Economic Recession: US Offers 3 Quick Solutions to President Buhari

A U.S official has offered cogent tips to the Nigerian government on a viable route out of the current economic recession.

 

President Muhammadu Buhari

 

The United States Consul-General in Nigeria, Mr John Bray, yesterday hinted on 3 major ways President Muhammadu Buhari could meander Nigeria out of the current economic recession.

 

Bray gave the advice in Lagos at this year’s Annual Lecture of the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Alumni Association.

 

The theme of his keynote address was “The Challenges and Opportunities of Managing a Recessionary Economy: The American Experience’’.

“As the most populous country on the continent and as the largest economy in Africa, Nigeria clearly stands to gain from increasing its attractiveness to foreign investors.(1)

“As in the case for the U.S. economy, FDI offers much to contribute to Nigeria’s ability to grow its economy and increase its global competitiveness. (2)

 

“I hope that Nigeria will use the current recession as an opportunity to adopt and implement economic reforms to address challenges that existed before the current recession,’’(3) he said.

 

Bray said that the U.S. would continue to be the number one destination for foreign direct investment because of foreign investors’ confidence of fair treatment, profit repatriation and rule of law.

Read More

Economic Recession: A Boom in the Business of Nigerian Prostitutes?

Lately, the word 'recession' has become the commonest refrain on the lips of every Nigerian. Even children can naively capture the meaning of recession and how negatively it has impacted on their well-being.

Illutrative photo

 

According to reports, the Nigerian s*x industry is valued at over one billion naira per annum and is a business that always has a way of evolving itself. 

 

In spite of the recession, one business that seems to be enjoying high patronage is prostitution. Rather than dwindle, the business is enjoying a boom, with prostitutes, claiming to be smiling to the banks.

 

In a chat with a Daily Sun correspondent, some prostitutes revealed that in Lagos, they were still in business because they decided to slash their prices.

 

Perpetual, a fair complexioned lady from Abia State, who operates at a brothel on Old-Ewu Road in the Mafoluku area of Lagos, told the reporter that the recession had turned out to be a blessing in disguise for her and some others.

 

Perpetual disclosed further that many men now visited regularly to unleash their frustration through s*x.

“Business is good now. The way these men now come here, you will think that there’s someone somewhere blowing whistle for them,” she said, releasing whiffs of cigarette smoke into the air.

“I have been in this trade for many years, and it was by choice. But now, lots of girls are joining in large numbers because of the bad economic condition. There is no month that we don’t get a new person, coming to join us here. For me, the recession should continue so that I will be smiling to the bank every time.”

 

Also speaking to a correspondent, a Tricycle operator (Keke Napep driver), when asked if he still got aroused in the face of the biting economic condition in the country, retorted: “Body no be stone!”

 

He said that the male organs would always carry out their basic duties whenever the need arose, and admitted that the frequency had reduced.

“I don’t play with it o. But you can’t compare it to when things were okay in the country. When I have the urge, I don’t go beyond one round. I need the energy for work,” he noted.

 

But some others told the reporter that the mere thought of meeting financial obligations could easily kill the libido.

“Does sex put food on the table for your children?” asked Maurice Osobo, a businessman. 

 

“It is a lazy man that makes sex so important. I am not saying men don’t have s*x again.  All I am saying is that no man, under this economic condition will be thinking about s*x when there is need to think of how to make money.”

Read More

BREAKING News: Buhari Picks Date to Address National Assembly on 2017 Budget & Recession...See Details

President Muhammadu Buhari will address a joint session of the National Assembly in a few days time on the 2017 National Budget.

President Buhari during the 2016 Budget presentation to a Joint Session of National Assembly 

 

In an official letter read by the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, during the Nigerian Senate's plenary session on Tuesday, President Muhammadu Buhari has informed the lawmakers of his readiness to present the 2017 budget proposal.

 

The Senate president disclosed that the president will present his government’s spending plan to a joint session of the Senate and the House of Representatives on December 14, 2016.

 

According to the letter, which was also sent to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, President Buhari plans to present the budget at 10 a.m. on December 14.

 

Recall that ast week, the federal‎ executive council (FEC) approved the 2017 budget, which is estimated to be N7.02trn.

 

The 2016 budget is N6.08trn.

 

Next year’s budget is predicated on an‎ oil benchmark of $42.5 per barrel.

 

The senate has already considered the medium term expenditure framework, which is a precusor to the budget.

 

Read More

When Recession Hits Osinbajo, He Forgets Mathematics; When It Hits Buhari, He Stops Promising Change

As the economic recession lingers and bites hard at Nigerians, Reno Omokri has highlighted the effect of the inconvenience on everyone both low and mighty.

Muhammadu Buhari and Yemi Osinbajo

 

When recession hits the economy, it leads to inflation. When it hits INEC it leads to ‘inconclusive elections’. When it hits APC, they turn Graduate to Conductors. When it hits Davido he stops singing ’emi omo baba olowo’ and starts singing ‘gba be oshi’.

 

When it hits P-Square they stop singing ‘chop my money’ and start singing ‘bank alert’. When it hits Nollywood stars, they stop flashing cleavages and bum and start flashing you with calls.

 

When it hits E-Money, he stops spraying dollar with spraying machine and starts spraying Naira by hand. When it hits UAC they start making gala with sausage only at the end and none in the middle.

 

When it hits Vice President Yemi Osinbajo he forgets mathematics and blames Jonathan for looting $15 billion arms fund though less than $10 billion was budgeted for defence under Jonathan. But when it hits President Buhari, he stops promising change and starts blaming Goodluck Jonathan!-

 

The incurable Responsibility Dodgers Syndrome afflicting the current administration has reached alarming proportions such that they have turned the weekly meetings of the federal executive council into blame Jonathan sessions.

 

Rightly, agents of the government of the day have earned the unflattering sobriquet, Responsibility Dodgers, because, the big guns in this government, despite their manifest unpreparedness for office and obvious cluelessness, have continued to blame past administrations, especially that of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, for their own failure.

 

It is even most disappointing that a clergyman like Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, a Professor of law, who incidentally is also the head of the administration’s economic team would join the fray.

 

The latest outburst from Professor Osinbajo was made in a paper he presented at an event in the United States last Monday, where he claimed that the Jonathan administration was never committed to defeating Boko Haram.

 

Really? Let me remind our revered Vice President of a statement made by his boss when the then President Goodluck Jonathan unleashed the firepower of the Nigerian Army on Boko Haram. Since the Vice President has finally confessed that it was a national leader of the All Progressive Congress who was a former governor that nominated him to his present post, permit me to quote from a newspaper in which the same national leader has interest to buttress my argument.

 

“On the 2nd of June, 2013, The Nation Newspaper in a headline titled ‘Buhari Faults Clampdown on Boko Haram Members’ said “Former Head of State and Presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Major General Muhammadu Buhari has faulted the federal government’s clampdown on  Boko Haram Islamic insurgents.”

 

“He accused the government of killing and destroying their houses while the Niger Delta militants were given special treatment by the government.”

 

“Buhari who spoke on Sunday on a Liberty Radio programme, Guest of the Week monitored in Kaduna also admitted that the road to the registration of the All Progressive Congress (APC) was rough, pointing out that the promoters of the party were well prepared for any hitch that may arise.”

 

“Buhari who first spoke in Hausa before the English version accused politicians from the Niger Delta region of starting the current insecurity in the country by recruiting and arming youths of the region in their desperate attempt to retain power as governors.”

 

“The former Nigerian leader said that unlike the special treatment given to the Niger Delta militants by the federal government, the Boko Haram members were being killed and their houses demolished by government.” 

 

From the above, a few things become clear:

1. There was a ‘clampdown’ on Boko Haram under Jonathan. 
2. It requires ‘commitment’ to unleash a clampdown. 
3. It was precisely Vice President Osinbajo’s boss, President Buhari who was against the clampdown.
4. So now I ask, who was really never committed to defeating Boko Haram?

The three facts established by the newspaper owned by the very man who nominated Professor Osinbajo to his present position has exposed him as either a liar or a poor student of history.

 

Given that the Vice President earned a professorship, I am not inclined to believe that he is a poor student of history which leaves only one other conclusion. Let us recall that at one point, while addressing pastors and leaders at a retreat of the Fountain of Life Church in Lagos, Osinbajo had also claimed that the Governments of Jonathan and that of late President Umaru Yar’Adua didn’t build a single road in ten years!

 

On the issue of recession and how to get out of it, the Vice President has continued to dither. In one breathe, he had blamed the downturn on the past administration, and in another, he found it convenient to put the blame on pipeline vandalism. And this is despite the fact that the administration, through the Chairman of All Progressive Congress (APC) Governor’s Forum, has assumed responsibility for plunging the economy into recession.

 

Any discerning mind seeking to appraise the Vice President by what he says, about the past administrations, cannot but come to the conclusion that Osinbajo simply does not realize the weight of the responsibility that rests on the seat he occupies.

 

I have no doubt in my mind that accountability requires that a man in his position, whose word bears the full stamp of the administration, should always aspire not only to speak the truth, but to say it with candour and dignity.

 

In the first place, he has continued to raise wide and baseless allegations of an embezzled $15 billion security equipment fund, without any shred of evidence. Again, I state that this is the kind of loose and trite talk that a Vice President should never be associated with. It is self evident that the entire five year defence budget under the former President did not have a security equipment component that was anywhere near that figure.

 

Also, when he insists that the military were poorly equipped, he is simply being economical with the truth. This is because, despite his distant disposition in office, we expect that he should at least know, that the entire military arsenal currently being deployed in the prosecution of the war against Boko Haram, are still the ones ordered or purchased by the past administrations, as the Buhari Administration is yet to replenish the nation’s armoury.

 

Funny enough, as I was writing this piece, Vanguard Newspaper published a video of the hero of our time, Lieutenant Colonel Abu Ali fighting Boko Haram with the headline “Video: Footage shows artillery weapons bought by Jonathan, used by Late Col. Abu-led troops against Boko Haram!” APC’s lies are catching up with them!

 

I leave Nigerians to determine the wisdom in the Vice President’s claim that Boko Haram occupied 20 of the 27 Local Government Areas in Borno State at the time his Government came on board, when the fact remains that the election that produced both the APC presidency and Borno State Governor, held in all the local government areas in the state.

 

I have to painfully admit that, going by his insensitive and offhand comments, Osinbajo has not impressed Nigerians either as a Senior Advocate, pastor or Vice President. We believe that as a senior lawyer, he understands that his garb of silk conveys on him the responsibility of speaking factually and evidentially. We are also convinced that as a Vice President, his office requires that he speaks with decorum and respect at all times.

 

Above all, as a minister of the gospel, apparently schooled in the forbearing ways of the Saviour, his utterances should only seek to heal, and not revile. Unfortunately, Osinbajo has failed woefully on all these counts.

 

I urge Vice President Osinbajo to rummage the archives to bring himself up to speed on how Chief Alex Ekwueme, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and Arch. Namadi Sambo, all reputable former Vice Presidents, functioned during their time, to make themselves effective in office.

 

For instance, Osinbajo should be reminded that during Jonathan’s short time as Vice President, he left a good track record as the head of the nation’s economic management team.

 

Beyond providing a sterling leadership for the well-placed economic direction of the Yar’Adua administration, Jonathan was also the face of the amnesty negotiations that brought about the peace in the Niger Delta. He did not achieve that through pointless drivel empty sound-bites. We have to point out that while the economy bleeds, this Vice president as the head of the economic management team of the present administration, who ordinarily should be marshalling out policy initiatives, remains aloof and marooned. Let us not forget that he was the head of the economic team when padding was introduced in our budgeting lexicon.

 

The 2016 budget which he supervised and sent to the Senate with all grime and warts, has gone down as the most scandalous and worst ever to be prepared in this country.

 

Ditto for the $29.9 billion loan request which has just been thrown out by the Senate, as a result of the opaque and vague nature of the proposal. It appears the shame of plummeting naira value, galloping inflation, mounting job losses and collapsing economy, increasing hunger as well as worsening unemployment numbers, are not enough to rouse the Vice President to action.

 

Otherwise, Osinbajo, did not have to wait for the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the National Assembly to remind his Government that a humongous loan bid without a comprehensive economic blueprint, simply cannot fly.

 

But did he need to be reminded that a depressed economy, or any economy at all, can never recover or flourish when placed on auto pilot, like Osinbajo and his team have done?

 

The earlier Osinbajo realizes that a good Vice President avoids the distractions of tactless activism, the better for him. What is required of him is to strategically apply himself to the job of helping his principal and the administration to succeed, especially in these trying times. 

 

*********************

Omokri is the founder of the Mind of Christ Christian Center in California, author of Shunpiking: No Shortcuts to God and Why Jesus Wept and the host of Transformation with Reno Omokri

Tori.ng 

Read More

CBN is Killing Us, We Will Sack 1,500 Staff and Leave Nigeria - Manufacturing Firm Drops Bombshell

As the economic recession bites harder at Nigerians, a manufacturing firm has joined in crying out over the hard times being suffered.

 

Eric Umeofia, the Chief Executive Officer of Erisco Foods, has decried the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s foreign exchange policies, saying they were stifling local manufacturers’ operations and growth.

 

Mr. Umeofia said this on Tuesday in Lagos at a news conference.

 

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Erisco Foods is an indigenous tomato paste manufacturing company that employs thousands of Nigerians.

 

“Our reason for investing in the country is not only for money but also to help our people and our country to achieve her vision in line with government’s agenda to diversify the economy.

“In our effort to support the government, we developed a technology that enabled us to produce tomato paste with fresh and dry tomatoes.

“We have spent over N4 billion to buy dry tomatoes and fresh tomatoes that ought to have wasted as usual from our local farmers, but it is just lying in our warehouses for lack of Forex approval.

“The Forex is to get enough machines sufficient for our capacity to convert them into quality raw materials for the production of tomato paste and to meet up with our packaging lines, to reduce our production cost.

“In view of the above, we will start to lay off about 1,500 of our staff in batches and start moving our machines and equipment out of the country,” the manufacturer said.

 

He said the planned downsizing and plant relocation should be completed in six months to nine months.

 

Mr. Umeofia said that the relocation of production plant to China would increase unemployment, tomato waste and the food import bill of the country, adding that government’s diversification agenda would be enhanced through effective processing of agricultural produce.

 

According to him, the country should move beyond producing primary agricultural products and into processing and manufacturing to enable farmers to reap from their cultivation.

 

“The bumper harvest we are experiencing now is as a result of the people’s determination to go back to farm in line with the campaign for more people to embrace Agriculture.

“If we are serious about diversifying the economy, we must go beyond producing primary agricultural products and go into processing, preserving and manufacturing.

“That is how to encourage farmers to work harder,” Umeofia said.

Read More

Skye Bank Sacks 50 Employees Amidst Economic Recession

One of Nigeria's top commercial banks has parted with a number of employees with reports that it may not be unconnected to the economic crisis in Nigeria.

 

There are indications that about 50 staff members of Skye Bank and staff in outsource, as well as auxiliary functions, have been exited from its employment, Nigerian Tribune reports.

 

The sack is coming on the heels of the economic woes of Nigeria which has led to an unfavourable ground for business growth and development.

Although the numbers of the affected non-core staff were not stated since they are not direct employees of the bank, the reasons for the exit as gathered ranged from performance, disciplinary issues as well as right sizing.

Most of the affected are Staff in Outsourced Functions (SOF) comprising Tellers, Drivers and Internal security guards.

 

The Management of the Bank it was learnt had also approved payment of generous entitlement and severance packages to those affected as contained in their engagement letter and as agreed with the workers union.

The bank thanked the affected staff and expressed its appreciation for their work while in the employment of the organisation.

It would be recalled that part of the mandate of Skye Bank’s re-constituted Board is  to run a lean and efficient organisation, control cost, aggressively recover debts owed by debtors and grow deposit liabilities and shore the liquidity position of the Bank.

Read More

How We Plan to Spend the $29.96bn Loan - FG Gives Breakdown

Following the announcement of plans to borrow about $29.96bn from international money lenders, the Federal Government has spoken out about how the money will be spent.

Mrs Kemi Adeosun, the Minister of Finance

 

The Federal Government has given details into how the widely reported loan it plans to borrow, will be spent.

 

The FG had revealed that within the next three years, it plans to borrow $29.96bn from the World Bank, African Development Bank, and Japan International Co-operation Agency.

 

The other international financial agencies it plans to borrow the money from are Islamic Development Bank and China EximBank.

 

Mrs Kemi Adeosun, the Minister of Finance, gave details of the loan in Abuja on Thursday in a statement by her Special Adviser, Festus Akanbi.

 

President Muhammadu Buhari had on Tuesday forwarded a request to the National Assembly to approve external borrowing plan of $29.96bn to execute key infrastructure across the country between 2016 and 2018.

 

According to the News Agency of Nigeria, Buhari said the borrowings will target projects across all sectors with special emphasis on infrastructure, agriculture, health, education, water supply, growth and employment generation.

 

Other sectors, he said, included poverty reduction through social safety net programmes, governance and financial management reforms, among others.

 

According to the statement, out of the total amount, Federal Government will take $25.8bn and states$ 4.1bn.

 

A further breakdown shows that $18.3bn will be spent on infrastructure development, with $14.6bn going to federal projects and $3.7bn going to state projects.

 

The projects billed to benefit from the loans are the Mambila Hydro Electric Power Project, which will get $4.8bn and the Abuja Mass Rail Transit project, phase two getting 1.6 billion dollars.

 

Also, $3.5bn is slated for the completion of the Railway Modernisation Coastal Project from Calabar to Port Harcourt-Onne Deep Sea Port segment.

 

About $2.4bn will go to the Lagos-Kano Railway Modernisation project; $1.3bn is specifically for the Lagos-Ibadan segment and $1.1bn will go to the Kano-Kaduna segment.

 

Also, $4.5bn  will go to acquire Euro bonds; $3.5bn will be dedicated to the Federal Government budget support.

 

The reports says $2.2bn will be sunk in education and health projects at state and federal levels.

 

Similarly, $1.2bn is set aside for agriculture projects at both levels and $200m is for economic management and statistics.

Read More

US Firm Confirms Business Has Been Good in Nigeria Despite Economic Recession

A foreign company in Nigeria has projected a good run of businesses despite the exodus of other firms owing to the current economic recession.

 

An emerging high-tech mobile phone manufacturing giant, Akyumen Technologies Corporation, has given the Nigerian business environment a clean bill of health inspite of the current economic challenges facing the country, according to ThisDay.

The United States-based company which is at present exploring ways to establish base in the country, disagreed with the notion that foreign firms are scared of coming to invest in Nigeria due to the economic down-turn.

Rather, the 32-year old Chief Executive described those pulling out or those who are afraid to operate in the country as not being fair or probably may have been in the business of shortchanging Nigerians.
 

Speaking on the company’s plan to introduce various ranges of telecommunication products into the country’s market, the Chief Executive of the firm, Aasim Saied said some of the devices can be used to improve learning and to empower the young ones with useful skills.

“We want to create jobs in any country that we go and we also want to train personnel in the highest possible customer service expertise so that they can be at home with the technology we offer.”
 

He said the firm will introduce 50 per cent subsidy for students in selected primary and secondary schools in the country as part of its social responsibility to support education which they benefited from.

He said currently Akyumen Technologies is partnering 25 universities and colleges all over the world in the use of its innovative devices for academic exploits. Akyumen Technologies started up in the state of California, United States of America.

Read More

Economic Recession: Mothers Now Selling Their Babies for N20k in Eastern Nigeria

An investigative report has uncovered shocking details how childtrafficking and baby factories are thriving in the eastern part of Nigeria as hardship bites harder on the people.

Baby sells for same price as 50kg of rice in eastern Nigeria. Reuters Photo

 

As 16-year-old Maria strained under the anguish of labor in eastern Nigeria, a midwife repeatedly slapped her across the face – but the real ordeal began minutes after the birth of her baby.

“The nurse took my baby away to be washed. She never brought her back,” the teenager said, gazing down at her feet.

 

Maria said she learned her newborn daughter had been given up for adoption for which she received 20,000 naira ($65.79) – the same price as a 50 kilogram bag of rice.

 

And Maria is far from alone.

 

A Thomson Reuters Foundation investigative team spoke to more than 10 Nigerian women duped into giving up their newborns to strangers in houses known as “baby factories” in the past two years or offered babies whose origins were unknown.

 

Five women did not want to be interviewed, despite the guarantee of anonymity, fearing for their own safety with criminal gangs involved in the baby trade, while two men spoke of being paid to act as “studs” to get women pregnant.

 

Although statistics are hard to come by, campaigners say the sale of newborns is widespread – and they fear the illegal trade is becoming more prevalent with Nigeria heading into recession this year amid ongoing political turbulence.

“The government is too overstretched by other issues to focus on baby trafficking,” said Arinze Orakwue, head of public enlightenment at the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP).

 

Record numbers of baby factories were raided or closed down in the southeastern states of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo this year, NAPTIP said.

 

A total of 14 were discovered in the first nine months of 2016, up from six in 2015 and 10 in 2014, the data showed.

 

Despite the growing number of raids, the scam exploiting couples desperate for a baby and young, pregnant, single women continues with newborns sold for up to $5,000 in Africa’s most populous nation where most people live on less than $2 a day.

 

Cultural barriers are also a factor in the West African nation, with teenage girls fearing they will be publicly shamed by strict fathers or partners over unwanted pregnancies if they do not give up their children, experts say.

“In southeastern Nigeria a woman is deemed a failure if she fails to conceive. But it is also taboo for a teenager to fall pregnant out of wedlock,” said Orakwue.

 

Maria said in the home in Imo state where she gave birth pregnant teenagers were welcomed by a maternal nurse who liked to be called “mama” but went on to sell the babies they delivered.

“(After I gave birth) somebody told me that mama collected big money from people before giving them other people’s babies,” Maria told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in the grounds of a school compound in her village.

“I do not know where my baby is now,” said Maria, using a false name for her own protection.

 

A lot of the trade is carried out in Nigeria but authorities suspect babies are also sold to people from Europe and the United States because many foreigners continue to seek infants there despite the controversy around Nigerian adoptions.

 

HIDDEN PROBLEM

 

The U.S. Department of State alerted prospective adoptive parents to the issue of child buying from Nigeria in June 2014 after Nigerian media warned that people were posing as owners of orphanages or homes for unwed mothers to make money.

“The State Department is aware of a growing number of adoption scams,” an alert on its website read.

 

Over 1,600 children have been adopted from Nigeria by U.S. citizens since 1999, according to the State Department website, about a third of them aged between one and two years old.

 

A U.S. official said the State Department facilitates contact between foreign officials and U.S. authorities when foreign governments raise any concerns regarding the welfare of an adopted child.

“To date, we are not aware of any concerns regarding the welfare of a child adopted from Nigeria,” a State Department official told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a statement.

 

In Britain a couple was found by the High Court to have “fallen under the spell” of an elaborate fraud after paying 4,500 pounds ($5,600) for herbal treatment in Nigeria that caused the woman’s stomach to swell, media reported in 2014.

 

The couple only realized they had been duped nine months later when presented with a baby in Nigeria that actually was not theirs, the Daily Mail newspaper reported.

 

Babies, whose biological parents or backgrounds are unknown, are offered to women who have not been able to conceive naturally, according to NAPTIP and interviews with three women.

 

The British government said it was committed to stamping out what it calls the “miracle babies” phenomenon.

“Specially-trained teams are working at the UK border to identify and safeguard babies and children who may be at risk of trafficking,” said a spokesman for the Home Office (UK interior ministry) in a statement.

 

Denmark suspended adoptions from Nigeria in 2014 citing concerns over forgery, corruption and lack of control by the authorities.

 

Apart from the illicit trade in babies, Nigeria also faces the problem of domestic and international trafficking in women and children.

 

Human trafficking, including selling children, is illegal in Nigeria, but almost 10 years ago a UNESCO report identified the industry as the country’s third most common crime after financial fraud and drug trafficking – and the situation appears to be getting worse, according to campaigners.

 

The Nigerian government has not ratified an internationally recognized set of rules known as the Hague Adoption Convention which meant the laws governing adoptions remain murky and complicated, campaigners said.

“There is corruption in the adoption process and that is the individual (Nigerian) states’ responsibility,”said NAPTIP’s Orakwue in a phone interview

“But central government should step up its funding to NAPTIP so we can increase support to victims,”Orakwue said.

HERBAL TREATMENT

 

Sophie, who was not able to conceive, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation she started to develop the symptoms of pregnancy after visiting a herbalist in Enugu state in 2014.

 

However the traditional doctor told Sophie her swollen stomach contained gas resulting from the herbal treatment rather than a fetus – but she could arrange to buy a baby.

“(The herbalist) said that she would bring me a newborn baby, girl or boy, depending on which one I wanted,” she said in the grimy sitting room of her apartment in southeastern Nigeria.

 

The woman said a girl would cost 380,000 naira ($1,250) while a boy would cost 500,000 naira ($1,645), said Sophie who opted for a girl.

 

But a sense of obligation to the woman who brought her a child prevented her from reporting the crime, she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“I considered everything and thought to myself ‘why should I report (the herbalist) to the police?’ She had helped me,” she said.

 

NAPTIP does not have data on the number of domestic adoptions that have taken place, a figure it says is not held by central government.

“In the southeastern states, the sale of babies is unarguably very prevalent as recorded by the agency,”said Cordelia Ebiringa, NAPTIP’s commander in Enugu state.

 

DEADLY GAME

 

Men are also involved in the process of illicit baby trafficking, with sperm donors impregnating surrogate mothers who then sell their babies, according to two Nigerian men.

 

Surrogacy is illegal in Nigeria.

 

Jonathan, 33, said he was paid 25,000 naira ($82) by his boss or “madam” every time he helped a client to become pregnant.

 

“I don’t see it as somebody exploiting me. The madams pay me for my work,” said Jonathan, who withheld his full name.

 

Jonathan said he did not know whether the women gave their babies away or went on to sell them although he was concerned what he was doing could be illegal.

 

“I often think ‘what if the police catch me?'”

 

Nigeria’s anti-human trafficking agency said it did not have data or information on the role of sperm donors, but many women they spoke to did not want to reveal how they fell pregnant.

 

“NAPTIP has no records of studs that impregnate the women at the baby factories as most of the pregnant women rescued and interviewed in such cases claimed unplanned pregnancies,” said Ebiringa.

 

Little information was made available by the Nigerian police or authorities in southeastern states about the number or identity of the people who run the “baby factories”.

 

No data was provided on the number of arrests by police in southern states of Enugu and Abia on baby trafficking offences despite repeated requests by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

 

But the dangers involved, both from the law and from trafficking gangs, are palpable, according to Jonathan, who estimates he has fathered about 15 children as a “stud”.

“These (baby traffickers) can be dangerous,” said Jonathan, who was once threatened by a group of thugs who found out what he was doing. “They are ready to kill anybody if you stand in their way.”

Read More

Recession: Pay Your Tax, Cleric Urges Christians

According to NAN, a cleric, Rev. Ifeanyi Okonkwo, yesterday urged Christians to pay their tax and other dues to contribute to efforts to exit the nation from the current economic recession.

In a homily at the Anglican Church of Ascension, Enugu, Okonkwo said that Nigerians could get out of recession if citizens would be faithful in paying their taxes and other dues.

The cleric criticised Christians, especially traders that found it difficult to pay their tax voluntarily.

Okonkwo said, “As Christ instructs us to give what belongs to Caesar, to Caesar; and what belongs to God, to God. Christ Himself paid His tax while He was on earth. This is to show that God sanctions every individual to contribute to the common-fund used in building the society and providing social services through paying of taxes and other dues.’’

Read More

Economic Recession: National Assembly Invites Buhari

The National Assembly today, 6th of October, 2015 passed a motion to invite President Muhammadu Buhari to address the legislature on efforts being made by his administration on the current economic recession. The motion was passed in agreement with the House of Representatives.

Read More