Animal lover donates pregnant python to Jos wildlife park

By Blessing Odega

An animal lover, Mr Zendi Mikuk has donated a pregnant African rock python to the Jos Wild life park in  Nigeria, believed to be the Africa’s largest snake.

Presenting the snake in Jos, Mikuk,  said  the African Rock Python is Africa’s largest snake.

NAN reports that a  female python lays 30 to  50 large eggs.

The African Rock Python feeds on small antelope, monkeys, guineafowl and domestic animals with fish, monitor lizards and crocodiles also eaten.

”I am an animal lover. I am supporting the Plateau tourism corporation to restock the park with animals.

“I will also collaborate with the management of the wildlife park for the upkeep of the python and its off springs,’’ he said.

Mikuk appealed to members of the public not to kill  any wild animal.

“I am appealing to the tourism corporation to enlighten the masses on the importance of conserving the wildlife instead of using it for meat and hide,’’ he added.

The acting General Manager of the Jos Wild life Park, Mrs Salome Bidda, who received the python, commended Mikuk for his donation.

“I call on members of the public to emulate this gesture which would help in preserving the park. It is a goldmine which makes the habitation complete.

“I appeal to members of the public to help support the preservation of the wildlife by making donations in cash or kind as their gestures would go a long way,’’ Bidda said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that few minutes after the snake was donated, it laid eggs.

The Forgotten Veteran of British Colonial Army

Jaston Khosa was one of 600,000 men from African countries who fought for Britain. He was quietly buried on VE Day after a life of abject poverty

In a crowded, Zambian slum on VE Day, a family gathered to bury one of the last veterans of Britain’s colonial army. Jaston Khosa of the Northern Rhodesia Regiment was laid to rest on the day the world commemorated the end of the war in which he fought.

The 95-year-old great-grandfather was among 600,000 Africans who fought for the British during World War Two, on battlefields across their own continent as well as Asia and the Middle East. Although their service has largely been forgotten, the mobilisation of this huge army from Britain’s colonies triggered the largest single movement of African men overseas since the slave trade.

In a eulogy to her father, M’tundu Khosa wrote: “Young man, you were a soldier. You are still a soldier to me. You have fought for your health till the last hour. My hero, always.”

My father died a proud soldier,” she told The Guardian after the funeral. “He would always talk about his war experiences. He was a strong, beautiful man and a friend to everyone, regardless of who they were. We will always remember him and we will meet on the other side.”

From his home in Zambia’s capital, Lusaka, Khosa enlisted and was sent to Somaliland in East Africa to rout Italian forces, which had formed the Axis alliance with Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. But more than seven decades on from his wartime service, Khosa died in poverty, in a dilapidated house in a squalid shantytown.

In late 2018, Khosa was invited to meet Prince Harry at a veterans’ event in Lusaka and spoke with the royal about his years fighting for Britain as well as his current state of destitution. At the time, he said he hoped that his meeting with the prince would raise awareness of the plight of Africa’s war veterans.

“He can try to report it to UK when he goes back and say that Mr Khosa, his house is not good,” he said. “I was a soldier of the British Empire.”But the elderly veteran’s fortunes did not change. His health deteriorated, and he died on Tuesday evening at home surrounded by his family.

Fearful of the coronavirus and unable to afford medical care, his family decided against taking him to hospital. So his diagnosis is not clear; relatives believe he succumbed to cancer or kidney problems.

Khosa was a keen supporter of the yearly Poppy Appeal fundraising event and enjoyed regaling friends and family with wartime tales. But he remained critical of the derisory level of state support for veterans.

“He was smart, he was always polite and he was never afraid to say how useless the government were,” said Mike Reeve-Tucker, a member of the Royal Commonwealth Ex-Services League in Zambia. “They’ve done bugger all for them.” He added: “As long as I can remember Mr Khosa has laid the wreath at the annual Cenotaph Parade in Lusaka and was always smartly turned out. He was an amazing guy.”

Khosa never lost his fighting spirit and was known to berate his country’s leader at Armistice Day events. “Whenever he saw [the Zambian president] Lungu, he always had a real bloody go at him,” reminisced Reeve-Tucker, a former lieutenant colonel in the British Army. At one parade, he added, Khosa and other former servicemen became so vocal that a Zambian veterans’ representative had to intervene and give a stern reprimand: “Boys, stop it — the war’s over, okay.”

Almost one and a half million African soldiers drawn from European colonies fought in the war. Britain’s African troops also faced discrimination. Some men were forcibly recruited even though the official line was that enlistment would be voluntary. Others faced beatings and floggings. The number who died is unknown.

All of Britain’s soldiers were paid an end-of-war bonus based on rank, length of service and colonial origins. Black Africans soldiers were paid up to three times less than their white counterparts.

Despite systemic prejudice, many individual British officers feel a deep loyalty to African comrades and raise funds through regimental associations and the Royal Commonwealth Ex-Services League. In 2018, the British government also announced a £12million package to help penniless veterans and war widows from Commonwealth nations.

Khosa, like many others, never escaped poverty. After the war, he found work at a game reserve and as a mechanic. In old age, he had to farm to survive.But he never lost hope that his military service would count for something.

“British and ourself, we suffered together,” said Khosa in an interview last year. “After when we come back, I will never have forgotten you and you will have never forgotten me because we suffered together.”

theguardian.com

Donald Trump Needs China More Than Biden

Ozy.com

China doesn’t want to see me elected,” President Donald Trump claimed last Thursday. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has insisted there is “enormous evidence” the coronavirus emerged from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. And Trump’s re-election campaign has already tried to portray presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden as soft on Beijing. “China would like to see Sleepy Joe Biden; they would take this country for a ride like you’ve never seen before,” Trump has said.

 

Join the dots, and the signals are clear: Trump hopes to flip the 2016 narrative, when his victory was tainted by Russian intelligence efforts to assist him. This time, Trump wants the world to believe that China would like Biden to defeat him. At a time he faces uncomfortable questions over his handling of the crisis, that’s a very dangerous ploy from the president — for America, for the world and for Trump himself.

 

Let’s leave aside the fact that there’s no evidence China has any favorite in the U.S. elections (Yes, Trump has challenged China economically more than most predecessors, but he has also thrilled rival nations by destabilizing the American political system). Let’s also ignore the reality that scientists have found no link between the virus and the lab in Wuhan, and have — including America’s top infectious disease specialist Anthony Fauci — said that they believe the animal-to-human transmission that sparked the pandemic likely occurred in one of the central Chinese city’s wet markets.

 

What makes Trump’s campaign strategy worrying for America and the world is that China is no Russia. His administration is reportedly preparing an arsenal of punishments for Beijing, from enhanced tariffs on Chinese goods to sanctions against the world’s second-largest economy. When the U.S. threatened other nations to dramatically cut trade with Russia or face sanctions, after the 2016 interference and Moscow’s earlier annexation of Crimea, the choice for the world was inconvenient but easy. Washington was asking countries to pick between two very unequal partners: Russia’s international trade volume is only a tenth of America’s. 

 But if Trump were to impose a similar set of demands in the case of Beijing, it would be very different. China and the U.S. are neck and neck as nations that engage in the most international trade. More countries count China as their top source of imports, rather than the U.S. It’s the third-largest market for American exports (after Canada and Mexico). As the global economy tries to claw its way out of a historic recession — which the IMF estimates will be the worst we’ve seen since the Great Depression — American companies and other nations simply cannot afford to give up on Chinese goods and the country’s market. And any move to renege on the $1.1 trillion that China owns in American debt — another weapon Trump is reportedly mulling — would destroy the credibility of the dollar, and spook other countries into selling off their U.S. debts.For sure, the world must seek accountability from China for its attempts at covering up the coronavirus threat. But that needs to be done in a manner that at the same time allows cooperation with Beijing in reviving the global economy. A decade is a lifetime in today’s world of quickfire presidential tweets, but it’s important to remember that it was coordinated action between the U.S., China, Europe and India that dragged the world out of the 2008 recession.

 

With multiple countries — from Australia to Germany — questioning China’s approach to the pandemic, the Trump administration could lend its weight to a global diplomatic campaign pressuring Beijing to answer questions it has so far avoided. The crisis has also made many manufacturers rethink their dependence on China’s supply chains. Focusing on facilitating their shift to other countries, including to the U.S. through tax breaks and other incentives, would make more sense for Washington than overt economic coercion against Beijing.

 

By instead turning China into a political punching bag, Trump risks hurting his own re-election chances. Already, his campaign’s targeting of Biden has pushed the former vice president into also taking hawkish, anti-China positions. “Trump rolled over for the Chinese,” says one Biden campaign ad that tries to paint the president as weak against Beijing. “He took their word for it.” Another ad, paid for by the pro-Biden super PAC American Bridge 21st Century, alleges that “everyone knew they lied about the virus — China,” and claims “President Trump gave China his trust.”

 

 

If this tit-for-tat over China continues to spiral, Trump will feel pressure to outdo Biden and to keep ramping up rhetoric — and actions — against Beijing. That will further narrow the window for cooperation between the world’s two biggest economies that’s critical at a moment of global crisis. Ultimately, Trump needs signs of an economic recovery by November to overcome the decline in ratings that he has suffered since the pandemic began. And for that, he requires China’s help — far more than Biden does.

 

Charu Sudan Kasturi, OZY AuthorContact Charu Sudan Kasturi

Why Prostitution Should Be Legalised in Nigeria

Yemi Olakitan

 Prostitution is common practice in Nigeria, especially in the major cities. A naïve young man can easily be lured by these women of easy virtues who stand on the red zones of Lagos looking for clients to patronize them. This is not to say that prostitutes target young men alone. Older, married men also patronize prostitutes in Nigeria. There is no age or status barrier. Clients come from the poor, the low, the high and the mighty. 

The practice of sex work is so commonplace in Nigeria that nearly every community has a brothel, particularly in Lagos and Abuja. Hundreds of beautiful young women can be found in the clubs and brothels selling sex. 

This is an irony because nearly everybody condemns prostitution in Nigeria. The imams, the pastors, the lecturers, the doctors, the lawyers, all condemn sex workers, yet their population is increasing.

This is despite the fact that we live in a very religious country. Nigeria has some of the largest churches in the world, the synagogue Church of all Nations, Living Faith Church, The Redeemed Christian Church of God, to mention but a few, with populations hitting five million in one church. The Muslims may not have very large churches but their population is closely following the Christian population in Nigeria. 

 If we have a very large population of religious people, the question to ask is: who are the people patronising them? If we have very religious people who lay claim to high morality, who are the clients of our equally large population of sex workers? Who patronises them? They must be patronised by ghosts!  

In the words of Mr Ayo Ogunjobi, social commentator and blogger, Nigeria must stop the hypocrisy. The government must recognise that some things are with us and deal with them accordingly so that our brothels will not be a haven for much more heinous crimes. It is an irony that a country that has anti-prostitution laws should have such high numbers of sex workers. 

Reports say prostitution began to boom in the early 1980s when street prostitution become a common sight on Allen Avenue, Ikeja, Oshodi and later Kuramo Beach in Lagos. It started slowly after Nigeria's independence in 1960. The common description of prostitution as the oldest profession in the world is really an understatement in Nigeria! The Association of Nigerian sex workers says it has about, 1,000,000 members working in different parts of the country but not all prostitutes have registered.

The question is why? Why do young, beautiful and promising Nigerian women go into prostitution? The first answer should be poverty. There is no social welfare programme in Nigeria.  The result is that they struggle to provide for themselves. Many of them, without an education or any other means of livelihood except their bodies!

We can also find an answer to this question in peer pressure. ''My friends are all doing it why shouldn't I?''

In a chat with Aisha from Benin on why she is practising prostitution. She explained,

 ‘’ I have no one to take care of me except my mother who is living in the village. Since my father died, we have been alone. If I don't do that who will take care of me? Aisha said she has a daughter and she pays her school fee from the proceeds of prostitution’’ 

The fact remains that prostitutes are very poor in Nigeria. Many are led into the profession as a result of extreme poverty. The money they make does not really deliver them from the chains of lack. They work, they earn, they spend it. Most of it on riotous living because of bad company. Alcohol and marijuana are easy to come by in the country.

 However, it has been argued that there are those who choose to practice prostitution, not because they are poor but because they love the profession. There are also those who do not spend their earnings from sex work on frivolous things but on things of value such as education, or  a small business. 

A young woman named, Precious will fall into this category, she agreed that economic factors pushed her into sex work. According to her, she later discovered that she loves sex and enjoyed satisfying her clients especially when good money is involved. The question was posed whether she will live the profession if offered a better job. She replied, ‘’a better job will not change anything, I love sex.’’

Precious is a classic example of the argument that some women willingly go into sex work not necessarily because of poverty as she clearly stated that if given a lucrative job she will continue her sex work because she loves sex.

In another story, Comfort, a full time prostitute from Eastern Nigeria, used the proceeds from sex work to get herself an education. Now, she holds a Bachelor's degree in Communications Studies and a National Certificate of Education, NCE. However, Comfort continues to work in the sex industry. When asked why? She said, she has not got another job yet but as soon as she has an alternative job, she will live the sex work. As we can see from the scenario of Comfort, she wanted an education, not having the money to pay for tuition, she becomes a sex worker. Comfort is a victim of circumstances. 

In another case, Patience from Edo state worked as a full-time sex worker in Lagos for many years. She set up a hairdressing salon from her savings. In an interview with the writer, she said, she had trained as a hairdresser in Benin but did not have the money to set herself up in business. She decided to come to Lagos to do prostitution in order to save up for her dream business. Today, she has a successful hairdressing salon. When asked whether she still wants to do sex work. She said, no. According to her, she wanted to get married and have children. 

In 1987, the Women's Center in Nigeria wrote a press release about the harassment, assault and rape of prostitute by law enforcement members. Here is another problem Prostitutes face in Nigeria. Law enforcement officer regularly harasses them for sex and money. These policemen take advantage of the law.  Prostitution is illegal in Nigeria. However, this is only in the books not in practice. As a result, policemen regularly exploit sex workers, arrest them, then demand a bribe. Most of the time, these bribes may be in cash or in kind.

The illegality of prostitution is really a problem in the sense that, unscrupulous people take advantage of it. The Federal Government should rather legalize prostitution if it cannot enforce its laws. What is the point of law in the books that have no teeth in practice?

Prostitution should be legalized, monitored and regulated. It is nearly impossible to eradicate prostitution.  Who can stop two adults who have decided to have sex? They will always find a way.

 This is the reason why it is called the oldest profession in the world. The government should rather regulate it in order to eradicate the more severe crimes of child prostitution, human trafficking, rape and extortion by law enforcement officers, armed robbery and so on. 

A sex worker who is robbed by a client cannot report the offence. Why should she report when she can be arrested and exploited by policemen?

These things are all hidden in prostitution. It will be easier for them to tackle these things when prostitution is legalized so that prostitutes can cooperate with the government in order to expose the criminals hidden among them.

Human trafficking and other offences hid behind prostitution will easily be reported by the sex workers if they are free to work straight to the police station without fear of harassment.

Another big problem is Transnational commercial sex work which started during British colonial West Africa. It began to grow into a transcontinental business in the 1980s. Starting in the mid-1980s, the trafficking of Nigerian Women to European countries such as Italy began to gain attraction, according to reports. 

Young women are usually lured into transnational sex workers by very wealthy individuals who operate variously criminal activities including organ harvesting. 

 In many of the cases, there were examples of coercion.  For example, a trafficked person  is asked to swear an oath to a juju priest. Some personal items such as bodily fluids are taken by the priests for keeping or used to administer the oath and seal the agreement. This keeps the victim in extreme phobia and mental bondage. In addition to the fact that prostitution is illegal in Nigeria.

 When the women reach the country of the destination they are immediately indebted to the trafficker for transport and lodging fees and will have to pay off the debt before they are freed, if ever. The US Department of State Office dedicated to Monitoring and Combating Trafficking in Persons ranks Nigeria as a 'Tier 2 Watch List country.

The illegal status of prostitution only sweeps the activities of the sex industry under the carpet as we have seen in Nigeria. The way forward is that government must show interest in sex work in Nigeria and protect its citizens.  

They should show an active interest in the sex workers so as to be able to cooperate with them to fish out human traffickers, drug traffickers, armed robbers and paedophiles etc. This is because brothels are the hidden places of various criminals since prostitutes can not report them for fear of harassment.

The government can also provide counselling resources and rehabilitation programs for those who are in the sex business by circumstances and not by choice. 

 There are many young women in the trade who want to get out of the profession but are trapped by circumstances beyond their control. Government can offer scholarships to those who want to go to school but do not have the means. They can provide access to health care, thereby preventing the spread of infectious diseases. 

Only by decriminalising prostitution can government do all these and many more. They can also encourage social workers to operate among prostitutes. The Nigerian government must realise that prostitutes are humans beings They are not from the moon.

(Names are changed) by Yemi Olakitan

Lockdown Experience of a Nigerian Sex Worker

A sex worker in the northern Nigerian has told the BBC how coronavirus has affected her livelihood.

 

She lives in the mainly Muslim state of Kano, which is in the fourth week of a lockdown. No-one is allowed to leave their houses, except on Mondays and Thursdays between 10:00 and 16:00 to get food.

 

And despite it being the holy month of Ramadan, Muslims have not been allowed to gather for prayers or for the iftar meal to break fast.

 

Aisha, which is not her real name, says she is struggling to survive because of the restrictions:

 

Quote Message: I’ve tried to carry on working, but it’s not possible because of the lockdown, and also because of the Ramadan period.

I’ve tried to carry on working, but it’s not possible because of the lockdown, and also because of the Ramadan period.

 

Quote Message: Almost everybody here is a Muslim, so it’s not possible because in the afternoon they are all around with their family and in the evening they want to go and break their fast with their family.

Almost everybody here is a Muslim, so it’s not possible because in the afternoon they are all around with their family and in the evening they want to go and break their fast with their family.

 

Quote Message: Most of our clients are married men, so it’s not easy for them coming out."

Most of our clients are married men, so it’s not easy for them coming out."

 

Islamic law, known as Sharia, was introduced in Kano state in 2000, and to several other areas of the north.

 

Since then prostitution, gambling and the consumption of alcohol have been banned in Kano.

 

Quote Message: In Nigeria the police are very, very active because sex work is not allowed, especially here in the north.

In Nigeria the police are very, very active because sex work is not allowed, especially here in the north.

 

Quote Message: If you are caught selling sex you can be arrested and jailed. We are in this Sharia state."

If you are caught selling sex you can be arrested and jailed. We are in this Sharia state."

 

Aisha says she has not received any form of official welfare payment during the lockdown.

 

Quote Message: In Nigeria there is no support for sex workers. None.

In Nigeria there is no support for sex workers. None.

 

Quote Message: The only support we have had is from the NSWA - that’s the Nigeria Sex Workers' Association - because they have savings put aside from what we usually make.

The only support we have had is from the NSWA - that’s the Nigeria Sex Workers' Association - because they have savings put aside from what we usually make.

 

Quote Message: So that if anything comes up we support one another. And now the NSWA has run dry, because what [money] it had, it distributed all around the state to sustain the sex workers.

So that if anything comes up we support one another. And now the NSWA has run dry, because what [money] it had, it distributed all around the state to sustain the sex workers.

 

Quote Message: I’m hoping that maybe it will get support from the government, but there’s nothing coming in.

I’m hoping that maybe it will get support from the government, but there’s nothing coming in.

 

Quote Message: We just have to look for another alternative and another means. The government doesn’t even want to know how the sex workers are doing here in Nigeria.

We just have to look for another alternative and another means. The government doesn’t even want to know how the sex workers are doing here in Nigeria.

 

Quote Message: But my funds are finished. They're gone. And I don’t have any alternative.

But my funds are finished. They're gone. And I don’t have any alternative.

 

Quote Message: I am able to pay my bills because of the support from some clients - those that care.

I am able to pay my bills because of the support from some clients - those that care.

 

Quote Message: They are maybe getting me a little food, some money.

They are maybe getting me a little food, some money.

 

Quote Message: But it’s not enough because I have to share what I have with my other sisters.

But it’s not enough because I have to share what I have with my other sisters.

 

Quote Message: So it’s not easy. And I don’t know how long this is going to be.

So it’s not easy. And I don’t know how long this is going to be.

 

Quote Message: I feel disappointed that my government hasn’t given us any support. The government is not trying at all."

I feel disappointed that my government hasn’t given us any support. The government is not trying at all."

BBC

Cameroonian Student Shares UK Lockdown Experience

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, many people were locked up in places away from home. Few had the option of returning home, whiles for others it was a case of staying put for as long as the virus remained a threat.

In the weeks that followed especially through much of March and April, governments around the world imposed lockdowns with the sole aim of containing spread of the virus as authorities find ways to better control it.

Emilia Nkengmeyi, a Cameroonian journalist was one of those who was away from home, without the option of returning home. She had been in the United Kingdom for over 6 months as of March 2020.

“I am undertaking a Masters course here in the UK. It’s a one year course so I am officially expected to finish by September,” she told Africa News via a whatsapp interview.

She shared experiences of being locked out and in a lockdown spanning how she coped with the time out, social support systems and support from her school (University of Leicester) as well as how she connected with friends and family back home.

1. How are you coping with the lockdown?

It was a bit hard in the beginning because I had to abruptly put so many things on hold. I had several assignments I was working on but couldn’t use the library and online resources couldn’t give me as much as I wanted.

Working too from home requires a lot of discipline and self-consciousness and it took me some time to adjust to all this.

2. How did you prepare for the lockdown?

Well! I am was completely unprepared for the lockdown because I really hoped things wouldn’t get this bad. But when it came I took the first two days to stock up the house.

Thank God we are allowed to use the supermarkets. I used the next few days to rearrange my program in between house chores and school work

3. How was a typical day like before the lockdown?

It’s usually a completely busy day for me. I had lectures and seminars almost everyday in a week. I would also use the school library during free hours. Sometimes I left home in the morning and only returned in the evening.

And weekends were even more busier, I would travel around visiting friends and sometimes attend parties.

4. What are your biggest fears?

My biggest fear would’ve been a complete disruption in my school program. But I am lucky the lockdown came almost at the end of course work. But I still fear, I may not be able to complete dissertation on time if this continues.

However, I have friends whose programs have completely been disrupted especially those who had to undertake internships abroad or in the UK as part of their courses. Some had very practical courses that could not be done effectively online.

5. How do you socialize in these times?

Personally, I try to attend Webinars and online trainings. We also have groups created specifically to help us pass through these trying times.

We constantly check on each other. We encourage ourselves to be more active indoors. Record ourselves doing sports and share with others and discuss topics which could help each other.

Updates on the UK lockdown situation, case file as of May 6

• March 23: PM Johnson imposes full lockdown starting 24th for three weeks
• April 16: Extension announced by acting PM Dominic Raab another three weeks
• April 30: PM Johnson announces relaxing of measures starting May 4 ahead of May 7 deadline

• Confirmed cases = 194,990
• Death toll = 29,427
• Number of tests = 1.3 million plus
• Active cases = 165,219

The UK is the world’s fourth most impacted country behind the US, Spain, Italy, according to Worldometer website

6. Are friends and family back home worried and why or why not?

Mum is particularly not worried because we talk almost every day, she knows me to be very cautious so I guess that reassures her.

But I think she would have been very worried if she wasn’t able to get through to me. Friends have been very supportive. I get series of calls and messages from loved ones and most of them feel relieved knowing that i am just fine.

7. What measures have school authorities taken to support students? How are your studies continuing amid the lockdown?

School authorities have been very supportive. All lectures and face to face teachings had been moved online 2 weeks before the official lockdown. We receive daily update from school on the virus and measures that are being put in place.

We have the support team at our disposal in case of any difficulties. And all assignment deadlines have been extended by 2 weeks. Students who cannot return to their home countries at this time and are at school accommodations are effectively being taken care of.

Authorities ensure they have access to daily needs. The semester has been officially closed but we still have access to personal tutors and some lecturers.

8. Do you think government took the right decision with a lockdown and why?

The country has been invaded by an unknown virus and no one could say for certain the extent to which we could be affected.

I think the lockdown was necessary not only to reduce the spread, but also to give authorities the time to figure out how best to handle the situation.

The Prime Minister was very reluctant to lockdown so I guess if he did at the end of the day, he had good reason to do so. It was a hard decision to take due to economic impact on the economy but am glad lives were considered a priority.

9. Are you following developments back home, what are your views on the virus management?

I try as much as I can to get daily update on the situation back home. It’s very worrying I must say. The number of cases is rising and other regions are also getting affected and I fear it may get worse.

I believe the government took an early and timely step to shutdown borders but we are not properly managing the few cases we have reason for the spread. We need more sensitization than we already have.

I see the minister of health tweeting constantly but the question is how many people use and have access to Twitter. I understand at the moment we lack technical equipment so the least we can do is go down there and sensitize the people.

But I guess this is not work for the government alone to do, we all need to join them in this fight. We can only win through collective efforts. I see some civil society organizations mobilizing their communities, providing homemade hand sanitizer and must commend them for their involvement in fighting this.

10. What is the saddest coronavirus news you have seen?

I was really hit when it was reported that close to 900 people died in a day in Italy. I have never been that terrified since the outbreak. I feared losing someone close to the virus.

source: africanews.com

Lagos Is a Country

by Eromo Egbejule Known for its traffic snarls and entrepreneurial dynamism, Lagos is a megalopolis with mega-needs.

Nigeria’s smallest state is also its most populous. The country’s top economic performer, Lagos is bursting at the seams as more people arrive in search of opportunity, creating demand for roads and electricity, amongst other things. Long seen as a bastion of the opposition, Lagos has not received the investment that it needs to grow in a well-planned way, despite the fact that it generates more tax revenue per capita than any other Nigerian state. Lagos’s population swelled to more than 20 million in 2019. This number is projected to double by 2050, and the mega-city’s problems could equally double. Babajide Sanwo-Olu of President Muhammadu Buhari’s All Progressives Congress (APC) became governor of Lagos State in May 2019. With Lagos sorely needing solutions to combat its infrastructure problems, he unveiled the Lagos Innovation Master Plan and also announced a N250m ($685,000) tech fund for research and development in the state in December 2019. The master plan seeks to make Lagos a ‘smart’ city and to provide the foundation for the growing tech sector based in Yaba to grow. Planning priorities In his 2019 inauguration speech as Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu named transportation, power, health and education as priorities for his term. As part of its plan to increase commuter options, Sanwo-Olu’s government has announced that the first phase of the light rail network will be operational in 2021Bids for the long-touted 38km-long 4th Mainland Bridge to connect both island and mainland districts also opened in December 2019. But experts say the government still needs to take innovative approaches to addressing the major infrastructural challenges. “For example, sewage will require a decentralised approach focused on empowering the local government system […] and providing community sewers,” says the University of Lagos’s Taibat Lawanson. “Mass transit will require a more centralised approach that is private sector-led, albeit supported with government subsidies.” Transportation minister and former governor Babatunde Fashola, whose stint as power minister failed to bridge the energy deficit, initiated five independent power projects (IPPs) to boost the power supply to government establishments. A sixth, 12MW one was switched on at the Lekki Free Trade Zone. Keen to make his own mark, Akinwunmi Ambode set up the Light Up Lagos initiative, which did little to boost the state’s electricity situation. His successor has announced plans to resuscitate that initiative, beginning with a proposed partnership with Siemens and the expansion of another IPP. More IPPs could emerge, powered by Lagos’s own mini-grid using pipeline gas supply, now that it has discovered oil and gas deposits. However, despite all its predilections for grandeur, Lagos has no proper sewage, drainage or mass transit systems, triggering complications during floods and traffic surges. Unlike the Pretoria-Gauteng metro service in South Africa, there is no interstate rail connecting the metropolis with satellite towns and the city of Ibadan, 129km away. There is a running joke that a Lagosian can land in London after a six-hour flight in the same time it takes his neighbour to go across the mega-city on a Friday evening. Evictions of urban poor With tony projects like Eko Atlantic adding space to the city for the country’s richest inhabitants, Lagos’s poorer citizens argue that they are being sidelined in the city’s modernisation plans. So far, Sanwo-Olu has followed in the footsteps of his predecessors. This January, a team of naval personnel and soldiers evicted residents of the popular Tarkwa Bay beach community. It was the latest round of recurring evictions since the 1990 exercise in the shantytown of Maroko, part of what is today’s highbrow Oniru and Lekki neighbourhoods. The communities provided shelter for low-income earners grappling with survival in the absence of state housing programmes. Lagos has not had an efficient public housing policy since the Lateef Jakande administration (1979-1983).. Jakande, who was also a former housing minister, supervised the building of over 30,000 housing units, mostly low-cost estates. He also initiated a metro line project that was halted by the military government that came to power in the 1983 palace coup, headed by a certain Muhammadu Buhari. Sanwo-Olu also recently banned the use of the ubiquitous okada motorcycles and tricycles, which rose as stop-gap solutions to the endless traffic jams and dysfunctional mass transit system. This, despite public meetings with representatives of various ride-hailing start-ups. “Both the federal and Lagos state government since 1999 have governed using a business/neoliberal model, forgetting that over 60% of the population live below the poverty line,” says Taibat Lawanson, associate professor of urban regional planning and co-director of the Centre for Housing and Sustainable Development at the University of Lagos. “The only one urban planning solution that comes to mind in which both poor and middle-class Lagosians in many parts of the city have been able to benefit is the BRT [Bus Rapid Transit] system, though it has been plagued by many challenges.” “Lagos can’t become a mega-city by violently displacing the poor,” concurs Ugochukwu Ikeakor, a Lagos-based policy analyst. “Very soon Lekki will turn into Apapa [with the same chaos]. All thanks to Dangote refinery. We don’t have a rail line that works, our roads are in a terrible state. Lagos is a dysfunctional city and it’s not the fault of the urban poor.” The plans for the mega-refinery highlight the need for joined-up planning at the state level so that companies and workers both have the infrastructure they need. Since the return of democracy in 1999, Lagos has effectively been ruled by the same party – the APC, its current iteration, evolved from the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and Action Congress (AC). Ahmed Bola Tinubu, a political godfather and current APC national leader, won two terms between 1999 and 2007 before supporting a series of protégés as his successors. Babatunde Fashola, now minister of works and housing, is seen as the brightest of them all. He initiated a series of projects in a bid to keep crime low during his tenure as governor (2007-2015). One publication labelled him ‘the man who tamed Nigeria’s most lawless city’. But even he fell short in some areas: a $1.2bn, seven-line light rail project originally conceived under Tinubu in the early 2000s and initiated early in Fashola’s second term remains unfinished. Transport commissioner Frederic Oladeinde says that more alternatives are needed:“Building more roads will not solve our problems because people will continue to buy new cars; the solution to our problems is creating more options.” Cutting ribbons regardless Bureaucratic and other hurdles often stop projects from making progress. With his exit already on the cards, Akinwunmi Ambode, who had built a number of overhead bridges and intrastate access roads during his tenure (2015-2019), invited President Muhammadu Buhari to cut the ribbons for the 10-lane road to the international airport and a multi-level transport interchange just after the elections, even though both projects were still under construction. It was the president’s second visit in a year, after the commissioning of a mega bus terminal, which has scarcely been used since. Since Fashola’s exit as the state’s chief executive governance standards have slipped. Ahead of the 2015 general elections, party supporters were convinced that if both Lagos and Abuja could be held by the same ruling party for the first time since the return of democracy in 1999 it would be an alignment for accelerated development. Fashola was named infrastructure minister in Buhari’s cabinet but that has failed to translate into major projects benefiting Lagos. His gubernatorial successor Ambode’s legacy was tarnished by the spectacular fumbling of sanitation in the mega-city after awarding a multi-billion naira contract to untested company Visionscape. It was one of a list of unforgivable sins that led party elders to rally the troops around Sanwo-Olu, another Tinubu protégé, at the party’s primaries, leading to the incumbent’s defeat. Since Ambode lost the governorship primaries in 2018, Visionscape has been forgotten, replaced by the Lagos Waste Management Authority and its Private Sector Participation operators. But the mountain of filth in Lagos will take a while to clean up.