Torture: As it is in Nigeria, so it is across the world

Throughout Nigeria and other countries, torturing citizens is becoming a widespread way of controlling citizens. UN statistics report that 120 countries use torture as a device of obtaining information and running the country and in Nigeria alone, 2,000 people report torture cases each year. Torture in Africa is particularly violent, with victims having limbs chopped off or doused in acid or burned. In Nigeria, civil liberty groups have called for an abolition of the use of torture by security agencies. Ibechukwu Ezike, the director of the Civil Liberties Organization, claims that the “police are the guiltiest of using torture on suspects.” The National Law Enforcement Agency of Nigeria denied this saying they only “gather information through intelligence.” Agencies like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission say that they use polygraphs, MRIs, Electroencephalographs, and truth drugs (sodium thiopental).

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Even though agencies deny that they don’t use torture as a way to acquire information from suspects, I highly doubt this. There have been too many reports of torture by law enforcement agencies. This relates to what we have been learning in class because it shows the power that the government has over citizens and their rights. Nigeria is corrupt violence, but there are groups working to abolish torture practices by security agencies.

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Nigerian children branded as witches

Hundreds of children are being thrown out of their homes in the Niger Delta region and tortured for being "witches." The belief in witchcraft is not new in Nigeria, but children have never been the targets. Self-proclaimed pastors get paid for the extreme "exorcism" on the children. There is a huge number of fake evangelists that know very well that there is nothing wrong with the kids they brand. Some experts blame Christian extremism and polygamous rivalry for the child factor in witch-hunting. The kids are burned, starved, and beaten for no reason. Because Akwa Ibom civilians are ranked among Nigeria's poorest, they are easy to exploit. Special Programs like Children's Rights and Rehabilitation Network (CRARN) are trying there best to help save victims of these crimes.


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This relates to what we have been learning in class by connecting religion and the economy together. "Religion is the only industry we have in Akwa Ibom outside oil." People are faking religion and becoming self-proclaimed pastors in order to get money for torturing helpless children. "Some people are making brisk business out of defenceless children. It's greed, targeting fullible and susceptible rural people," said Aniekan Umanah. The society is unstable and violent, but changes are trying to be made to help the innocent children fighting for their rights for a normal life.


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Gunmen Kill Football Fans

A bus of football fans on their way to a game in southern Nigeria were ambused by a group of gunmen. At least six of the fans were killed and some are still in the hospital. The excecution-style murders were said to be revenge from a previous nightclub shooting. Bayelsa and Delta, where this occured, is a common place for shootings. Criminal gangs and militant groups frequently raid vehicles to hold people for ransom. Hundreds of people have been victims of "cult" violence such as this. Around election time, politicians are even known to pay campus gangs to commit crimes to other competitors. These violent ambushes have forced international companies out of this gas and oil-rich region for their safefty.

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This article relates to what we have been learning in class such as political violence, civil society, and the economy. Gangs that concentrate in Nigeria create violent attacks on one another for retaliation. Political figures contribute to this violence by supporting campus gangs. Because there is so much violence among the Niger Delta, it cuts into the level of economy. Nigeria could be profiting much more in their oil and gas industry, but because of all the violence, foreign companies have to remove staff and cut back their operations for safety precautions.

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Nigerian Oil Workers Go On Strike

Oil workers for the company, Total in Nigeria, have decided to protest against the recent situations by striking. The strikers are protesting about the apparent lack of security they receive from armed groups like Mend who have been kidnapping them and their family members. In addition, the kidnappings have increased over the past few months which are fueling the protesters even more. The protesters continued their plans for strike even after their national union executive informed them that the strike would only delay industrial action. The workers picketed their company office along with employees from Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (Pengassan). There have also been repeated rape threats towards kidnapping victims including towards the wife of the former oil minister who had to pay a reported $2.5 million dollars for her release after the kidnappers released a statement declaring that they would "rape her every day" until they were paid.

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The article relates to what we have been learning in class by the social cleavages caused by oil distribution in Nigeria. The armed groups like Mend are fighting for a more equal distribution of the oil wealth instead of all the wealth continuing to only to go the rich. Political violence is also displayed in the article by kidnapping. In addition, interest groups are formed like the workers who have decided to strike and their movement to strike also displays social movements that occur in Nigeria.

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Power shortages

Nigeria is in a severe crisis. They have a shortage of power which is causing lots of chaos to the country, economically and socially. Social wise, families are dying because of poor quality electricity and power sets. Last month, a 75 year old man, his wife, and four family members were found dead due to fume inhalation from their electricity generating set. Economically, the president, Mr. Umaru Yar'Adua, said that electric power would be his priority, except there is not much advancement. There are so many generators around Nigeria. In fact, the amount of generators in just Lagos and Abuja alone could power all of Nigeria. People in affluent parts of town are using up energy from generators over selfish and unreasonable matters. The use of generators should be limited because of how expensive they are becoming and because it is causing stress among the country.

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This article relates back to what we've been studying by economic and social stresses. Also, political powers aren't doing anything to help this crucial problem. The nation is in a crisis because its leaders have failed to solve the problem although the president has acknowledge they are in a "state of emergency." The government itself is unwilling to sacrifice for the common good of the country which is the attitude of the entire country. No one is willing to give a little of what they have to benefit the whole. The main problem is management inefficiency, lack of maintainance of the generators that they do have, and the lack of spirit of working toward a common goal. If Nigeria is to survive as a modern nation, it must figure out a way to meet its electrical needs with an uninterrupted power supply.

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Securing the Niger Delta

The Niger Delta, Africa's largest gas and oil industry, has been filled with violence over the past three years. This violence has caused a decrease in Nigeria's oil production by 20%. Rebels are fighting for a greater share of the country's oil network and are going as far as murder and kidnapping. Recently, the Nigerian military has cracked down on violence, and reduced most crimes. Kidnappings are becoming rare, and hopefully, all threats to the oil industry will soon be eliminated, bringing the oil infrastructure back to normal.

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In Nigeria, the outbreak of crimes is lessening, bringing the uncontrollable violence to a stop. Previous crimes have slowed down the economy of the oil industry. The tighter and stricter military enforcement should help ease the insecurities. The fight for a share of the country’s natural resources is coming to an end, reducing civil unrest throughout Nigeria.

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Distribution of Oil Income not Equal

Nigeria's income from oil revenue is huge. But much of that wealth does not reach the common people. This article features some of the groups that have come out on the losing end of this unequal arrangement - the Rumuekpe Youth Council, comprised of armed young people from the formerly-inhabited town of Rumuekpe, and the Rumuekpe Justice Fighters, a more organized group of men from the same town who relocated to Port Harcourt, the regional capital. Both groups agree that the four multi-national oil companies opperating in Rumuekpe did not invest in the community and are willing to react, an example of pressure from the bottom up, if revenue is not, in their opinion, distributed fairly. The oil producers argue that they are paying the rightful owners of the land they opperate on.
There is no question that oil has the potential to boost Nigeria's local economies. What is in question is the method of delegating these revenues. The Rumuekpe Justice Fighters claim that the current method of paying landowners divides the community against itself, a coinciding cleavage, and that the only way to peacefully repopulate Rumuekpe is to distribute funds directly to the community.

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Religious Violence in Jos

The Nigerian city Jos, capital of Nigeria's Middle Belt that spans across Muslim and Christian communities, has been a point of religious violence for countless years. Recently, deadly riots broke out being "the worst Nigeria has seen in at least four years." Over400 bodies were found dead, but many still remain in the churches and houses that were torched by outraged and armed Muslims and Christians.

This sudden clash was a result of elections in Jos. "Elections have not been held in Jos for years, in part because of fears that the political parties would split along religious lines, which is in fact what happened." Nigeria's Population of 140 million people is evenly divided between Northern Muslims and Southern Christians. Besides religious differences, violence is due to disagreements over land and political power. Riots have also been cause by what seems as insignificant but actually very serious matters. In 2002, an unintended insult towards Islam was made during a beauty pageant which left hundreds dead. In 2006, a Danish cartoon had controversies leading to almost 200 deaths.

Regardless of the long history of violence through this disputed capital, many officials believe Jos had come a long way in relieving religious tensions. However, this recent riot has brought progress to a stop. Mr. Salihu, a Muslim, said, "The violence threatened to undo years of careful bridge building between the communities. As someone who has been involved in a peace work between Christians and Muslims, this has set our work back 10 years. It will take us a very long time to rebuild the confidence."

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This article shows how changes in democracy and government elections have effects on society. The religious tensions were already dangerous already, but when elections came into the picture it disrupted the peace that was still in tact and led to deadly riots.

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Pirates in Nigeria Attack Again

In the report it is announced that The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) recently attacked a tanker carrying diesel right off the coast of Rivers state coast. This attack is unusually rare because most piracy attacks are typically on oil service boats and not large tankers like the recent incident occurred on. In addition to attacking the tanker, MEND has also kidnapped the Romanian crew that was on board at the time of the attack but promise that the men will be ‘released unharmed’.

The militant groups in Nigeria say they have resorted to piracy in order to achieve a fairer distribution of oil wealth in Nigeria and their efforts have actually cut oil production by a fifth in the past three years. But it is also known that many other armed groups make money out of oil theft under some powerful corrupt political figures in Nigeria.

This is not the first act of piracy form MEND (Nigeria's most public armed group), and the United Kingdom has decided to aid Nigeria and give the country military training in order to help the government stop the growing problem.

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The article contains first hand examples of the social cleavages between classes in Nigeria. The group, Mend, says their purpose is for equal distribution of oil wealth which illustrates that most of the wealth in the country probably goes to the rich and prominent leaders, and not the mass majority of citizens. Also, because of the pressures from below like armed organizations that undermine the rule of law and adopt piracy, oil production has been cut mostly because of the violence caused by those groups. The groups also can be seen as part of a civil society, making up a “third sector” that is fighting for equal treatment of all citizens that give a voice to people who also believe that distribution should be equal to all.

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