Nigeria Should Develop Forensic Hospital and Confinement Institutions for Corruption Suspects and Convicts who could be described as Corruptomanics
The yearly, monthly, weekly, daily and minute by minute changing reports on corruption are overwhelming.
The perpetrators’ minds and bodies that energize corruption crimes are certainly overbearing for an emerging society like Nigeria.
The amount of public money misappropriated by many of these individuals for their own personal use is always so huge that in their respective lifetime they will not be able to use it up.
So could their misconducts be solely corruptly and mentally driven, if so what could be done to reduce their dangerousness to society.
For the first time in modern Nigerian history has a President, as in the case of President Goodluck Jonathan, publicly admitted that corruption is presently retarding the nation’s “growth” and “development”.
While the Chief Prosecutor of the nation, Mrs. Farida Waziri has also publicly admitted that acts of corruption are scaring off foreign investment from the nation. As part of the Wazirian theory on corruption reduction, she has recently called for the legal endorsement of death penalty for convicted corruption offenders.
In the same vein, the Oshodi theory on this national predicament as previously written by this author in various news outlets, is for the legislature to pass very harsh anti-corruption laws with the Sharia type punishment meted on corruption convicts.
Now the nation is clearly under national and international threat as a result of endless number of cases of corruption spanning from those currently on prolonged bail, long-drawn-out trials, on mounting appeals as well as those on runaway status or in local prisons.
Therefore, it is time to start managing these persons in a whole different way. Nothing seems to be working on their minds!
Also, is it time for a corruption offender registry? The answer is a resounding yes, and it must be a public registry.
Is it time for a Forensic Hospital and Confinement Center for Corruption Offenders (FHCCCO), of course yes, and it could become operational as soon as possible in form of private therapeutic wards or as correctional treatment ventures.
As the above institutional name indicates it could be a two-tie system, with the first for those with active cases in court but need a form of treatment and confinement as they remain dangerous to witnesses and informants.
The second phase of hospitalization and confinement is strictly for the already convicted corruption offenders in need of rehabilitative and punitive environment.
He or she should have been diagnostically assumed to suffer from what could be called “Corruptomania”, an apparent impulsive and anti-social personality like syndrome that calls for ongoing study for the sake of objectivity and proper classification.
For the purpose of definition, a battery of psychological testing should be conducted on the individual to determine if he or she meets the criteria of being classified with one or more mental diseases in the areas of impulsive and social personality related ailments.
That is, psychological disturbances in the likes of the anti-moral personality, authoritarian personality, impulse control disorder and other related mental diseases with a clear and revealing picture of a criminal corruption offender.
Possible diagnosis like “Corruptomania” could be reached on the individual and the offender could be characterized as a “Corruptomanic”; however these are presumptive classifications by this author.
The battery of test must be carried out by qualified doctoral level Psychologists given their lengthy training and extensive practicum and experience in intellectual, projective, affective, personality and neuro-psychological evaluations.
Clinicians with training mainly in Psychiatry, a specialty that is related to the application of medicine to mental illness should be fully involved with the committed or confined offender only for the purpose of psychotropic medication assessment and maintenance.
For the sake of efficiency, it is emphasized that private ventures should be authorized to open and manage the forensic Mental Health Hospital-Confinement structures.
But mean while existing university teaching hospitals with some of them almost sitting empty or lacking adequate clients and clinical students should be used by the supervising private companies on contractual bases.
The atmosphere must be that of maximum security environment. This will reduce the chance of these corruptomanics threatening informants, witnesses or prejudicing their case by flying to overseas.
The goal of their being hospitalized is : 1.To keep the public safe as many or some of these offenders are known to put fear and danger in those who try to bear witness against them; 2. To stop their continued impulsive spending with all of the monies, in billions of naira or millions of dollars that they reportedly pilfered; 3. Under involuntary hospitalization, they are more likely to become out-of-pocket, and prone to freely engage in confessional and penitent-related behaviors; 4. For the convicted corruptomanic ,instead of becoming a bearer of State Execution, long-term detention would help provide the development of guilt, responsibility and controllability.
The Forensic Hospital and Confinement Center for Corruption Offenders must be expanded into a full blown phase for convicted corruptmanics where they will face both punitive consequences and therapeutic applications, all pointing to moralistic restoration.
The benefit of the this proposed system of dealing with corruption suspects or convicted corruption offenders is the allowance of not putting them in regular jails or prisons where they could face fatal and deadly acts from the general inmate population because of their crimes against the public treasury.
They need to be placed in special environments like the FHCCCO because they are corruption crime offenders and nothing else. As we all know they are highly malevolence in their advances to the public order.
While in the first or second phase of placement their seductiveness to shady or crooked money must be therapeutically addressed, so as to assist them develop an understanding of the societal, financial, and other destructive harms they have caused to the general population.
The most essential goal of corruption offender restoration is that he or she refrains from committing corruption offences in the future. This goal is more important than feelings of recovered self esteem and well-being when they return back to the society.
To reduce their temptations and recidivism rate or future reconviction, long term probation is recommended as well as the need to deny them entry into any job that calls for financial contact.
The treatment and penal direction of this proposed system of justice could help reduce the dreadful nature and consequences of corruptomanics and help them develop humane behaviors and caring ways to their nation.
~ By John Oshodi
John Egbeazien Oshodi, Ph.D , DABPS, FACFE, is a Forensic/Clinical Psychologist and the Interim Associate Dean of Behavioral Science, North Campus, Broward College, Coconut Creek, Florida. joshodi@broward.edu
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Beyond Setting Up The Ambrose Alli University’s Sex Probe, Institute A Crisis Drop-In-Center Now
Every faculty, student and family share a common priority in an educational center like the Ambrose Alli University, and that priority is leaning.
The Ambrose Alli University will not be the first institution of higher learning in the world to be faced with incidents of corrupt sexual behaviors between unprincipled students and dodgy lecturers or professors.
What is likely to be the first across the globe, is that on July 23rd, 2010, there was dramatic moments of a student, one Judith Okosun, in a chaotic encounter in the latter’s tiny room.
The videotape was flashed everywhere by the Sahara reporters, an internet newspaper.
There is a human side to this tragedy, which is the possible shocking response that could occur in persons directly and indirectly involved in this all time and highly published live video.
At the time of his writing, one wonders what the said lecturer and student, their respective families, the administrators, faculty and the student body of the university could be going through emotionally and morally.
There is a feeling of dishonor, indecency and shame that could be robbing on those affected by this hurting incident.
In what manner could the lecturer be thinking at this time even if he is being viewed as dishonorable, what could be streaming through the mind of the student even if she is being described as vicious?
At on point in the video, in what seems to be expressions in the Ishan vernacular, an Edo State dialect of this writer, a female voice, possibly that of a female on-looker or Ms. Okosun could be heard admonishing the highly distressed and near-naked engineering university lecturer; “Oya gbe’, tell me yes mar, Oya gbe (meaning shame on you, tell me yes madam). At which time the visiting but physically shaking, distraught and fenced in lecturer, replied through a nervous laughter, “Yes Ma”.
In the moment to moment recording were traumatic mentions of his wife, and daughter by the streaming and noisy voices of on- looking students. The identified student, Ms. Okosun, could be noticed periodically showing fluctuating display of facial pain and anger, in between phone calls.
At the point of this ugliness, what about their families out there in their respective homes, what could they be thinking is this a real or a fake episode?
For the lecturer’s wife, adult children and other family members, this apparent devastating event could form into an emotional storm and an overbearing event.
There could be feelings of traumatic horror equally manifesting in the affected student’s family. Even the co-female residents of Ms. Okosun, as well as the male students operating the video could be heard periodically mounting off screams of frustration and fury.
And there is no doubt that the families of the video operators could be feeling a sense of traumatic worry over the whole explosion.
How does any one make the families and the faculty, the males faculty mostly, understand the institutional tragedies flowing from this experience.
In the live footage, is a middle aged husband, father and lecturer with a full and open display of his penis per the order of both the female and male students.
So clear, from the entire image is a display of alarm, shame and helplessness beaming across the nation, and globe into various homes, offices, markets, dormitories and other settings.
Under these situations, the need for clear and cool heads through some form of clinical help becomes paramount.
The Nigerian culture historically has little attraction to helpful outlet like professional counseling and therapy, and instead many Nigerians rely much more on religious, tribal and family support or remain indifferent to painful related experiences. Certainly these outlets are part of the African reality.
However, the current institutional traumatic grief stands out markedly, as it is first of its kind, therefore calls for a much more different understanding, assessment and emotional support.
The Psychology department of the University with the help of the two or three Clinical Psychology faculty should set up a Crisis Drop- in- Center in safe like settings. It should be open to any one related or involved with the university.
In matters like this one there are natural responses of all types which could include guilt, exhaustion, apprehension, bewilderment or catastrophe.
The overall set up for help should revolve around Institutional Tragedy Assistance. The lecturer in question should be encouraged to receive urgent individual counseling to deal with possible feelings of acute stress, hopelessness, insecurity, gloom and loss.
On a separate basis his wife and children could be scheduled for a critical or an immediate family therapy, and in future another line of therapy with possible inclusion of the dishonored father and husband should be offered.
The student in question, given her reported past frustrations and dealings with this lecturer, and her current feelings of mixed, disgusted emotions and all of her overwhelmed undertakings ,she could gain from a cooling out related crisis intervention.
Her own family could also gain from some sort of supportive counseling. The faculty, administrators and other university staff should be encouraged to come in for counseling focusing on ‘this could have being me’ session.
Also, other students like Ms. Okosun’s co-residents, the students’ video makers and other on-lookers to the graphic scene, could gain from a safe environment like the drop in center to vent their anger and worry over their aberrant acts, the videoing of the episode especially.
And for those whose assessment and intervention showed to be in need of further help, a psychiatrist could become involved for medication evaluation and possible psychotropic medication maintenance.
There is the need for the Vice-Chancellor Sam Uniamikogbo and his administration to realize that crisis intervention is of high importance as it could help the affected players and individuals, the lecturer and the student especially. Immediate therapeutic assistance could help them learn better coping skills, develop good problem solving behaviors, and avoid negative ways of coping such as engaging in self destructive acts like self injury, drug or substance abuse as well as help return the individual to their previous level of functioning.
The commission of inquiry and the probing panel of this incident by the State of Edo under the administration of Governor Adam Oshiomhole, and through an investigational team at the university are certainly required.
However along side the investigation should be the urgent set up of short term assistance like the recommended Crisis Drop- in- Center.
This whole matter appeared to have come upon the university silently and swiftly, and let’s hope that this extraordinary problem goes out in the same way.
~ By John Oshodi
John Egbeazien Oshodi, Ph.D, DABPS, FACFE is a practicing Forensic/Clinical Psychologist and the Interim Associate Dean of Behavioral Science, North Campus, Broward College, Coconut Creek, Florida. joshodi@broward.edu.
The Ambrose Alli University will not be the first institution of higher learning in the world to be faced with incidents of corrupt sexual behaviors between unprincipled students and dodgy lecturers or professors.
What is likely to be the first across the globe, is that on July 23rd, 2010, there was dramatic moments of a student, one Judith Okosun, in a chaotic encounter in the latter’s tiny room.
The videotape was flashed everywhere by the Sahara reporters, an internet newspaper.
There is a human side to this tragedy, which is the possible shocking response that could occur in persons directly and indirectly involved in this all time and highly published live video.
At the time of his writing, one wonders what the said lecturer and student, their respective families, the administrators, faculty and the student body of the university could be going through emotionally and morally.
There is a feeling of dishonor, indecency and shame that could be robbing on those affected by this hurting incident.
In what manner could the lecturer be thinking at this time even if he is being viewed as dishonorable, what could be streaming through the mind of the student even if she is being described as vicious?
At on point in the video, in what seems to be expressions in the Ishan vernacular, an Edo State dialect of this writer, a female voice, possibly that of a female on-looker or Ms. Okosun could be heard admonishing the highly distressed and near-naked engineering university lecturer; “Oya gbe’, tell me yes mar, Oya gbe (meaning shame on you, tell me yes madam). At which time the visiting but physically shaking, distraught and fenced in lecturer, replied through a nervous laughter, “Yes Ma”.
In the moment to moment recording were traumatic mentions of his wife, and daughter by the streaming and noisy voices of on- looking students. The identified student, Ms. Okosun, could be noticed periodically showing fluctuating display of facial pain and anger, in between phone calls.
At the point of this ugliness, what about their families out there in their respective homes, what could they be thinking is this a real or a fake episode?
For the lecturer’s wife, adult children and other family members, this apparent devastating event could form into an emotional storm and an overbearing event.
There could be feelings of traumatic horror equally manifesting in the affected student’s family. Even the co-female residents of Ms. Okosun, as well as the male students operating the video could be heard periodically mounting off screams of frustration and fury.
And there is no doubt that the families of the video operators could be feeling a sense of traumatic worry over the whole explosion.
How does any one make the families and the faculty, the males faculty mostly, understand the institutional tragedies flowing from this experience.
In the live footage, is a middle aged husband, father and lecturer with a full and open display of his penis per the order of both the female and male students.
So clear, from the entire image is a display of alarm, shame and helplessness beaming across the nation, and globe into various homes, offices, markets, dormitories and other settings.
Under these situations, the need for clear and cool heads through some form of clinical help becomes paramount.
The Nigerian culture historically has little attraction to helpful outlet like professional counseling and therapy, and instead many Nigerians rely much more on religious, tribal and family support or remain indifferent to painful related experiences. Certainly these outlets are part of the African reality.
However, the current institutional traumatic grief stands out markedly, as it is first of its kind, therefore calls for a much more different understanding, assessment and emotional support.
The Psychology department of the University with the help of the two or three Clinical Psychology faculty should set up a Crisis Drop- in- Center in safe like settings. It should be open to any one related or involved with the university.
In matters like this one there are natural responses of all types which could include guilt, exhaustion, apprehension, bewilderment or catastrophe.
The overall set up for help should revolve around Institutional Tragedy Assistance. The lecturer in question should be encouraged to receive urgent individual counseling to deal with possible feelings of acute stress, hopelessness, insecurity, gloom and loss.
On a separate basis his wife and children could be scheduled for a critical or an immediate family therapy, and in future another line of therapy with possible inclusion of the dishonored father and husband should be offered.
The student in question, given her reported past frustrations and dealings with this lecturer, and her current feelings of mixed, disgusted emotions and all of her overwhelmed undertakings ,she could gain from a cooling out related crisis intervention.
Her own family could also gain from some sort of supportive counseling. The faculty, administrators and other university staff should be encouraged to come in for counseling focusing on ‘this could have being me’ session.
Also, other students like Ms. Okosun’s co-residents, the students’ video makers and other on-lookers to the graphic scene, could gain from a safe environment like the drop in center to vent their anger and worry over their aberrant acts, the videoing of the episode especially.
And for those whose assessment and intervention showed to be in need of further help, a psychiatrist could become involved for medication evaluation and possible psychotropic medication maintenance.
There is the need for the Vice-Chancellor Sam Uniamikogbo and his administration to realize that crisis intervention is of high importance as it could help the affected players and individuals, the lecturer and the student especially. Immediate therapeutic assistance could help them learn better coping skills, develop good problem solving behaviors, and avoid negative ways of coping such as engaging in self destructive acts like self injury, drug or substance abuse as well as help return the individual to their previous level of functioning.
The commission of inquiry and the probing panel of this incident by the State of Edo under the administration of Governor Adam Oshiomhole, and through an investigational team at the university are certainly required.
However along side the investigation should be the urgent set up of short term assistance like the recommended Crisis Drop- in- Center.
This whole matter appeared to have come upon the university silently and swiftly, and let’s hope that this extraordinary problem goes out in the same way.
~ By John Oshodi
John Egbeazien Oshodi, Ph.D, DABPS, FACFE is a practicing Forensic/Clinical Psychologist and the Interim Associate Dean of Behavioral Science, North Campus, Broward College, Coconut Creek, Florida. joshodi@broward.edu.
Honorable Fatima Raji-Rasaki the matter with Police is the lack of Psychological Connection and Clearance
Honorable Fatima Raji-Rasaki the matter with Police is the lack of Psychological Connection and Clearance
Madam, public service is all about attitude. Even when an individual is imbued with the best conditions of education, remuneration and lifestyle, if the individual’s mindset and outlook to his or her work and the community they serve, is representative of negativity and indifference, then the nation is in trouble. This is what you are dealing with in regards to the current brand of police workers and officers in your midst.
This is why a candidate for any national and state security-related job should to go through an extensive battery of intellectual, personality, visual-motor and ethical testing. Thereafter, routine and periodic psychological assessment should follow on serving officers in the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) beginning with the lowest rank of constable to those at the commanding levels.
Also there are those who need to benefit from random testing and retraining depending on the test outcomes. Madam, take for example, the recent announcement of mass transfer of police personnel from the South-East to other geographical zones, following the kidnap debacle.
Of course, you can transfer the individual’s body but the same mindset remains active just like it has been, and with time that mindset is equally acted upon in any new environment. Such has been the case of the Nigerian security forces including the Police, Prisons, State Security Service, and others.
Madam, there is a reason why police psychological service within the police administration is important. For decades there is no independent or fully staffed doctoral level psychological testing and readiness unit in the Nigerian police force. None!
Madam and you wonder why, just last month in Abuja, why a police officer started shooting at a bus conductor after been asked for his 30 naira bus fare. Madam, that victim could have been my or your family member!
The formation, structure and functioning of attitude require special identification through the guidance of a licensed or certified Clinical and personality psychologist. Certainly, Police personality and competency testing must not be carried out by psychiatrists as they are by law and norm mainly involved in the medical model of verbally questioning, and mentally observing a client as well assessing their need for medication.
This understanding is important as the colonial mentality of sending troubled persons to psychiatrists mostly still persist in Nigeria. As a result there is little awareness of psychology in the institutional framework of the society. And by the way, these problems include the law making bodies like yours, where mental health course of actions are hardly raised or opined upon.
While there are some like you that see attitude change as indispensable in police work, the system remains closed minded to the methodological, clinical and ethical improvement that comes from the psychological measurement of a candidate preparing for a ‘life and death’ job.
Madam, we are talking about persons with the power of guns, sticks and badges, which could be misused by any ill-cultured persons attracted to security agencies like the Police Force, EFCC, SSS and others.
Madam not until you and your colleagues mandates Psychological systems in the Police force as expected in the 21st century, you are wasting your free time and space.
There are a few persons that see the clear need for psychology and have come to the realization for psychological clearance, and that person is Chairman Parry Osayande of the Police Service Commission. But the apparent loosely tight communication and relationship between the essential sub systems like the Ministry of Police Affairs and the NPF remain remains a strain on the entire system.
There are high level psychological experts (not the recent recruitment of persons with first degree in psychology, and calling them psychologist!) who are willing to exhibit patriotic, volunteer, and altruistic-related assistance. But they are ignored. Why, that is the way it is, in a system where strict rules of coordination, of ethics and shared understanding remain absent or lacking.
Madam, the work of policing certainly is demanding and risky, therefore one want officers who have the attitudinal power to relate with the people of the community. Since an attitude of good neighborliness makes fighting crime much easier. Madam, a monthly salary of at least 35,000 naira for a psychologically prepared constable would enhance the mindset of professionalism.
Madam, a systemic talk with the Chairman Parry Osayande will inform you that prior to an applicant being accepted into a police academy either as rank and file officer or as a cadet for inspector or superintendent position just taking an aptitude test, a physical exam, meeting the federal character or meeting entry qualifications like secondary school or others are not enough.
To be accepted into a junior or senior academy a battery of evaluations conducted by a doctoral and certified clinical psychologist is paramount. The number of test administered should cover personality, drug, lie-related test and other psychological related measurements deemed essential by the psychological examiner.
A detailed historical, personal, family and work background check is important. As a criminal background check is part of the pre-employment requirement, Madam you and others at the National Assembly, should provide the resources for the technology necessary for workable fingerprinting, and for data collection and banking of a citizen’s social history.
Madam, there is opportunity to advance the society towards peace and sanity, but it must start from your official end, and a cooperative relationship between the appropriate agencies will transform into the making of an officer with good attitude to security related services.
~ By John Oshodi
John Egbeazien Oshodi, Ph.D, DABPS, FABFE, is a practicing Forensic/Clinical Psychologist, and the Interim Associate Dean of Behavioral Science, Broward College, North Campus, Coconut Creek, Florida, joshodi@broward.edu
Madam, public service is all about attitude. Even when an individual is imbued with the best conditions of education, remuneration and lifestyle, if the individual’s mindset and outlook to his or her work and the community they serve, is representative of negativity and indifference, then the nation is in trouble. This is what you are dealing with in regards to the current brand of police workers and officers in your midst.
This is why a candidate for any national and state security-related job should to go through an extensive battery of intellectual, personality, visual-motor and ethical testing. Thereafter, routine and periodic psychological assessment should follow on serving officers in the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) beginning with the lowest rank of constable to those at the commanding levels.
Also there are those who need to benefit from random testing and retraining depending on the test outcomes. Madam, take for example, the recent announcement of mass transfer of police personnel from the South-East to other geographical zones, following the kidnap debacle.
Of course, you can transfer the individual’s body but the same mindset remains active just like it has been, and with time that mindset is equally acted upon in any new environment. Such has been the case of the Nigerian security forces including the Police, Prisons, State Security Service, and others.
Madam, there is a reason why police psychological service within the police administration is important. For decades there is no independent or fully staffed doctoral level psychological testing and readiness unit in the Nigerian police force. None!
Madam and you wonder why, just last month in Abuja, why a police officer started shooting at a bus conductor after been asked for his 30 naira bus fare. Madam, that victim could have been my or your family member!
The formation, structure and functioning of attitude require special identification through the guidance of a licensed or certified Clinical and personality psychologist. Certainly, Police personality and competency testing must not be carried out by psychiatrists as they are by law and norm mainly involved in the medical model of verbally questioning, and mentally observing a client as well assessing their need for medication.
This understanding is important as the colonial mentality of sending troubled persons to psychiatrists mostly still persist in Nigeria. As a result there is little awareness of psychology in the institutional framework of the society. And by the way, these problems include the law making bodies like yours, where mental health course of actions are hardly raised or opined upon.
While there are some like you that see attitude change as indispensable in police work, the system remains closed minded to the methodological, clinical and ethical improvement that comes from the psychological measurement of a candidate preparing for a ‘life and death’ job.
Madam, we are talking about persons with the power of guns, sticks and badges, which could be misused by any ill-cultured persons attracted to security agencies like the Police Force, EFCC, SSS and others.
Madam not until you and your colleagues mandates Psychological systems in the Police force as expected in the 21st century, you are wasting your free time and space.
There are a few persons that see the clear need for psychology and have come to the realization for psychological clearance, and that person is Chairman Parry Osayande of the Police Service Commission. But the apparent loosely tight communication and relationship between the essential sub systems like the Ministry of Police Affairs and the NPF remain remains a strain on the entire system.
There are high level psychological experts (not the recent recruitment of persons with first degree in psychology, and calling them psychologist!) who are willing to exhibit patriotic, volunteer, and altruistic-related assistance. But they are ignored. Why, that is the way it is, in a system where strict rules of coordination, of ethics and shared understanding remain absent or lacking.
Madam, the work of policing certainly is demanding and risky, therefore one want officers who have the attitudinal power to relate with the people of the community. Since an attitude of good neighborliness makes fighting crime much easier. Madam, a monthly salary of at least 35,000 naira for a psychologically prepared constable would enhance the mindset of professionalism.
Madam, a systemic talk with the Chairman Parry Osayande will inform you that prior to an applicant being accepted into a police academy either as rank and file officer or as a cadet for inspector or superintendent position just taking an aptitude test, a physical exam, meeting the federal character or meeting entry qualifications like secondary school or others are not enough.
To be accepted into a junior or senior academy a battery of evaluations conducted by a doctoral and certified clinical psychologist is paramount. The number of test administered should cover personality, drug, lie-related test and other psychological related measurements deemed essential by the psychological examiner.
A detailed historical, personal, family and work background check is important. As a criminal background check is part of the pre-employment requirement, Madam you and others at the National Assembly, should provide the resources for the technology necessary for workable fingerprinting, and for data collection and banking of a citizen’s social history.
Madam, there is opportunity to advance the society towards peace and sanity, but it must start from your official end, and a cooperative relationship between the appropriate agencies will transform into the making of an officer with good attitude to security related services.
~ By John Oshodi
John Egbeazien Oshodi, Ph.D, DABPS, FABFE, is a practicing Forensic/Clinical Psychologist, and the Interim Associate Dean of Behavioral Science, Broward College, North Campus, Coconut Creek, Florida, joshodi@broward.edu
President Jonathan, I G Onovo and the Kidnapping Matter
President Jonathan, I G Onovo and the Kidnapping Matter
The ordinary Nigerian on a daily basis, earns less than 100 U.S cents, equivalent to 60 British pence, or roughly ₦140, which is less than a dollar.
A few weeks ago, at the University of Port Harcourt, something terrible happened to two students. For not being able to complete the remaining ₦100 on a cell phone debt, a student was beaten to death along with his friend by another group of students.
These are the realities in Nigeria at a time the nation is struggling to return to Nigeria the former MD/CEO of the Intercontinental Bank, Erastus Akingbola, an alleged escapee now in London.
While the ordinary Nigerian struggles to earn ₦10,000 monthly, Akingbola is reportedly allowed ₦1.4million naira for his monthly expenses while relaxing in his London residence. Assets of £83 million or $126 million belonging to Akingbola were recently confiscated by a London Court. A contrast between two extremes!
As these harsh differences between the very poor and the exceedingly rich continue, the nation now seethes with the new phenomenon of kidnapping.
The latest was a seven-day national ordeal which involved the abduction of four journalists who reported had an unusually large amount of cash in their possession. This terrifying development had an emotional toll to an already nervous nation.
I.G Onovo’s Psychological Warfare
The episode held the entire country spellbound, including the psychological warfare waged by the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Ogbonna Onovo.
The journalists owe their release to this man! In spite of the fragile state of the Nigerian Police Force, representative of a chronically distressed society, Onovo’s tactics and leadership worked against the captors of the now-released journalists.
It mattered little if the any of the nation’s security management had a useable tracking device, or if any technical assistance was sort from an international or outside security agency was forthcoming.
The President’s recent statement that it will soon procure contemporary security technology to help control criminal activities like kidnapping is a good thing.
The President also recently pledged to put the military to use against those who abduct individuals such as foreign oil workers and contractors, which is how kidnapping began. The President’s recent show broadside aimed at kidnapping, whose new targets now include wealthy and middle-class Nigerians is welcomed.
As you may be aware of, we now know why what could be called the Onovo’s Rescue Manual with all of its outmoded tactics as in house-to-house; bush-to-bush search was the best alternative to fight the current wave of abduction.
According to Onovo, the police currently lacks the “necessary equipment,” and it is no wonder that a report from the four journalists revealed that the captors had more “sophisticated” weapons and devices than a law enforcement body like the Police.
Types of Kidnapping
Truth be told, the Nigerian style of kidnapping is a felony that appears to be very distinct in its nature, features and operations.
The Nigerian style abduction, at least, at this time is mostly in the image of what could viewed as:
* Arranged kidnapping with systematic and sequential approaches;
* Unorganized Kidnapping with marks of irregularity as in the spur-of-the-moment or sudden kidnapping of any one;
* Media-driven kidnapping as in a highly hyped and published name of a person with sudden wealth, focused on by criminals;
* Ludicrous kidnapping with ridiculous and bizarre characteristics as in a father abducting a son to get reward from a rich relative;
* Sensational kidnapping with marks of high-level acts like abducting an infant child; Message-driven kidnapping with purported information and concerns about the painful conditions in a society;
* Chance kidnapping with marks of opportunity and probability that the targeted victim is the right target;
* Sadistic kidnapping with marks of severe brutality and possible extermination of the captive,
* Compensatory kidnapping with marks of pure business like dealings;
* Humiliating kidnapping slanted on dishonoring and shaming a powerful, politically or socially placed individual;
* Ritual kidnapping with marks of illicit customary characteristics; and
* Conspiratory kidnapping as in a collaborative arrangement between disgruntled officials and bandits.
The common thread that passes through each style of kidnapping is the moment-to-moment emotion of not being a moneyed person, and the penchant for sudden riches, in the manner of those who became wealthy suddenly through corrupt or fraudulent practices.
Feelings of Inequality
People in general, perceive the nation as an oil-based economy where money should go around especially among the laboring working-class Nigerians.
As such, there appears to be this psychological pressure for some Nigerians to become soft invitees to crime, leaving them open to a quick entry into the illegal world of abduction. It appears that some hungry students from higher institutions, a few university students and some poverty-bound police officers with free and dangerous weapons now operate in the abduction trafficking.
These vulnerable Nigerians read the News papers and see articles about alleged billions of naira stolen by their fellow Nigerians.
Just imagine what goes through the mind of a university dropout due to financial problems, what emotions are felt by an unemployed graduate or a police officer with a monthly belated salary ranging from ₦8,000 to ₦21,000, when news of politicians like Senator Saminu Turaki reportedly amassed extra-ordinary wealth.
Turaki, the ex-Governor of Jigawa State allegedly looted ₦6 billion of State money in one day. In one day!
Perhaps the President feels for those enormously rich Nigerians who have to result into extreme precautions like the use of expensive German shepherds and armored cars in an attempt to protect themselves, their cash, wives, and children.
Young men and women by their very nature have so much energy or oomph, and pray for a state of liveliness. But when, some of them cannot pay for a basic living, or even purchase adequate food, shoes or clothing their vulnerable spirit might drive them to criminality.
And the President was right, some of these rebellious young men and women make these heavily guarded Nigerians their possible targets.
In a complicated society like Nigeria where people have a little trust in the Police, and where police informants are reportedly frequently killed, it is easier for captives to identify quickly with their captors emotionally.
In the same vein, captives secretly pay for their freedom at all costs and as a result of fear, protect the captors’ identity, especially when many kidnappers appears better armed than the nation’s Police.
As long as Nigeria remains a giant risk internally and among nations the threat of cyclical crimes such as extortion or abduction leaves the nation in a security-based dilemma leaving people feeling vulnerable.
Needed Reforms
Pesidential executive orders are needed to address the perilous state of security in the nation.
All private GSM Telecommunication device operators should install circuitry to quickly point out and locate the origin, and place of an incoming call, thereby making any telephone-oriented crime easy to detect.
Instead of trying to start a new senior police college, it should be delayed for now and the money invested in security measures for routine police work. This could begin with setting ₦40,000 naira as the basic salary for an entry level police constable with secondary school certificate.
Bullet proof vests for the Police become vital as the streets, banks, rural and urban areas are becoming more and more dangerous for the patrol officer.
The government should work effectively towards more electrical power to reduce darkness that kidnappers and other criminals thrive in. With expanded electricity generation, what better way to reduce unemployment?
Authorities should also work towards communications’ enhancement for the police to increase the detection rate for kidnapping to those of Western countries.
Nigerian should establish State policing in the nation, since local authorities tend to work better in coordinating local-driven occurrences that include crimes of kidnapping.
The security crisis requires the authorities to provide a steady step and bold moves in a national battle against the new type of criminal.
~ By John Oshodi
John Egbeazien Oshodi, Ph.D is a Forensic/Clinical Psychologist and the Interim Associate Dean of Behavioral Science, North Campus, Broward College, Coconut Creek, Florida. joshodi@broward.edu
The ordinary Nigerian on a daily basis, earns less than 100 U.S cents, equivalent to 60 British pence, or roughly ₦140, which is less than a dollar.
A few weeks ago, at the University of Port Harcourt, something terrible happened to two students. For not being able to complete the remaining ₦100 on a cell phone debt, a student was beaten to death along with his friend by another group of students.
These are the realities in Nigeria at a time the nation is struggling to return to Nigeria the former MD/CEO of the Intercontinental Bank, Erastus Akingbola, an alleged escapee now in London.
While the ordinary Nigerian struggles to earn ₦10,000 monthly, Akingbola is reportedly allowed ₦1.4million naira for his monthly expenses while relaxing in his London residence. Assets of £83 million or $126 million belonging to Akingbola were recently confiscated by a London Court. A contrast between two extremes!
As these harsh differences between the very poor and the exceedingly rich continue, the nation now seethes with the new phenomenon of kidnapping.
The latest was a seven-day national ordeal which involved the abduction of four journalists who reported had an unusually large amount of cash in their possession. This terrifying development had an emotional toll to an already nervous nation.
I.G Onovo’s Psychological Warfare
The episode held the entire country spellbound, including the psychological warfare waged by the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Ogbonna Onovo.
The journalists owe their release to this man! In spite of the fragile state of the Nigerian Police Force, representative of a chronically distressed society, Onovo’s tactics and leadership worked against the captors of the now-released journalists.
It mattered little if the any of the nation’s security management had a useable tracking device, or if any technical assistance was sort from an international or outside security agency was forthcoming.
The President’s recent statement that it will soon procure contemporary security technology to help control criminal activities like kidnapping is a good thing.
The President also recently pledged to put the military to use against those who abduct individuals such as foreign oil workers and contractors, which is how kidnapping began. The President’s recent show broadside aimed at kidnapping, whose new targets now include wealthy and middle-class Nigerians is welcomed.
As you may be aware of, we now know why what could be called the Onovo’s Rescue Manual with all of its outmoded tactics as in house-to-house; bush-to-bush search was the best alternative to fight the current wave of abduction.
According to Onovo, the police currently lacks the “necessary equipment,” and it is no wonder that a report from the four journalists revealed that the captors had more “sophisticated” weapons and devices than a law enforcement body like the Police.
Types of Kidnapping
Truth be told, the Nigerian style of kidnapping is a felony that appears to be very distinct in its nature, features and operations.
The Nigerian style abduction, at least, at this time is mostly in the image of what could viewed as:
* Arranged kidnapping with systematic and sequential approaches;
* Unorganized Kidnapping with marks of irregularity as in the spur-of-the-moment or sudden kidnapping of any one;
* Media-driven kidnapping as in a highly hyped and published name of a person with sudden wealth, focused on by criminals;
* Ludicrous kidnapping with ridiculous and bizarre characteristics as in a father abducting a son to get reward from a rich relative;
* Sensational kidnapping with marks of high-level acts like abducting an infant child; Message-driven kidnapping with purported information and concerns about the painful conditions in a society;
* Chance kidnapping with marks of opportunity and probability that the targeted victim is the right target;
* Sadistic kidnapping with marks of severe brutality and possible extermination of the captive,
* Compensatory kidnapping with marks of pure business like dealings;
* Humiliating kidnapping slanted on dishonoring and shaming a powerful, politically or socially placed individual;
* Ritual kidnapping with marks of illicit customary characteristics; and
* Conspiratory kidnapping as in a collaborative arrangement between disgruntled officials and bandits.
The common thread that passes through each style of kidnapping is the moment-to-moment emotion of not being a moneyed person, and the penchant for sudden riches, in the manner of those who became wealthy suddenly through corrupt or fraudulent practices.
Feelings of Inequality
People in general, perceive the nation as an oil-based economy where money should go around especially among the laboring working-class Nigerians.
As such, there appears to be this psychological pressure for some Nigerians to become soft invitees to crime, leaving them open to a quick entry into the illegal world of abduction. It appears that some hungry students from higher institutions, a few university students and some poverty-bound police officers with free and dangerous weapons now operate in the abduction trafficking.
These vulnerable Nigerians read the News papers and see articles about alleged billions of naira stolen by their fellow Nigerians.
Just imagine what goes through the mind of a university dropout due to financial problems, what emotions are felt by an unemployed graduate or a police officer with a monthly belated salary ranging from ₦8,000 to ₦21,000, when news of politicians like Senator Saminu Turaki reportedly amassed extra-ordinary wealth.
Turaki, the ex-Governor of Jigawa State allegedly looted ₦6 billion of State money in one day. In one day!
Perhaps the President feels for those enormously rich Nigerians who have to result into extreme precautions like the use of expensive German shepherds and armored cars in an attempt to protect themselves, their cash, wives, and children.
Young men and women by their very nature have so much energy or oomph, and pray for a state of liveliness. But when, some of them cannot pay for a basic living, or even purchase adequate food, shoes or clothing their vulnerable spirit might drive them to criminality.
And the President was right, some of these rebellious young men and women make these heavily guarded Nigerians their possible targets.
In a complicated society like Nigeria where people have a little trust in the Police, and where police informants are reportedly frequently killed, it is easier for captives to identify quickly with their captors emotionally.
In the same vein, captives secretly pay for their freedom at all costs and as a result of fear, protect the captors’ identity, especially when many kidnappers appears better armed than the nation’s Police.
As long as Nigeria remains a giant risk internally and among nations the threat of cyclical crimes such as extortion or abduction leaves the nation in a security-based dilemma leaving people feeling vulnerable.
Needed Reforms
Pesidential executive orders are needed to address the perilous state of security in the nation.
All private GSM Telecommunication device operators should install circuitry to quickly point out and locate the origin, and place of an incoming call, thereby making any telephone-oriented crime easy to detect.
Instead of trying to start a new senior police college, it should be delayed for now and the money invested in security measures for routine police work. This could begin with setting ₦40,000 naira as the basic salary for an entry level police constable with secondary school certificate.
Bullet proof vests for the Police become vital as the streets, banks, rural and urban areas are becoming more and more dangerous for the patrol officer.
The government should work effectively towards more electrical power to reduce darkness that kidnappers and other criminals thrive in. With expanded electricity generation, what better way to reduce unemployment?
Authorities should also work towards communications’ enhancement for the police to increase the detection rate for kidnapping to those of Western countries.
Nigerian should establish State policing in the nation, since local authorities tend to work better in coordinating local-driven occurrences that include crimes of kidnapping.
The security crisis requires the authorities to provide a steady step and bold moves in a national battle against the new type of criminal.
~ By John Oshodi
John Egbeazien Oshodi, Ph.D is a Forensic/Clinical Psychologist and the Interim Associate Dean of Behavioral Science, North Campus, Broward College, Coconut Creek, Florida. joshodi@broward.edu
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
World Water Activists Urge the UN General Assembly to Vote for the Human Right to Water and Sanitation
23 Jul 2010 09:00 Africa/Lagos
World Water Activists Urge the UN General Assembly to Vote for the Human Right to Water and Sanitation
NEW YORK, July 23, 2010/PRNewswire/ --
WHAT: Tele-press Conference
WHEN: Monday, July 26th at 08:00 -4GMT (New York, EST)
HOW: Contact Denise Hughes: Denise@creative-connectors.com, +1-917-549-2621, to R.S.V.P. or arrange an interview. Conference-Call-In- Number: +1-613-234-9374 Code - 973949 followed by the number sign.
WHO: Maude Barlow is the founder of the Blue Planet Project, Chair of the Board of Food & Water Watch, and Chair of The Council of Canadians. She was the Senior Advisor on Water to the 63rd President of the United Nations General Assembly. Her book, Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water, argues that the water crisis - together with climate change - poses one of the gravest threats to humanity.
Vandana Shiva is a world-renowned environmental leader. Director of the Research Foundation on Science, Technology, and Ecology, she is the author of Water Wars: Pollution, Profit. In Water Wars, she analyzes the historical erosion of communal water rights and exposes the destruction of the earth and the disenfranchisement of the world's poor. She also reveals how many of the most significant conflicts of our time are fought over water.
Pablo Solón Romero is Ambassador of Bolivia to the United Nations. Previously, he was Bolivia's Ambassador for issues concerning Integration and Trade. He was the Secretary of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) during Bolivia's Presidency of that institution and served as President Evo Morales's delegate in the Strategic Reflection Committee for South American Integration (2006). Ambassador Solón has been a social activist and worked for several years on human rights issues.
Background
On July 28, for the first time the UN General Assembly will debate and vote on an historic resolution supporting the right to "safe, clean, drinking water and sanitation" that was presented on June 17 by Pablo Solón, the Bolivian Ambassador to the UN, and co-sponsored by at least 30 countries. This resolution would redress the omission of water as a human right from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The U.S., UK and Canada are standing against the resolution and influencing others to their position, threatening to divide the world body along North-South lines. Expressing concern, Maude Barlow says, "The U.S., Canada, and some European countries are throwing in every wrench they can to stop this process, even as their own citizens enjoy these rights, they shamelessly deny these rights to others. They're using procedural excuses to block an issue of life and death and showing no respect or compassion for those suffering terribly from lack of water and sanitation."
Why a UN resolution?
Water is essential to life. Everyday 4,000 children die from water-related illness. The United Nations estimates that nearly 1.2 billion people live without clean water and 2.6 billion without proper sanitation.
Passing this resolution is the first step the international community can take towards water sustainability. It will focus attention on the fundamental importance of water and sanitation. The resolution will also lay the legal groundwork for a fair system of distribution, and begin a larger process to clarify the state's role to ensure clean, affordable water to all. Future legal instruments could also protect water rights for the earth and address the urgent need to reclaim polluted waters and end destructive practices of the world's water sources.
Water must be paramount in realizing the Millennium Development Goals, and at the Climate Change Convention and Rio +20. In the International Herald Tribune, Mikhail Gorbachev said, "Expanding access to water and sanitation will open many other development bottlenecks...As population growth and climate change increase the pressure for adequate water and food, water will increasingly become a security issue."
Without water's recognition as a human right, decision-making over policy will continue to shift from the UN and governments toward institutions that favor private water companies and the commodification of water. In the face of a worsening global water crisis, UN member states must affirm whether water is a human right, or a commodity.
"Life requires access to clean water; to deny the right to water is to deny the right to life," says Maude Barlow, "We must seize this moment to enact solid legislation and action at national and international levels - starting with the U.N. vote on Wednesday."
http://www.blueplanetproject.net/RightToWater/index-UN.php
For further information: Denise Hughes, Denise@creative-connectors.com, +1-917-549-2621, to R.S.V.P. or arrange an interview
Source: Blue Planet Project
For further information: Denise Hughes, Denise@creative-connectors.com, +1-917-549-2621, to R.S.V.P. or arrange an interview
World Water Activists Urge the UN General Assembly to Vote for the Human Right to Water and Sanitation
NEW YORK, July 23, 2010/PRNewswire/ --
WHAT: Tele-press Conference
WHEN: Monday, July 26th at 08:00 -4GMT (New York, EST)
HOW: Contact Denise Hughes: Denise@creative-connectors.com, +1-917-549-2621, to R.S.V.P. or arrange an interview. Conference-Call-In- Number: +1-613-234-9374 Code - 973949 followed by the number sign.
WHO: Maude Barlow is the founder of the Blue Planet Project, Chair of the Board of Food & Water Watch, and Chair of The Council of Canadians. She was the Senior Advisor on Water to the 63rd President of the United Nations General Assembly. Her book, Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water, argues that the water crisis - together with climate change - poses one of the gravest threats to humanity.
Vandana Shiva is a world-renowned environmental leader. Director of the Research Foundation on Science, Technology, and Ecology, she is the author of Water Wars: Pollution, Profit. In Water Wars, she analyzes the historical erosion of communal water rights and exposes the destruction of the earth and the disenfranchisement of the world's poor. She also reveals how many of the most significant conflicts of our time are fought over water.
Pablo Solón Romero is Ambassador of Bolivia to the United Nations. Previously, he was Bolivia's Ambassador for issues concerning Integration and Trade. He was the Secretary of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) during Bolivia's Presidency of that institution and served as President Evo Morales's delegate in the Strategic Reflection Committee for South American Integration (2006). Ambassador Solón has been a social activist and worked for several years on human rights issues.
Background
On July 28, for the first time the UN General Assembly will debate and vote on an historic resolution supporting the right to "safe, clean, drinking water and sanitation" that was presented on June 17 by Pablo Solón, the Bolivian Ambassador to the UN, and co-sponsored by at least 30 countries. This resolution would redress the omission of water as a human right from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The U.S., UK and Canada are standing against the resolution and influencing others to their position, threatening to divide the world body along North-South lines. Expressing concern, Maude Barlow says, "The U.S., Canada, and some European countries are throwing in every wrench they can to stop this process, even as their own citizens enjoy these rights, they shamelessly deny these rights to others. They're using procedural excuses to block an issue of life and death and showing no respect or compassion for those suffering terribly from lack of water and sanitation."
Why a UN resolution?
Water is essential to life. Everyday 4,000 children die from water-related illness. The United Nations estimates that nearly 1.2 billion people live without clean water and 2.6 billion without proper sanitation.
Passing this resolution is the first step the international community can take towards water sustainability. It will focus attention on the fundamental importance of water and sanitation. The resolution will also lay the legal groundwork for a fair system of distribution, and begin a larger process to clarify the state's role to ensure clean, affordable water to all. Future legal instruments could also protect water rights for the earth and address the urgent need to reclaim polluted waters and end destructive practices of the world's water sources.
Water must be paramount in realizing the Millennium Development Goals, and at the Climate Change Convention and Rio +20. In the International Herald Tribune, Mikhail Gorbachev said, "Expanding access to water and sanitation will open many other development bottlenecks...As population growth and climate change increase the pressure for adequate water and food, water will increasingly become a security issue."
Without water's recognition as a human right, decision-making over policy will continue to shift from the UN and governments toward institutions that favor private water companies and the commodification of water. In the face of a worsening global water crisis, UN member states must affirm whether water is a human right, or a commodity.
"Life requires access to clean water; to deny the right to water is to deny the right to life," says Maude Barlow, "We must seize this moment to enact solid legislation and action at national and international levels - starting with the U.N. vote on Wednesday."
http://www.blueplanetproject.net/RightToWater/index-UN.php
For further information: Denise Hughes, Denise@creative-connectors.com, +1-917-549-2621, to R.S.V.P. or arrange an interview
Source: Blue Planet Project
For further information: Denise Hughes, Denise@creative-connectors.com, +1-917-549-2621, to R.S.V.P. or arrange an interview
Thursday, July 22, 2010
South Africa Purchases Raytheon Paveway(TM) Laser-Guided Bombs
22 Jul 2010 11:00 Africa/Lagos
South Africa Purchases Raytheon Paveway(TM) Laser-Guided Bombs
First sale of significant U.S. defense equipment to South Africa in 25 years
FARNBOROUGH, England, July 22, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- The South African Department of Defence awarded Raytheon Company (NYSE:RTN) a contract for Paveway II laser-guided bombs.
Raytheon will provide the South African military with LGB computer control groups and air foil groups that transform "dumb" bombs into precision-guided munitions for operational test and evaluation on South Africa's Gripen fighter aircraft.
ARMSCOR awarded a contract on behalf of the South African Air Force for the procurement of LGB bomb kits. ARMSCOR, the Armaments Corporation of South Africa, is the officially appointed acquisition organization for the South African DoD.
The direct commercial sale was negotiated with the assistance of South Africa's ATLANTIS Corporation and calls for Raytheon to begin delivery in 2011. In addition to the weapons, Raytheon will provide air- and ground-crew training.
"The combat-proven Paveway family of weapons is integrated on more than 22 aircraft and serves 41 nations around the globe, making this weapon the ideal choice for the South African warfighter," said Harry Schulte, vice president of Raytheon's Air Warfare Systems product line. "Raytheon is the sole provider of the Paveway family of weapons and is committed to providing the warfighter with a reliable direct-attack weapon at a cost-effective price."
Raytheon Company, with 2009 sales of $25 billion, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, homeland security and other government markets throughout the world. With a history of innovation spanning 88 years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration and other capabilities in the areas of sensing; effects; and command, control, communications and intelligence systems, as well as a broad range of mission support services. With headquarters in Waltham, Mass., Raytheon employs 75,000 people worldwide.
Contact:
U.K. U.S.A
J. Nicole Stewart Mike Nachshen
+1.520. 437.1975 520.269.5697
Source: Raytheon Company
CONTACT: U.S.A, Mike Nachshen, +1-520-269-5697; or U.K., J. Nicole
Stewart, +1-520-437-1975
Web Site: http://www.raytheon.com/
Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/742575 .html
Hot Topics
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South Africa Purchases Raytheon Paveway(TM) Laser-Guided Bombs
First sale of significant U.S. defense equipment to South Africa in 25 years
FARNBOROUGH, England, July 22, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- The South African Department of Defence awarded Raytheon Company (NYSE:RTN) a contract for Paveway II laser-guided bombs.
Raytheon will provide the South African military with LGB computer control groups and air foil groups that transform "dumb" bombs into precision-guided munitions for operational test and evaluation on South Africa's Gripen fighter aircraft.
ARMSCOR awarded a contract on behalf of the South African Air Force for the procurement of LGB bomb kits. ARMSCOR, the Armaments Corporation of South Africa, is the officially appointed acquisition organization for the South African DoD.
The direct commercial sale was negotiated with the assistance of South Africa's ATLANTIS Corporation and calls for Raytheon to begin delivery in 2011. In addition to the weapons, Raytheon will provide air- and ground-crew training.
"The combat-proven Paveway family of weapons is integrated on more than 22 aircraft and serves 41 nations around the globe, making this weapon the ideal choice for the South African warfighter," said Harry Schulte, vice president of Raytheon's Air Warfare Systems product line. "Raytheon is the sole provider of the Paveway family of weapons and is committed to providing the warfighter with a reliable direct-attack weapon at a cost-effective price."
Raytheon Company, with 2009 sales of $25 billion, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, homeland security and other government markets throughout the world. With a history of innovation spanning 88 years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration and other capabilities in the areas of sensing; effects; and command, control, communications and intelligence systems, as well as a broad range of mission support services. With headquarters in Waltham, Mass., Raytheon employs 75,000 people worldwide.
Contact:
U.K. U.S.A
J. Nicole Stewart Mike Nachshen
+1.520. 437.1975 520.269.5697
Source: Raytheon Company
CONTACT: U.S.A, Mike Nachshen, +1-520-269-5697; or U.K., J. Nicole
Stewart, +1-520-437-1975
Web Site: http://www.raytheon.com/
Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/742575 .html
Hot Topics
Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act
U.S. Airlines Post Six Consecutive Months of Revenue Growth in Recovering Economy; Double-Digit Growth Reflects Marketplace Optimism
Quarterly Earnings Reports
Americans Still Cutting Back on the Little Things to Save Money
Nearly One-Third of Small Businesses to Hire New Employees in Second Half of 2010, CareerBuilder Survey Finds
From Universal Studios Home Entertainment: One of the Most Iconic Television Series Leaps Onto DVD for the First Time Ever 'The Bionic Woman' Season One
Gulf Oil Spill
A Letter from President Barack Obama
A Letter from President Barack Obama:
When you and I set out on this journey three years ago, we knew that ours would be a lengthy struggle to build a new foundation for this country -- one that would require squaring off against the special interests who had spent decades stacking the deck in their favor.
Today, it is clear that you have shifted the odds.
This morning, I signed into law a bill that represents the most sweeping reforms of Wall Street since the Great Depression, and the toughest consumer financial protections this nation has ever seen. I know that I am able to do so only because the tens of thousands of volunteers who make up the backbone of this movement overcame the most potent attack ads and the most powerful lobbying the special interests could put forward.
Our special-interest opponents and their Republican allies have now set their sights on the elections in November as their best chance to overturn the historic progress we've made together.
Organizing for America counts entirely on supporters like you to fight back -- no special interests, no corporate PACs. To keep making change and to defend the change we have already won, we need you -- and at least 8 other people in Keller -- to contribute so we have the resources necessary going into the election.
Please donate $5 today and help Organizing for America lay the groundwork for the fights ahead.
Because of Wall Street reform, we will ensure that Americans applying for a credit card, a mortgage, or a student loan will never again be asked to sign their name under pages of confusing fine print. We will crack down on abusive lending practices and make sure that lenders don't cheat the system -- and create a new watchdog to enforce these consumer protections.
And we will put an end to taxpayer-funded bailouts, giving us the ability to wind down any large financial institution if it should ever fail.
The passage of Wall Street reform is at the forefront of the change we seek, and it will provide a foundation for a stronger and safer economy.
It is a foundation built upon the progress of the Recovery Act, which has turned 22 months of job losses into six consecutive months of private-sector job growth. And it is a foundation reinforced by the historic health reform we passed this spring, which is already giving new benefits to more than 100 million Americans, ushering another 1 million Americans into coverage by next year.
But today's victory is not where our fight ends.
Organizing for America and I will move forward in the months ahead on the tough fights we have yet to finish -- even if cynics say we should wait until after the fall elections. This movement has never catered to the conventional wisdom of Washington. And we have fought to ensure that our progress is never held hostage by our politics.
You and I did not build this movement to win one election. We did not come together to pass one single piece of legislation. We are fighting for nothing less than a new foundation for our country -- and that work is not complete. As we face the challenges ahead, I am relying on you to stand with me.
Please donate $5 or more today:
https://donate.barackobama.com/WallStreetReformed
Thank you for helping us get here,
President Barack Obama
When you and I set out on this journey three years ago, we knew that ours would be a lengthy struggle to build a new foundation for this country -- one that would require squaring off against the special interests who had spent decades stacking the deck in their favor.
Today, it is clear that you have shifted the odds.
This morning, I signed into law a bill that represents the most sweeping reforms of Wall Street since the Great Depression, and the toughest consumer financial protections this nation has ever seen. I know that I am able to do so only because the tens of thousands of volunteers who make up the backbone of this movement overcame the most potent attack ads and the most powerful lobbying the special interests could put forward.
Our special-interest opponents and their Republican allies have now set their sights on the elections in November as their best chance to overturn the historic progress we've made together.
Organizing for America counts entirely on supporters like you to fight back -- no special interests, no corporate PACs. To keep making change and to defend the change we have already won, we need you -- and at least 8 other people in Keller -- to contribute so we have the resources necessary going into the election.
Please donate $5 today and help Organizing for America lay the groundwork for the fights ahead.
Because of Wall Street reform, we will ensure that Americans applying for a credit card, a mortgage, or a student loan will never again be asked to sign their name under pages of confusing fine print. We will crack down on abusive lending practices and make sure that lenders don't cheat the system -- and create a new watchdog to enforce these consumer protections.
And we will put an end to taxpayer-funded bailouts, giving us the ability to wind down any large financial institution if it should ever fail.
The passage of Wall Street reform is at the forefront of the change we seek, and it will provide a foundation for a stronger and safer economy.
It is a foundation built upon the progress of the Recovery Act, which has turned 22 months of job losses into six consecutive months of private-sector job growth. And it is a foundation reinforced by the historic health reform we passed this spring, which is already giving new benefits to more than 100 million Americans, ushering another 1 million Americans into coverage by next year.
But today's victory is not where our fight ends.
Organizing for America and I will move forward in the months ahead on the tough fights we have yet to finish -- even if cynics say we should wait until after the fall elections. This movement has never catered to the conventional wisdom of Washington. And we have fought to ensure that our progress is never held hostage by our politics.
You and I did not build this movement to win one election. We did not come together to pass one single piece of legislation. We are fighting for nothing less than a new foundation for our country -- and that work is not complete. As we face the challenges ahead, I am relying on you to stand with me.
Please donate $5 or more today:
https://donate.barackobama.com/WallStreetReformed
Thank you for helping us get here,
President Barack Obama
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
To Prof. Wole Soyinka @ 76
Our lionized sage Prof. Wole Soyinka, the first African Nobel Prize winner in Literature is celebrating his 76th birthday (he was born on July 13, 1934) and he is going to launch a new political party called Democratic Front for Peoples Federation in September.
We recommend Okey Ndibe’s An Apology to Wole Soyinka published in his OFFSIDE MUSINGS column in the Daily Sun newspaper of Tuesday July 20, 2010. Ndibe recalled the daring revolutionary zeal of the lion-hearted Soyinka during the Nigerian civil war and his opposition to military tyranny and corruption in Nigeria.
Nigerians Report is wishing Wole Soyinka many happy returns of the day with more blessings from above with all our love.
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21 Jul 2010
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Nigeria Draws Regional Migrants but Loses High Skilled Labour, Migration Profile Finds
20 Jul 2010 14:39 Africa/Lagos
Country Draws Regional Migrants but Loses High Skilled Labour, Migration Profile Finds
ABUJA, July 20, 2010/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- A migration profile of Nigeria released today by IOM finds that the country remains attractive to migrants from the sub-region although increasing numbers of skilled Nigerians emigrate in search of employment abroad.
According to the National Population Commission, the number of immigrants residing in Nigeria has more than doubled in recent decades - from 477,135 in 1991 to 971,450 in 2005. The Profile shows that the majority of immigrants in Nigeria (74%) are from neighbouring Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and that this number has increased considerably over the last decade, from 63 per cent in 2001 to 97 per cent in 2005.
According to the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research, the Nigerian economy grew between 5.5 and 6.4 per cent each year from 2004 to 2007, with the oil sector the primary engine of growth and a magnet for high-skilled migrant workers. However, recent economic growth has also been linked to the informal labour sector, which traditionally attracts low-skilled national as well as international migrant labour.
Although the overall situation in Nigeria has somewhat improved in recent years, the country still has some way to go towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. The country has the world's third highest number of people infected by HIV/Aids, after India and South Africa and scores low in the United Nations Development Programme's human development index ranking (125 out of 151).
In spite of Nigeria's importance as a destination for migrants in the region, the report however shows that more people are emigrating from, than immigrating to, Nigeria with the negative net migration rate (per 1,000 people) steadily increasing in recent years, from -0.2 in 2000 to -0.3 in 2005, and this trend is expected to continue. According to recent estimates, the net migration rate could reach -0.4 in 2010.
Estimates made by the Development Research Centre on Migration, Globalisation and Poverty (DRC), based on the 2000 Census Round, indicate that 1,041,284 Nigerian nationals live abroad, mostly in Sudan (24%), followed by the United States (14%) and the United Kingdom (9%). Many Nigerian emigrants also settle in neighbouring Cameroon (8%) and in Ghana (5%).
Although it is difficult to obtain empirical data on migrant skills, there appears to be a strong link between high skill level and migration. According to the latest estimates in 2000, 10.7 per cent of the highly skilled population who were trained in Nigeria worked abroad, mostly in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries.
According to the report, an average of 64 per cent of the Nigerian emigrant population have tertiary education; 14 per cent of all physicians trained in Nigeria work abroad, with 90 per cent of these working in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Regarding the flow of remittances to Nigeria, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) notes a dramatic increase from USD 2.3 billion in 2004 to 17.9 billion in 2007, representing 6.7 per cent of GDP.
The United States accounts for the largest portion of official remittances, followed by the United Kingdom, Italy, Canada, Spain and France. On the African continent, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Chad, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and South Africa are important source countries of remittance flows to Nigeria, while China is the biggest remittance-sending country in Asia.
The report also notes a marked increase in the number of Nigerians emigrating for educational purposes. From 2000 to 2006, the number of Nigerian students abroad more than doubled from 10,000 to 22,000, the majority of these (some 6,000) studying at universities in the United States.
Consequently, the overall number of tertiary educated persons has been declining, from 90,579 in 2002/2003 to 39,509 in 2005/2006.
One result of this is the lack of human capital to meet the demand for highly skilled workers in the labour market. The Ministry of Health reported that nearly 8 per cent of its 39,210 doctors and 2,773 dentists are foreign nationals.
Despite declining official unemployment rates (from 12% in 2005 to 9.9% in 2008), the overall labour supply continues to outstrip demand and this is likely to continue in the near future as Nigeria is one of the ten most populous countries in the world and has one of the fastest population growth rates (2.38% in 2008).
Based on this growth rate, the Nigerian population will double its currently estimated size of 146 million people, and unless the market is able to absorb the resulting surplus labour, unemployment is likely to increase and lead to still greater emigration.
A review of the data available for the Migration Profile of Nigeria reveals several challenges including: the need for a national migration data management strategy tracking both internal and external migration; inadequate funding for training and staffing of personnel to record and monitor migration trends and provide migration controls at exit and entry points; the absence of a centralized system and official body mandated to coordinate migration issues amongst government ministries.
Having said this, Nigeria is one of the few countries in West Africa to have developed a draft national policy on migration which is pending ratification by the National Assembly. The draft migration policy, amongst other objectives, seeks to establish a central migration authority within the government, and addresses the absence of Migration as a theme in Nigeria's main development plans, such as the National Economic Employment Development Strategy (NEEDS) and the state and local government counterparts (SEEDS and LEEDS).
In addition to supporting full implementation of the pending legislation, the report recommends: clearly establishing the role of the National Commission for Refugees, which will be responsible for coordinating migration management activities; focussing on internal as well as external migration issues given that this is a precursor for international migration, occurs on a relatively greater scale and is vital for understanding the level of development of the country; and government emphasis on the strategic importance of migration in development by giving its full support to formalizing and implementing the national policy on migration.
Source: International Office of Migration (IOM)
Releases displayed in Africa/Lagos time
20 Jul 2010
14:39
Country Draws Regional Migrants but Loses High Skilled Labour, Migration Profile Finds
19 Jul 2010
22:02
Noble Corporation Reports Second Quarter 2010 Earnings of $0.85 per Diluted Share
19:41
Four kidnapped journalists released unharmed
18:36
International Organizations Agree to Take Concerted Action to End Pediatric HIV/AIDS
Country Draws Regional Migrants but Loses High Skilled Labour, Migration Profile Finds
ABUJA, July 20, 2010/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- A migration profile of Nigeria released today by IOM finds that the country remains attractive to migrants from the sub-region although increasing numbers of skilled Nigerians emigrate in search of employment abroad.
According to the National Population Commission, the number of immigrants residing in Nigeria has more than doubled in recent decades - from 477,135 in 1991 to 971,450 in 2005. The Profile shows that the majority of immigrants in Nigeria (74%) are from neighbouring Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and that this number has increased considerably over the last decade, from 63 per cent in 2001 to 97 per cent in 2005.
According to the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research, the Nigerian economy grew between 5.5 and 6.4 per cent each year from 2004 to 2007, with the oil sector the primary engine of growth and a magnet for high-skilled migrant workers. However, recent economic growth has also been linked to the informal labour sector, which traditionally attracts low-skilled national as well as international migrant labour.
Although the overall situation in Nigeria has somewhat improved in recent years, the country still has some way to go towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. The country has the world's third highest number of people infected by HIV/Aids, after India and South Africa and scores low in the United Nations Development Programme's human development index ranking (125 out of 151).
In spite of Nigeria's importance as a destination for migrants in the region, the report however shows that more people are emigrating from, than immigrating to, Nigeria with the negative net migration rate (per 1,000 people) steadily increasing in recent years, from -0.2 in 2000 to -0.3 in 2005, and this trend is expected to continue. According to recent estimates, the net migration rate could reach -0.4 in 2010.
Estimates made by the Development Research Centre on Migration, Globalisation and Poverty (DRC), based on the 2000 Census Round, indicate that 1,041,284 Nigerian nationals live abroad, mostly in Sudan (24%), followed by the United States (14%) and the United Kingdom (9%). Many Nigerian emigrants also settle in neighbouring Cameroon (8%) and in Ghana (5%).
Although it is difficult to obtain empirical data on migrant skills, there appears to be a strong link between high skill level and migration. According to the latest estimates in 2000, 10.7 per cent of the highly skilled population who were trained in Nigeria worked abroad, mostly in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries.
According to the report, an average of 64 per cent of the Nigerian emigrant population have tertiary education; 14 per cent of all physicians trained in Nigeria work abroad, with 90 per cent of these working in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Regarding the flow of remittances to Nigeria, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) notes a dramatic increase from USD 2.3 billion in 2004 to 17.9 billion in 2007, representing 6.7 per cent of GDP.
The United States accounts for the largest portion of official remittances, followed by the United Kingdom, Italy, Canada, Spain and France. On the African continent, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Chad, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and South Africa are important source countries of remittance flows to Nigeria, while China is the biggest remittance-sending country in Asia.
The report also notes a marked increase in the number of Nigerians emigrating for educational purposes. From 2000 to 2006, the number of Nigerian students abroad more than doubled from 10,000 to 22,000, the majority of these (some 6,000) studying at universities in the United States.
Consequently, the overall number of tertiary educated persons has been declining, from 90,579 in 2002/2003 to 39,509 in 2005/2006.
One result of this is the lack of human capital to meet the demand for highly skilled workers in the labour market. The Ministry of Health reported that nearly 8 per cent of its 39,210 doctors and 2,773 dentists are foreign nationals.
Despite declining official unemployment rates (from 12% in 2005 to 9.9% in 2008), the overall labour supply continues to outstrip demand and this is likely to continue in the near future as Nigeria is one of the ten most populous countries in the world and has one of the fastest population growth rates (2.38% in 2008).
Based on this growth rate, the Nigerian population will double its currently estimated size of 146 million people, and unless the market is able to absorb the resulting surplus labour, unemployment is likely to increase and lead to still greater emigration.
A review of the data available for the Migration Profile of Nigeria reveals several challenges including: the need for a national migration data management strategy tracking both internal and external migration; inadequate funding for training and staffing of personnel to record and monitor migration trends and provide migration controls at exit and entry points; the absence of a centralized system and official body mandated to coordinate migration issues amongst government ministries.
Having said this, Nigeria is one of the few countries in West Africa to have developed a draft national policy on migration which is pending ratification by the National Assembly. The draft migration policy, amongst other objectives, seeks to establish a central migration authority within the government, and addresses the absence of Migration as a theme in Nigeria's main development plans, such as the National Economic Employment Development Strategy (NEEDS) and the state and local government counterparts (SEEDS and LEEDS).
In addition to supporting full implementation of the pending legislation, the report recommends: clearly establishing the role of the National Commission for Refugees, which will be responsible for coordinating migration management activities; focussing on internal as well as external migration issues given that this is a precursor for international migration, occurs on a relatively greater scale and is vital for understanding the level of development of the country; and government emphasis on the strategic importance of migration in development by giving its full support to formalizing and implementing the national policy on migration.
Source: International Office of Migration (IOM)
Releases displayed in Africa/Lagos time
20 Jul 2010
14:39
Country Draws Regional Migrants but Loses High Skilled Labour, Migration Profile Finds
19 Jul 2010
22:02
Noble Corporation Reports Second Quarter 2010 Earnings of $0.85 per Diluted Share
19:41
Four kidnapped journalists released unharmed
18:36
International Organizations Agree to Take Concerted Action to End Pediatric HIV/AIDS
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