Abuja Earth Tremors: A wake-Up Call!

By Adewale Kupoluyi

Natural disasters often occur without prior notice. In most cases, when they occur, they have devastating effects on human lives and property. While not much can be done to prevent nature from taking its course, early warning mechanisms should be taken seriously to mitigate the effects of natural disasters. 

Few weeks ago, there were outbreaks of multiple earth tremors in some parts of the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja that caused many residents to be in dire state of panic, agony and discomfort. Abuja tremor For three days, the tremors caused great fears in communities of Mpape, Katampe District and parts of Maitama. Uncertainty faced the residents because earth tremors were unheard of in the FCT. Not only that, buildings and roads also suffered damage, forcing residents in the affected areas to relocate.

Why Good Journalism Truly Matters

By Adewale Kupoluyi

Media, democracy and development are tripartite partners that could drive any modern society. These critical issues formed discussions at the just-concluded 67th General Assembly and 2018 IPI World Congress of the International Press Institute, held in Abuja for the very first time in the history of Nigeria and attended by some 330 participants, 65 speakers from 37 countries. Themed, Why Good Journalism Matters: Quality Journalism for Strong Societies, the congress coincided with when IPI would hold its flagship global press freedom event in West Africa. 

Welcoming all, IPI Executive Board Vice-Chair, Dawn Thomas, said the hosting was an acknowledgement of the country’s historical importance to the institute and that Nigeria became a key focus of IPI’s Africa programme in the 1960s and 1970s, when it established the Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ). The IPI Executive Director, Barbara Trionfi disclosed that the congress was a reminder of the power of solidarity in the global media.

Disturbing Killings In Plateau State

By Adewale Kupoluyi

Over 200 persons have been reportedly killed and over 50 houses razed down in renewed attacks in 11 villages in three local government areas of Plateau State, namely: Barkin Ladi, Riyom and Jos South, attributed to armed herdsmen bandits, who have been terrorising the Middle Belt region since 2001. This time around, heavily armed gunmen had invaded the affected villages of Exland, Gindin Akwati, Ruku, Nghar, Kura Falls and Kakuruk; in the Gashish district as well as Rakok, Kok and Razat villages in Ropp district of the local government area. 

Eye witnesses to the killings claimed that security agents failed to intervene despite the high level of presence, as a result of the recurring communal violence. The source further noted that the crux of continuous unending bloodbath in the state was the unresolved crisis, saying the latest fighting was a result of the sale of cattle by herdsmen. After selling the cow, some locals attacked the herdsmen, killed them and took away the money alongside the cow.

Nigeria: Toxic Request On Anti-Grazing Bill

By Adewale Kupoluyi

Many Nigerians were greatly disturbed by the hasty decision suggesting that anti-grazing bills, as operational in some states in the country, should be repealed. The Minister of Defence, Brig-Gen. Mansur Dan-Ali (rtd), had spear-headed the abrogation move, arguing that laws enacted by states prohibiting open grazing should be suspended. Dan-Ali had called for the suspension of the implementation of anti-grazing laws in some states while instead negotiating safe routes for herders. For the Defence Minister, suspension of the law would reduce tension and restore peace in the country.

The Anti-Open Grazing Law seeks to outlaw open rearing and grazing of livestock and provides for the establishment of ranches and livestock administration, wherever the law is operational. It is currently being used in Benue, Ekiti and Taraba states. Abia is working on the passage of the bill. In Ekiti, the law prohibits open grazing between the hours of 6pm and 7am. In Benue, it enforces an absolute ban on open-grazing throughout the state and in Taraba, there is a proviso that it would be implemented gradually after massive enlightenment and awareness campaigns across the state. The legislation further prohibits movement of livestock and requires livestock owners to ranch them by criminalising free grazing and movement of livestock by foot. The implication of this is that the law seeks to end the age-long practice of nomadism, particularly, among the Fulani herders, whose activities in recent times have heightened violent clashes with farmers in many states across the country.

Nigeria: When Individuals Are Stronger Than State Institutions

By Adewale Kupoluyi

William Easterly is a Professor of Economics at the New York University, who in a 2006 publication: The White Man’s Burden: Why the West’s Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Harm and So Little Good, enunciated that fragile states are plagued by two factors, namely: political identity fragmentation and weak national institutions in their development.

According to him, states with poor institutions have negative effects on growth and public policy implementation.

Relying on this line of argument, what any serious democracy should strive for should be the state whereby institutions are stronger than individuals or persons, no matter how powerful. What usually transpires in the Nigerian public affairs tends to suggest otherwise. 

Wanted: A National Coalition Against Rape

By Adewale Kupoluyi

What has become a serious source of worry to many Nigerians is the dehumanising, wicked and heartless cases of rape of minors, girls, ladies and women in the country. Hardly any day passes by without cases of sexual molestation, violence and crime. Rape, the forceful canal knowledge usually of a female, is a serious calamity that can befall any female. Why is there an upsurge in rape cases in the nation?

A gory statistics, according to the Nigeria Police Force, shows that the nation recorded 1,827 rape cases in 2015; 1,959 cases in 2014; and 1,788 in 2013. Furthermore, NOIPolls, country-specific polling services in the West African region, done in partnership with Gallup, United States of America, revealed that four in 10; that is 36 per cent of adult Nigerians, claimed that most often, the alleged offenders involved in child rape were close family relatives and neighbours; amounting to 33 per cent, as almost half; amounting to 49 per cent of those that personally know a victim alleged that they were usually children between seven and 12 years old; while 78 per cent of the respondents alleged that rape cases were reported without any deliberate effort being made by the police to investigate and prosecute the culprits.