Nigeria’s Girl-Child Is A Resident Of Hell

 By Ray Ekpu

Recently, the world marked the International Day of the Girl-Child. Who is the girl-child and why is she singled out for attention throughout the world? That is what we plan to deal with here today. A girl-child is a biological female child who is any age from zero to 18 years. She is not only different from a boy-child but her needs are also different; her level of vulnerability is higher and many families and communities tend to treat her differently from, and in a manner that is inferior to, the way they treat the boychild.

Nigeria is regarded as a country of the young. About 46 per cent of Nigeria’s population are under age 15 and about 51 per cent of that population are said to be girls. Nigeria accounts for more than one in five out-of-school children anywhere in the world and more than 50 per cent of that number are girls. Even though primary school education is largely free and compulsory in Nigeria’s public schools about 33 per cent of eligible children are out of primary school.

New Ebola Virus Found In Sierra Leone

By Steve Jordan
A new Ebola virus has been found in bats in Sierra Leone, two years after the end of an outbreak that killed over 11,000 across West Africa, the government said on Thursday.  It is not yet known whether the new Bombali species of the virus – which researchers say could be transmitted to humans – can develop into the deadly Ebola disease. 

"At this time, it is not yet known if the Bombali Ebola virus has been transmitted to people or if it causes disease in people but it has the potential to infect human cells," Amara Jambai, a senior ministry of health official, told AFP.

"This is early stages of the findings," Jambai added, calling on the public to remain calm while awaiting further research.

Guinea’s Other Emergency: Organising Elections

Africa Briefing N°106

Guinea's President Alpha Conde

OVERVIEW

Guinea is due to hold presidential elections in 2015. The country’s electoral history, the failure of dialogue between the government and the opposition and the indefinite postponement of local elections originally scheduled for early 2014 are all bad omens. With a divided political scene split along ethnic lines, and in the grip of an Ebola epidemic that has weakened Guinea’s economy, the government has two options. It can either promote dialogue and establish a credible framework for the second free presidential election in the country’s history, a framework that could include a negotiated postponement; or run the risk of instability and inter-ethnic violence. Given its control of institutions and the political timetable, it must work with the opposition and international partners to build minimum consensus on electoral arrangements in order to reduce the risk of violent protests in the lead up to, during or after the vote.

Such a consensus must be stronger than the one reached for the September 2013 legislative elections, held after a delay of almost three years. Those polls were preceded by fierce controversy and violent demonstrations. Although the conduct of the vote was peaceful, the opposition accused the government of fraud and called for the elections to be annulled. Many foreign observers questioned the integrity of the polls. The government managed to contain tensions only because the opposition felt that legislative elections were of secondary importance, and because international partners mediated between the two sides.

Disease-Ravaged Africa- The Nigerian Scenario

By Moses Obroko

November 2030: 

Africa is facing a biological warfare from nature in the year 2030. The dreaded ebola virus has yet again surfaced; only this time in West Africa. It was in 1976 that it was first identified and named after a river in the country that used to be called Zaire, now Democratic Republic of Congo. Of course no one had really given any serious thought to developing a cure/vaccine for it in Africa as it usually breaks out at intervals every other few years. 54 years later, the virus having mutated into a stronger strain, has reared up its head once more; only this time with fatalistic global consequences.

The death toll from the virus is rising in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. Many countries along the West African coastline are already overrun by it with Benin Republic beginning to count its own fatalities.

And then it happened! Nigeria which had hitherto had been grappling with every other socio-economic and leadership issues known to mankind, got the virus. And the world noticed!

Nigeria has nearly 190,000,000 people who had been bedeviled by corrupt, inefficient leadership, having a rippling effect on their economic wellbeing. The people of Nigeria had always borne their poor socio-economic situation with the equanimity of the subjugated. One military dictator after another had instilled the fear of the ruling class in the masses. Robbed of any will power to challenge any government of the day, Nigerians always hoped and prayed to God to help them solve problems they already have the solutions to, but lacked the will power to do so. Nigerians can tolerate poverty, bad leadership and deprivations from the callousness of a wicked few.  This is because they can see and feel the problem. For instance, it is because there is no electricity, or the roads are bad or doctors are on strike and the hospitals are not well equipped; indeed the reasons are varied and countless for which Nigerians perfectly understand-and can stomach.