations and the State Department to work in Nigeria, Campbell said.

“Designation makes you feel good, but it’s an extremely blunt instrument,” he said.

The designation is exactly what groups such as Boko Haram want, argued William Minter, an activist on African and other international issues, adding that it could help the group raise its profile and aid in recruiting members.

But it also might prod the Nigerian government to improve its security efforts, Meehan and others say.

President Goodluck Jonathan has followed a strategy of diplomacy toward the group but his attempts at engaging it in a dialogue have failed, Roach said.

Jonathan last month fired his national security adviser, Patrick Owoeye Azazi, and replaced him with Sambo Dasuki, the cousin of Nigeria’s most prominent Muslim leader, in an attempt to build bridges between the mostly Christian southern half of the country and the mostly Muslim north.

Designating Boko Haram a foreign terrorist organization “would put pressure on the Nigerian government to say, ‘We take this threat seriously,’ ” Roach said.

Meehan said the United States also needed to take this potential security threat seriously, to avoid domestic disaster down the line.

“We don’t get to choose those who are making threats against the country, nor do we get the luxury of choosing how we might characterize them,” Meehan said.

source:The Kansas City Star.com

FLOOD KILLS 35 IN JOS

Torrential rainfall in  Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria yesterday forced a dam to overflow, causing flooding that left at least 35 people dead.
In addition, it destroyed more than 200 homes, according to the Red Cross.
"We have recovered the bodies of 35 people that drowned in the overnight flooding," said Manasie Phampe, head of the Red Cross. "About 200 homes have either been submerged or destroyed."
The confirmed victims so far included a 90-year-old woman and a three-month-old baby, adding that the toll could rise, he said.
"Rainwater and water from the Lamingo dam which overflowed swept across several neighbourhoods in the city," he explained. "We are still searching for more bodies as many people have been declared missing."
The downpour in Jos began at roughly 9:00 pm (2000 GMT) Sunday when many of the city's residents were at home for the night.
"I have lost seven of my children in this disaster," said Alhaji Abdulhamid Useini, who described heavy rain pounding his neighbourhood for nearly three hours, which also swept away some of his livestock.
The area coordinator for the National Emergency Agency (NEMA), Alhassan Danjuma Aliyu, called the flood "devastating" and said police and other rescue bodies were searching the affected areas in hopes of finding survivors.
NEMA was also trying to quickly bring in added relief materials to care for those who lost their homes, Aliyu explained.
"We hope to get these materials to them before the end of today," he said.
The head of search and rescue committee of the Muslim community in Jos, Sani Shuaibu, said the search was still on for 25 bodies still missing.
"We are still looking for 25 other bodies that are still missing and the figure of the missing may rise as families come forward to register their missing family members," he said.
"Most of the dead were children between three months and 13 years that were swept away by the flooding in their sleep. We picked the drowned along the river bank... We have two camps where around 700 displaced people are sheltering with little food and water supplies."
Much of the country has been affected by heavy seasonal rainfall, including Jos in the centre of the country and the economic capital Lagos in the south, where flooding has caused several road closures and other damage.
The rainy season typically runs from March to September.Last week, at least three people were killed by flood waters some 150 kilometres (90 miles) north of Lagos in Ibadan, an area where 102 people died following torrential rains last year.
At least 20 people died from flooding in Lagos last year, while 24 were killed after rains inundated a neighbourhood in Nigeria's largest northern city of Kano.
Nigerian papers have in recent weeks been filled with commentary criticising officials for failing to put in place measures to mitigate the impact of the annual, often severe floods.
In 2010, flooding affected roughly half a million people in two-thirds of Nigeria's 36 states.