World Bank postpones $90m Uganda loan over anti-gay law

The World Bank has postponed a $90m (£54m) loan to Uganda over its tough anti-gay law, which has drawn criticism from around the world.

World Bank officials said they wanted to guarantee the projects the loan was destined to support were not going to be adversely affected by the law.

The loan was intended to boost Uganda's health services.

Ugandan government spokesman Ofwono Opondo said the World Bank "should not blackmail its members".

The law, enacted on Monday, strengthens already strict legislation relating to homosexuals.

It allows life imprisonment as the penalty for acts of "aggravated homosexuality" and also criminalises the "promotion of homosexuality".

'Eliminate discrimination'

The law has been sharply criticised by the West, with donors such as Denmark and Norway saying they would redirect aid away from the government to aid agencies.

US Secretary of State John Kerry has called the law "atrocious". Both he and South African Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu compared it to anti-Semitic laws in Nazi Germany or apartheid South Africa.

A spokesman for the World Bank said: "We have postponed the project for further review to ensure that the development objectives would not be adversely affected by the enactment of this new law."

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The loan was supposed to be approved on Thursday to supplement a 2010 loan that focused on maternal health, newborn care and family planning. The World Bank's action is the largest financial penalty incurred on the Ugandan authorities since the law went into force. In an editorial for the Washington Post, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim warned that legislation restricting sexual rights "can hurt a country's competitiveness by discouraging multinational companies from investing or locating their activities in those nations". He said the World Bank would discuss how such discrimination "would affect our projects and our gay and lesbian staff members". In his view, he adds, fighting "to eliminate all institutionalised discrimination is an urgent task". But Mr Opondo said not everything the West said was correct and there should be mutual respect for sovereign states. "There was a time when the international community believed slave trade and slavery was cool, that colonialism was cool, that coups against African governments was cool," he told the BBC. "I think the best way forward is constructive engagement but... I think Uganda and Africa in general should stand up to this blackmail." President Yoweri Museveni signed the anti-gay bill earlier this week, despite international criticism. Ugandan authorities have defended the decision, saying President Museveni wanted "to demonstrate Uganda's independence in the face of Western pressure and provocation". Uganda is a very conservative society, where many people oppose homosexuality.****

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PHOTO: Lady Stripped Naked In Broad Daylight For Wearing A Mini Skirt

Uganda is currently a hub of controversies in the region. Just days after assenting to Anti-rape law which outlawed miniskirts and banned those including exposing cleavages, Museveni signed the anti-gay bill which now gives life imprisonment to homosexuals. In the wake of new laws, Ugandans have now taken the law enforcement into their hands.

A young lady headed to her place of work was stripped off at the heart of Kampala, the country’s capital, she was accused of donning a miniskirt and exposing her thighs, ”she has really big buttocks and thighs, she provoked my feelings and that is what we don’t want, I could easily rape her” shouted one of the rowdy members who undressed the lady exposing her nakedness.
What do you make of this…

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Why EFCC Can't Probe NNPC's Missing Funds Now - Lamorde

Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde

SAN FRANCISCO, February 27, (THEWILL) - The Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr.

Ibrahim Lamorde, Thursday declared that the commission can only commence probe of the alleged missing Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) $20billion oil money, only after Senate must have concluded and turn in report of its investigation.

He also informed that the anti-graft agency would need the report of the forensic audit promised by the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iwela, in its investigation of the alleged missing funds.

Lamorde spoke when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crimes to defend the commission's 2014 budget.

The EFCC boss noted that since the Senate Committee on Finance was already investigating the alleged missing NNPC funds, the commission would wait for the Senate committee to conclude its work.

The committee headed by Senator Victor Lar, had sought to know why the EFCC had not taken up the investigation of the alleged missing $20 billion NNPC funds.

Lamorde told the committee that criminal investigation into the allegation could only commence at the conclusion of the Senate probe when necessary foundation for the commission's investigation must have been laid.

He said it was also necessary to establish the exact figure involves in the issue.

'The issue about the NNPC is already being investigated by the National Assembly.

For every investigation, once the National Assembly is on it, we have to wait until they conclude.

'The fuel subsidy investigation through which we charged so many people to court, the son of the immediate past Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Chairman is one of the people standing trial, we did not go into the matter until it was concluded by the National Assembly and forwarded to us.

'We can't jump into an issue that is still being investigated by the National Assembly.

'It is not a mob kind of thing.
There must be a sequence of events that would lead us to taking decision.

'Let the hearing of the National Assembly be concluded.

Normally when it is concluded it is forwarded to us for investigation.

'I think people are in a hurry.
What people want to hear is that just because there is an issue today, tomorrow you are shouting kill him, stone him.

'We don't do investigation by the media.
When we are ready to charge the individual to court we would do so.

'But when the investigation is going on let the investigation be conclusive.

Otherwise we will jump into what everybody is saying.

'It is like the market place where everybody is shouting at the same time.

Law enforcement investigation is not like that.
'It is supposed to be systematic and you work towards getting evidence to sustain your case if eventually you go to court.

'You can't just go to court based on assumptions.
We have gone very far with some of our investigations.

Very soon when we are ready you will see us in court.

'It is very easy to say the anti-corruption agencies should look into it.

When this controversy started we had about three figures.

'One figure would emerge today, it would change to another figure tomorrow and we arrive at another figure the next day.

'Now we have settled more or less on 20 billion.
'The Minister of Finance said that they want to commission an audit firm to do a forensic auditing of the finances of the NNPC.

'You need a professional firm to handle this.
This is not a common investigation.
These are very technical things.
'Let the audit be carried out.
Let's know exactly what we are talking about, understand what the figures are and criminal investigation can follow.

'You can't start an investigation on nothing.
You need a foundation.
You can't put a super structure without a base.
So we need that base to put our own investigation on it.

'You can't do a parallel thing when the Minister of Finance has said that an independent firm would be contracted to do a forensic audit of the NNPC accounts.

It is the same documents that the auditors would use that we will also use.

' EMMA UCHE, ABUJA

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Rout the cowardly terrorists{ ragtag and bobtail } – Leadership

Even as the nation mourns with the parents and relations of 50 to 60 male pupils of Federal Government College, Buni Yadi, in Gujba LGA of Yobe State, who were callously murdered by armed bandits on Monday night, and with the people of Adamawa State whose relations were murdered by the same evil people yesterday, our gallant soldiers must be cheered as they pursue the cowards to the ends of the earth. Boko Haram terrorists have shown, by their tactic of invading hapless villagers and students on the fringes of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states, that they have no agenda other than to cause fear and sorrow. If it is to prove that Nigeria is incapable of protecting its own citizens, they have failed. Everybody must now join hands to root them out as quickly as possible. It is of no use arguing over who was right or wrong between Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno and the Presidency: our troops are superior to Boko Haram. The latter is composed of wild animals or timid beasts that seek to destroy innocent children, old men and women. They have been driven to the caves, mountains and forests where they, like other wild beasts, deserve to live in. The dastardly pre-dawn killings in villages like Bama, Izge and Malari in recent times suggest, however, that the wicked terrorists are facing defeat and therefore wanting to go down with hundreds of innocents. At least 360 lives have been lost this month alone in these villages. In some cases, several school maidens were taken away as prisoners to satisfy the sinful desires of the gunmen who have no morality and pay no allegiance to any religion. Only deranged fanatics, as President Jonathan described them, would deploy explosives, AK 47 rifles and rocket launchers in a 'war' with unarmed kids and villagers. No doubt, the emergency rule in the three north-east states has not been useless. But this time calls for a change of strategy. The brazen and unhindered ease with which the insurgents capture 'secured' places of worship and barracks highlights the failure of intelligence. For instance, a traditional ruler in one of the villages attacked last week narrated how he put a call to an army commander when he got information about the presence of the terrorists. The phone rang, but, rather than pick his call, the commander switched off his phone altogether for the four or five hours during which the murderers operated. Similarly, a checkpoint near the college in Buni Yadi was dismantled a few hours before the assailants moved into the school on Monday night. Soldiers manning checkpoints in Adamawa fled yesterday on sighting the terrorists. Is the mask of 'Boko Haram' coming off? That the sect has members in the armed forces is no longer in doubt. But why have all the Judases not been spotted and eliminated? Are some people prolonging this war because of monetary gains? In all the counter-terrorism designs so far experimented with, the military has not been able to connect the dots in terms of intelligence. And that explains why they have been caught napping at times. The timing, logistics, firepower and technical competences may favour our military, but the ultimate victory will come from good intelligence. The top echelons of the military should wake up to their responsibility, stop playing the ostrich and to the gallery, and halt the marauding forces. Failure in this anti-terror war is not an option.

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Is Nigeria's President A Terrorist?

I am in a quandary

"Every Nigerians Do Something......"

Send your views to 9jawedey On Twitter... @9jawedey

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UNICEF condemns recent killing of students in Yobe

UNICEF says attacks on children and schools are unacceptable
The United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, on Thursday, condemned the killing of at least 45 children by unidentified gunmen at the Federal Government College, Buni Yadi, Yobe.
This was in a statement by the Head, Media and External Relations of UNICEF in Abuja, Geoffrey Njoku.
UNICEF said attacks on children and schools were unacceptable under any circumstances as such deprived them to their right to education and basic needs to life.

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Adamawa Attacks Update: 13 feared killed, 2 banks, police station, burnt.

Boko Haram Attack in the North

The Boko Haram sect has intensified attacks in the North-East region in the past few days

At least thirteen people were killed late Wednesday when gunmen, believed to be members of the extremist Boko Haram sect, launched surprise attacks on Michika town in Adamawa state, residents and security sources have said.

Two banks – First Bank and Union Bank – were torched and might have been burgled by the attackers, while the main police station in the town was also burnt.

Some of the residents said on phone on Thursday that the attackers arrived the town around 9 p.m to unleash the mayhem for about five hours.

“They burnt three banks, police station, shops and part of the Michika Local Government Council secretariat. They came in nine Toyota Hilux vans firing guns and throwing explosives,” a resident who simply identified himself as Fide said.

Fide said he saw corpses of two victims whose remains were recovered on Thursday.

“One of the dead bodies is that of a staff of Bank of Agriculture,” Fide said.

The attackers reportedly raided Kirchinga, Kubla and Shuwa villages on their way to Michika.

“They burnt places of worship and the house of a former commissioner, Idris Nuhu, in Shuwa village,” said a resident, Sule Idris.

Confirming the report, the spokesperson of the 23rd Armour Brigade, Yola, Ja’afaru Nuhu, said the insurgents attacked communities in Madagali and Michika Local Government Areas.

Mr. Nuhu also promised to give details of the attacks later.

The lawmaker representing Michika constituency in the state House of Assembly, Admu Kamale, also confirmed the attacks.

Both officials however declined to provide information on casualty.

The gunmen had on Wednesday night raided three villages in Madagali and Michika local governments in the North-east state.

The chairman of Madagali Local Government, Maina Ularamu, who spoke with PREMIUM TIMES over the telephone Wednesday night, said the attackers, suspected to be members of the extremist Boko Haram sect, first attacked Kirchiga Village before proceeding to Shuwa town both in Madagali Local Government Area.

“They came to Kirchiga at a little after 8p.m and opened fire sporadically at the people,” he said.

He however could not confirm any casualty‎ figure as at midnight on Thursday.

Mr. Ularamu added that the gunmen also‎ attacked neighbouring Shuwa town, adding that the sounds of gunfire could still be heard in the town as at the time we spoke to him.

Also, a resident of Michika town, who declined to be named for security reasons, told PREMIUM TIMES that he could hear gunshots in the town.

He reported intermittent sounds of gunshots and said most people in the town had run home for safety.

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Boko Haram attacks, an inept government and the survival of the Nigerian state

On Tuesday, in an act of breathtaking savagery, members of the extremist Boko Haram sect murdered more than 40 innocent children in their school in Yobe State. For sheer barbarism, there is nothing to compare it – except of course the killing last year of another set of students in Borno State by the same vicious group.
Over the last five years, Boko Haram has been responsible for the most violent death of Nigerians outside the civil war. It is the worst threat to national security and even national unity.
Yet we continue to prevaricate. We are still not sure whether to woo them with amnesty or mow them with bullets.
Even the presidency which is privy to more facts than the rest of us seemed to think that we exaggerate the menace of the deadly Boko Haram sect. Or perhaps it just likes to play down the threat, in the hope that we will be lulled into a false sense of security.
Last week when the harried governor of Borno State, Kashim Shetima came to meet with President Goodluck Jonathan after another horror attack on a sleepy community, he told the press that what we face was war and that our army was less equipped and less motivated than the enemy.
Anyone who has followed events in that unfortunate part of the country knows that the governor had merely stated the truth. Yet the president and his handlers decided to subject him to very brutal attacks. The Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Doyin Okupe, accused the governor of peddling hysteria while the president himself used his last presidential media chat to lambast Mr. Shettima .
After Tuesday’s savage attack however, we now know who suffer from hysterics and histrionics. The presidency has made the usual condemnation, issued renewed marching orders and offered condolences. There is even talk of the army chief temporarily relocating to Maiduguri.
The Chief of Army Staff, General, Kenneth Minimah who appeared before a Senate Committee to defend his budget said the army did indeed needed more money, and more arms. In essence, the governor was right: we are not winning this war. Not yet.
But there is no talk of a presidential visit. In not standing by the governor, in never visiting the schools and villages where all the mayhem took place, President Goodluck Jonathan has deepened the people’s sense of abandonment. He has given the impression, unwittingly perhaps, that the lives of those children mean less than they should.
The sorrow of their parents will find no relief in the visit of the nation’s leader. In any civilized democracy, such a massacre would have merited at least one condolence visit by the President to the school. Indeed, the president would have been judged by how well he responded to the crisis, including whether he had shown the right amount of emotion. The quality of his empathy would have been the subject of intense national discourse for a long while. And how his visit was judged would have reflected on the opinion polls, with serious bearing on his presidency.
If we have any sense at all, the next elections will be lost or won solely on this administration’s record on security or the quality of the opposition’s alternative strategy. We cannot continue to condone a situation where a group of terrorists kill at will, cheapening the very essence of our being.
The taking of any human life is a horrible thing. The brutal murder of over 40 students in a boarding school is the height of bestiality. It is also proof that the government has failed in its most important task of protecting the lives of the people. There is no way of sugarcoating this fact, and no public relations gimmick can put a fine face on this matter.
This country cannot long bear the kind of savagery that took place on Tuesday. No government, indeed no system, can survive this sort of impunity.

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Nigeria Governors attack Jonathan over Sanusi’s suspension, demand accountability on missing $20 billion

The Nigeria Governors’ Forum, NGF, on Tuesday lambasted President Goodluck Jonathan for suspending Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido, weeks after he blew the whistle on the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, for allegedly diverting not less than $20billion of the country’s oil revenues. The apparently angry governors said at the end of their meeting in Abuja, which ended in the early hours of Tuesday, that the president’s action was meant to divert attention from the ongoing national discourse on the missing millions. They faulted Mr. Jonathan for the action, saying he lacked the power to unilaterally send the CBN governor on suspension. The President had insisted during a televised media chat on Monday that he had oversight powers over the CBN and therefore had absolute power to suspend Mr. Sanusi. But the governors disagreed, saying the President’s action was a clear breach of the CBN Act 2007, which demands the president to consult the Nigerian senate before activating any process that might lead to the removal of the bank’s governor. “The suspension of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, by Mr. President is in clear breach of the Nigerian Constitution and the CBN Act, 2007,” the governors said in a communique read to journalists by their chairman, Rotimi Amaechi. “The suspension is aimed at diverting attention from the current national discourse on the missing $20billion from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Account, allegations of corruption and questionable accountability.” The governors demanded accountability on the missing billions, and backed “the call of the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and the Senate Committee on Finance for a forensic audit of the NNPC Account”. The governors also condemned the Federal Government for failing to convene the meeting of the National Economic Council, NEC, in the last seven months, an action they believe was hindering the constitutional opportunity to discuss the state of the nation’s economy. They appealed to the judiciary, particularly the Supreme Court, to accelerate hearing on constitutional cases such as those on the Excess Crude Account and illegal deduction of oil subsidy. The Forum also deliberated on the deadly insurgency in the North-East geopolitical zone and urged the Federal Government to be more responsive to its responsibility of protecting lives and tackle the spate of terrorism attacks in Borno State. “We expect that the Federal Government should wake up to its responsibility of protecting lives and property in the country, especially in the North-East,” they said. The Forum, however, commended the Federal Government’s efforts at curbing Boko Haram insurgents in the North and urged the government to up their strategies. While condemning the current spate of killings in the North- East, it applauded the effort of the Nigerian military and other security agencies, which were tackling the insurgents. The governors also accused the Federal Government of illegally plotting to impeach Governor Tanko Al- Makura of Nasarawa, describing the action as a renewed assault on constitutional democracy. The NGF is an umbrella association of the 36 elected state governors of the federation, irrespective of party affiliation. Tuesday’s meeting was attended by governors of Rivers, Nasarawa, Sokoto, Adamawa, Kano, Lagos and Imo, while Osun, Borno and Edo were represented by their deputies. A former Governor of Kwara, Bukola Saraki, now a senator, also made a brief appearance at the meeting. Mr. Saraki was Mr. Amaechi’s immediate predecessor as chairman of the Forum. Read full communique below. ISSUED AT THE END OF THE 3RD MEETING OF THE NIGERIA GOVERNORS’ FORUM HELD ON MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24 2014, AT THE RIVERS STATE GOVERNOR’S LODGE, ASOKORO, ABUJA We, members of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), at our meeting today, at the Rivers State Governor’s Lodge, Abuja deliberated on a number of issues and resolved as follows: 1. The suspension of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, by Mr. President is in clear breach of the Nigerian Constitution and the CBN Act, 2007. The suspension is aimed at diverting attention from the current national discourse on the missing $20billion from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Account, allegations of corruption and questionable accountability. We support the call of the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and the Senate Committee on Finance for a forensic audit of the NNPC Account. 2. Forum reiterates its concern about the deliberate refusal of the presidency to convene the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting for seven months. This has emasculated the constitutional opportunity to discuss the perilous state of the Nigerian economy thus plunging the nation into an economic and political crisis. In addition, members appeal to the Judiciary particularly the Supreme Court to accelerate the hearing on the constitutional cases especially the case of the Excess Crude Account (ECA) and illegal deductions on oil subsidy. 3. Members condemn in totality the current spate of killings in the North East. We commend the Nigerian military and other security agencies in their effort to quell this. However, we expect that the federal government should wake up to its responsibility of protecting lives and property in the country especially in the North East. 4. It has come to our notice that the presidency is plotting to illegally impeach the Governor of Nasarawa State, Mr. Umaru Tanko Al-Makura. We condemn this renewed assault on constitutional democracy. Rt. Hon. Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi Chairman, Nigeria Governors’ Forum

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