Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Small Businesses Fly Free On British Airways
British Airways Launches 2010 Face-to-Face Program; Offers 250 U.S. Entrepreneurs the Opportunity to Grow Internationally
New York, Sept. 8, 2010 /PRNewswire/ — British Airways today relaunches its Face-to-Face Program and offers U.S. entrepreneurs and small business owners the critical tools for building business relationships abroad and stimulating growth Face-to-Face.
As part of the Face-to-Face campaign, British Airways will award 250 small businesses the opportunity to travel to London and beyond through the British Airways Face of Opportunity contest. Any entrepreneur or small business owner with a clear business need for international exposure should visit www.ba.com/facetoface for the opportunity to compete for and win a free flight.
British Airways strongly believes face-to-face interaction with global stakeholders is a critical tool to help entrepreneurs and small businesses build ongoing, mutually beneficial business relationships abroad, effectively supporting U.S. economic growth and global expansion and exports.
British Airways Face of Opportunity Contest:
Beginning today, entrepreneurs and small business owners looking to expand or enhance their business internationally may submit a video or essay of their best “elevator” pitch at www.ba.com/contest. Entering the contest provides a chance to earn a free flight to London or anywhere in the British Airways network to facilitate face-to-face meetings with potential and existing customers and business partners.
Prior to the New York to London flight early next year, all 250 winners will have the exclusive opportunity to attend British Airways' Face of Opportunity event on Wed, Feb. 2, 2011, in New York City, where they will receive firsthand tips and advice from influential international business experts while networking with venture capitalists, renowned entrepreneurs, media and other small business owners.
Three selected winners also will have the chance to present their business plans to a panel of celebrity entrepreneur judges, including Bill Rancic, Barbara Corcoran and Bethenny Frankel, for a chance to win a British Airways Business Opportunity Grant, featuring additional free flights to London, or anywhere in the British Airways global network.
British Airways Face-to-Face Summary:
British Airways launched the first Face-to-Face Program in July 2009, giving more than 600 small business owners the opportunity to travel overseas and conduct face-to-face business meetings that resulted in deeper partnerships, contracts and revenue for U.S. cities.
The 2009 flights provided previous winners such as Morgan Newman, of IdeaPaint in Massachusetts, and Judi Townsend, of Mannequin Madness in Oakland, California, a chance to enter new markets and achieve continued growth and profitability in 2010. To learn more about past winners, visit: http://businessconnect.ba.com/success-stories.
British Airways Face of Opportunity Elevator Pitch Event (Sept. 14 and 15, 2010):
On Tues. and Wed. Sept. 14 and 15, from 7 a.m. – 8 p.m., small business owners may videotape their best elevator pitch to enter the British Airways Face of Opportunity Contest and the chance to win the opportunity of a lifetime – a flight anywhere in the world to help them grow their business internationally. Interested entrepreneurs and small businesses may visit Vanderbilt Hall in Grand Central Terminal, New York City, on Tues., Sept. 14 beginning at 7 a.m., when Bill Rancic, entrepreneur, best-selling author and first season winner of The Apprentice, and Simon Talling-Smith, Executive Vice President, Americas, British Airways, will launch the British Airways Face of Opportunity Contest. Small business expert and best-selling author, Rhonda Abrams, and other special guests also will be on-hand offering speed consulting and tips to small business owners.
British Airways Advisory Board:
British Airways has built a coalition of trusted authorities and thought leaders from the small business community. The Face-to-Face advisory board has contributed to crafting the campaign, contest and conference content to ensure British Airways offers comprehensive resources to SMEs and entrepreneurs via the Face-to-Face campaign. Custom content for small business owners and entrepreneurs developed by the British Airways Face-to-Face advisory board members will be available on an on-going basis on the Face-to-Face microsite: www.ba.com/facetoface. The board will provide tips and counsel to winners and attend various events throughout the program. Advisory board members include:
Rhonda Abrams, best-selling author and Founder/CEO of The Planning Shop
Anita Campbell, CEO of Small Business Trends LLC
Kevin Daum, author and columnist for Smarter Business
Adam Ostrow, Editor and Chief, Mashable.com
Nancy Ploeger, President of the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce
Andrew Sherman, legal and strategic advisor for small businesses, Partner, Jones Day
Rich Sloan, Co-founder of Startup Nation
Steve Strauss, Best-selling author and senior USATODAY.com business columnist
Supporting Quotes:
“For the second year, British Airways is proud to be supporting US entrepreneurs and small businesses through our Face-to-Face program,” said Simon Talling-Smith, Executive Vice President, Americas, British Airways. “Last year, we gave over 600 companies the opportunity to conduct business the way it should be done – in person. We provided the flights and they took it from there, attending meetings all over the world. New deals were sealed and important relationships forged – that’s the impact of face-to-face. Top business leaders agree that there’s nothing quite like being there in person to make the deals that will move your business forward. We're excited to have the opportunity to reach this market again and provide the flights they need to seal the business deal."”
“British Airways Face-to-Face program is offering much-needed resources to small businesses who are the cornerstone and future of the US economy. In my experience, face to face meetings are crucial to growing a successful business,” says Bill Rancic, entrepreneur and star of “We Mean Business” and “Giuliani and Bill.”
“The world has gotten smaller and more connected. Every entrepreneur should look beyond their borders to see how they can be more competitive, more innovative, more successful. Get a free copy of my new ebook, Go Global, Grow Global, compliments of British Airways at ba.com/contest,” says Rhonda Abrams, best-selling author and Founder/CEO of The Planning Shop
Supporting Resources:
Check out the latest Face-to-Face Contest submissions at http://www.faceofopportunity.com/.
Subscribe to British Airways RSS feed.
Receive real-time updates on British Airways and the Face-to-Face program by following @BritishAirways and search #BAF2F
Face-to-Face Press Image Library
Technorati Tags
Face-to-Face, Small Business, Business Opportunity, Rhonda Abrams, Bill Rancic, Bethenny Frankel, British Airways, BA, Contest
About British Airways:
British Airways is one of the world's largest international airlines. Operating one of the most extensive international scheduled airline route networks, together with its codeshare and franchise partners, the airline flies to more than 300 destinations worldwide. Also, one of the world's longest established airlines, it has always been regarded as an industry-leader. BA flies its customers at convenient times to the best located airports across the world.
British Airways is one of the world’s leading global premium airlines. Its principal place of business is London with significant presence at Heathrow, Gatwick and London City. It also operates a worldwide air cargo business, largely in conjunction with scheduled passenger services. The airline operates the majority of its domestic UK, international and intercontinental flights from its home at Terminal 5, Heathrow.
Whether customers are in the air or on the ground, British Airways takes pride in providing a full service experience.
For more information on Face-to-Face please visit ba.com/facetoface
Submission of contest entries at the Vanderbilt Hall event does not improve the chances of winning.
All entries will be judged according to the criteria set forth in the Official Contest Rules at www.ba.com/contest.
Media Contacts:
John Lampl
john.lampl@ba.com
Alison Koski
+212 331 8436
alisonk@text100.com
The Silent Epidemic: Cybercrime Strikes More Than Two-Thirds of Internet Users
8 Sep 2010 08:01 Africa/Lagos
The Silent Epidemic: Cybercrime Strikes More Than Two-Thirds of Internet Users
New Norton Study of 7,000 Web Users Is First to Gauge Emotional Impact of Cybercrime; Victims Feel Ripped Off ... and Pissed Off
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Sept. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- The next time you surf the Internet, consider this: You might be just one click away from becoming the next cybercrime victim. A new study released today from security software maker Norton reveals the staggering prevalence of cybercrime: Two-thirds (65 percent) of Internet users globally, and almost three-quarters (73 percent) of U.S. Web surfers have fallen victim to cybercrimes, including computer viruses, online credit card fraud and identity theft. As the most victimized nations, America ranks third, after China (83 percent) and Brazil and India (tie 76 percent).
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100615/LA20855LOGO)
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100615/LA20855LOGO)
The Norton Cybercrime Report: The Human Impact shines a light on the personal toll cybercrime takes. The first study to examine the emotional impact of cybercrime, it shows that victims' strongest reactions are feeling angry (58 percent), annoyed (51 percent) and cheated (40 percent), and in many cases, they blame themselves for being attacked. Only 3 percent don't think it will happen to them, and nearly 80 percent do not expect cybercriminals to be brought to justice-- resulting in an ironic reluctance to take action and a sense of helplessness.
"We accept cybercrime because of a 'learned helplessness'," said Joseph LaBrie, PhD, associate professor of psychology at Loyola Marymount University. "It's like getting ripped off at a garage - if you don't know enough about cars, you don't argue with the mechanic. People just accept a situation, even if it feels bad."
Despite the emotional burden, the universal threat, and incidents of cybercrime, people still aren't changing their behaviors - with only half (51 percent) of adults saying they would change their behavior if they became a victim. Even scarier, fewer than half (44 percent) reported the crime to the police.
Cybercrime victim Todd Vinson of Chicago explained, "I was emotionally and financially unprepared because I never thought I would be a victim of such a crime. I felt violated, as if someone had actually come inside my home to gather this information, and as if my entire family was exposed to this criminal act. Now I can't help but wonder if other information has been illegally acquired and just sitting in the wrong people's hands, waiting for an opportunity to be used."
Solving cybercrime can be highly frustrating: According to the report, it takes an average of 28 days to resolve a cybercrime, and the average cost to resolve that crime is $334. Twenty-eight percent of respondents said the biggest hassle they faced when dealing with cybercrime was the time it took to solve.
But despite the hassle, reporting a cybercrime is critical. "We all pay for cybercrime, either directly or through pass-along costs from our financial institutions," said Adam Palmer, Norton lead cyber security advisor. "Cybercriminals purposely steal small amounts to remain undetected, but all of these add up. If you fail to report a loss, you may actually be helping the criminal stay under the radar."
The "human impact" aspect of the report delves further into the little crimes or white lies consumers perpetrate against friends, family, loved ones and businesses. Nearly half of respondents think it's legal to download a single music track, album or movie without paying. Twenty-four percent believe it's legal or perfectly okay to secretly view someone else's e-mails or browser history. Some of these behaviors, such as downloading files, open people up to additional security threats.
But there are simple steps people can take to protect themselves, according to the report. "People resist protecting themselves and their computers because they think it's too complicated," said Anne Collier, co-director of ConnectSafely.org and editor of NetFamilyNews.org, who collaborated with Norton on the study. "But everyone can take simple steps, such as having up-to-date, comprehensive security software in place. In the case of online crime, an ounce of prevention is worth a ton of cure."
The best defense against cybercrime, and the best way to protect yourself, is to surf the Internet with up-to-date, comprehensive security software such as Norton Internet Security 2011, which was launched today.
For more tips, and insights from this groundbreaking study, or to better understand the alarming extent of cybercrime, the feelings of powerlessness and lack of justice felt by its victims, please view the full Norton Cybercrime Report: The Human Impact here.
About Norton from Symantec
Symantec's Norton products protect consumers from cybercrime with technologies like antivirus, anti-spyware and phishing protection -- while also being light on system resources. The company also provides services such as online backup, PC tuneup, and family online safety. Fan Norton on Facebook at www.facebook.com/norton and follow @NortonOnline on Twitter.
About Symantec
Symantec is a global leader in providing security; storage and systems management solutions to help consumers and organizations secure and manage their information-driven world. Our software and services protect against more risks at more points, more completely and efficiently, enabling confidence wherever information is used or stored. More information is available at www.symantec.com.
Note to Editors: If you would like additional information on Symantec Corporation and its products, please visit the Symantec News Room at http://www.symantec.com/news.
Symantec and Norton are trademarks or registered trademarks of Symantec Corporation or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Norton Cybercrime Report: The Human Impact Methodology:
The Norton Cybercrime Report: The Human Impact 2010 is based on research conducted in February 2010 by StrategyOne, an independent market research firm, on behalf of Symantec Corporation. StrategyOne conducted an online survey among 7,066 adults aged 18 and over.
The survey was conducted in 14 countries (Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, and United States). The survey was conducted in the primary language of each country. Questions asked were identical across all countries. Interviews were conducted between 2nd - 22nd February 2010. The margin of error for the total sample of adults (N=7,066) is + 1.16% at the 95% level of confidence.
For the purposes of the study, cybercrime is identified as computer viruses/malware, online credit card fraud, online hacking, online harassment, online identity theft, online scams (i.e., fraudulent lotteries/employment opportunities), online sexual predation, online phishing.
For the study, Norton and StrategyOne collaborated with Anne Collier, editor of NetFamilyNews.org and founder and executive director of its parent organization, Net Family News, Inc. Anne is a writer and journalist who has worked in the news media since 1980. She co-directs ConnectSafely.org, a Web-based interactive forum and information site for teens, parents, educators, and everybody interested in the impact of the social Web on youth and vice versa. ConnectSafely is a project of Net Family News, Inc. Anne has just completed her work as co-chair of the Obama administration's Online Safety & Technology Working Group and serves on the advisory boards of the London- and Washington-based Family Online Safety Institute and GetNetWise.org, a project of the Washington-based Internet Education Foundation. In 2008, she served on the Internet Safety Technical Task Force at Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet & Society.
Helen Malani Karina Carretero
Norton from Symantec Edelman Public Relations
+1 424 750 7885 +1 (323) 202-1899
Helen_Malani@symantec.com Karina.Carretero@edelman.com
Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100615/LA20855LOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100615/LA20855LOGO
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com/
Source: Symantec
CONTACT: Helen Malani of Norton from Symantec, +1-424-750-7885,
Helen_Malani@symantec.com; or Karina Carretero of Edelman Public Relations,
+1-323-202-1899, Karina.Carretero@edelman.com, for Symantec
Web Site: http://www.symantec.com/
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8 Sep 2010
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Corruption and Sexploitation Spread HIV/AIDS in Nigeria
Many Nigerian girls are commercial sex workersThere are over two million people living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria and the country ranks second to South Africa in the world for the spread of the pandemic.
The promiscuous life of majority of Nigerian girls is responsible for the spread of HIV. The disregard for family values and virtues is no longer news as parents have failed to lead their children by example. Sexploitation is common on the street, radio and TV as parents and guardians either watch helplessly as their impressionable sons and daughters engage and indulge in immoral acts at parties where psychedelic music promoting sexual abuse is played and pornographic music videos are given regular airtime on TV. 90% of the most rotated programmes on Nigerian TV are musical shows with uncensored music videos showing half naked girls dancing wildly for young men dressed in suits or fashionable apparels ranting or lip-synching about their lust for sex. You wonder why girls would love to dance half naked for fully dressed men. Over 90% of the ditties and music videos of the so called Nigerian hip-hop artistes display impressionable school girls or call girls who portray themselves as sex objects without inhibitions and scruples and these immoral acts of carnality are seen as normal by the younger ones. They spend more time imitating these wayward role models and no wonder over 98% of them flunk their exams and the graduates among them are unemployable, because of poor academic performance.
Where are their parents?
Their parents have given up, and preferred to compete for status symbols and social class trophies of the Joneses of the primitive upper class in Nigeria. In fact, mothers have been known to act as pimps for their daughters. Majority of the poor parents even encourage their daughters to use sex to make ends meet for their families. One woman encouraged her most beautiful daughter who sponges on randy men to sleep with a rich married man for cash.
What is the government doing about the crisis?
The Nigerian government is corrupt and in fact caused the breakdown of law and order in the society as public officials misappropriated public funds with their accomplices in the private sector and have been using their ill-gotten wealth to seduce, oppress and suppress the poor masses who are their regular suppliers of servants and low income workers and their daughters are the cheap sex partners of the corrupt rulers who patronize the clubs in the red light districts of Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Warri, Uyo, Calabar, Owerri, Asaba, Onitsha and other hotbeds of prostitution. They are also the ones promoting campus prostitution or using their pretty and sexy female bank workers for marketing to seduce and sleep with rich men to lure them to patronize their banks.
Immorality is the root of the rot in the country. Most of the corrupt people are shameless and unrepentant. So, the solution is the eradication of corruption at all levels. Behavior change is going to be difficult, but the family and the government must address the dangers of pornographic entertainment online and offline, by the strict regulation of censorship. X-rated movies, music and other X-rated publications must be checked and controlled in private and public places. Moral education must be taught and good and noble family values and virtues must be the order of life.
Checking immorality and corruption is the solution for the control and prevention of the spread of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria and save our youths from wasting their lives. This is the only way we can secure the future of Nigeria.
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Monday, September 6, 2010
Nengi Josef Ilagha Writes Queen Elizabeth II on Nigeria’s 50th Independence Anniversary
Majesty Nengi Josef Ilagha, Mingi XII, Amanyanabo of NembeNews Flash
As Nigeria prepares to celebrate her Golden Jubilee anniversary on October 1, 2010, the London-based Nigerian poet, journalist and broadcaster, Nengi Josef Ilagha, forwards a Royal Mail to Queen Elizabeth II, the constitutional monarch of England who will be marking her Diamond Jubilee anniversary on the throne in 2012. In twelve gutsy, friendly, sober and soul-searching epistles, the author takes the Queen on a revealing ride into the corrupt character and unwholesome habits of a nation on the verge of rebirth, and invites her to push for the restoration of the values that make England a stable and prosperous model.
Told through the perceptive lenses of a poet with a knack for refreshing imagery, the book is an incisive and harrowing testament on the state of the most populous African country, fifty years into its life as a nation, laying bare its shameful inadequacies, and underscoring its hopeful impact on world affairs. Delivered in a lucid, winsome and personable style which dollies in from time to time to undertake a dramatic exposition of the British colonial mentor and life in London, Royal Mail is inspired by Her Majesty’s efficient postal delivery service.
The book promptly finds its place beside Chinua Achebe’s popular 1983 commentary, The Trouble With Nigeria, with the added advantage that it extends its critical antenna to England and finds the colonizer culpable of the political rot in present-day Nigeria, no thanks to the divide-and-rule ethic enthroned by the British under Lord Frederick Lugard’s pioneering tenure as Governor-General of the West African nation. The following is the opening epistle from Royal Mail, published by Treasure Books, Nigeria.
I
City Boy
The men who succeed are the efficient few
- Herbert N. Casson
YOUR ROYAL MAJESTY, I am glad to make your acquaintance. I am led by none other than the hand of God to address this humble epistle to you. I have no doubt that your efficient mail delivery service will bring these words before your eyes in the fullness of time. As you will soon come to understand, I have quite a lot to say to you, and I will say it as the pages flip by, so help me God.
Allow me to begin by congratulating you on your fifty-eighth anniversary in office. That is quite a long time to serve your land and people as Queen. You have been monarch of England for as long as Ron and Don, the world’s most famous conjoined twins have been together, bound by flesh from day to day, minute after minute. I happen to have seen them for the first time on BBC 4 television on the night of March 4, 2010, and it got me thinking. They were born one year after you ascended the throne at Sandringham.
By all accounts, you will be marking your Diamond Jubilee in 2012. I find myself suitably equipped and qualified, therefore, to address you in the twelve epistles that make up this small loaf of bread, even as you come to understand that two of my sons go by the names of Diamond and Jubilee. But let me not get ahead of my story. Let me take one letter at a time, one word at a time, one line at a time, one paragraph at a time, one page at a time, one chapter at a time.
You have been at the head of government for so long, witness to the policies and programmes of Prime Ministers as varied in temperament and carriage as Anthony Eden was from Gordon Brown. Not too long ago, I saw pictures of Winston Churchill, Eden’s predecessor, upon the satellite clouds, delivering excerpts of his famous speeches in the finest manner of a war-time hero. Quote. Let each man search his conscience and search his speeches. I frequently search mine. Unquote.
Your Majesty, do you mind taking a look at your speech to Nigeria on October 1, 1960? Remind yourself of the things you said to the new nation, the promises you failed to keep. I say this advisedly, because I have before me your speech to the Commonwealth delivered on May 8, 2010.
Today’s societies are constantly seeking ways to improve their quality of life, and science and technology play a vital part in that search…Experimentation, research and innovation, mean that more opportunities for improving people’s lives exist today than ever before. Take long distance communication, where the obstacles of time and geography have been dramatically reduced: people can now use mobile phones to be in instant contact virtually anywhere in the world, be it with a medical centre in the Himalayan mountains in Asia, a Pacific island school, a research facility at the South Pole, or even the international space station, beyond this planet altogether.
I share your sentiments, Your Majesty. I look forward to your next speech, the one you will address to the President and good people of Nigeria on their Golden Jubilee anniversary, the one that will pronounce restoration to a long-suffering nation. Suffice it to say, for now, that Nigeria is not some space station beyond this planet. It is a country you once ruled with pride and honour. By virtue of modern communication devices, we can still be reached by phone, in spite of frustrations with the network. But anyone you call up in our beleaguered country will assure you that conditions of living could have been better than they are today. Take it from me.
By and by, it should strike you as a sign that Sir Anthony Eden was the first Prime Minister under your watch. I shall have a lot to say about Eden, the parcel of land upon which the first man and woman were moulded from the mud of the earth. Of course, as a fervent Christian, I take my bearings from the Bible. Now we dwell in the present, listening to the rhetoric of David Cameron and Nick Clegg, to say nothing of the Miliband Brothers. I am a witness to history in the making. I abide with you. I can only say it is your portion to have been so blessed, so revered, so adored for over five decades of your life in prosperity and opulence.
I have no doubt that you have questions of your own bubbling within you right now, questions you wish to direct at me. Verily, verily, I will be only too glad to give ear and hearken, to say nothing of answering them as the days unfold, but I suppose you will let me exhaust myself on the subjects I have set out to address in this long epistle to Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II of England. Even so, I cannot proceed without running the full course of the pleasantries which I must not fail to offer, from my meek and gentle self to every member of the Royal Family, acting on behalf of the President and people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
How are you today? How is the Queen Mother? How is Prince Phillip? How is Prince Charles? How is Prince William? And how is Prince Harry? O, how is Princess Anne, the one you sent to represent you at Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos on October 1, 1960? How did you find Nigeria on your maiden visit in the first week of December, 2003? What gift do you have in mind for the country you once colonized, as it marks its Golden Jubilee? These questions popped up in my mind in that particular order on February 6, 2010, when I read in the internet rather belatedly that you were marking your anniversary in Sandrigham. It was remiss of me not to have put my thoughts on paper at the time and date in question, on account of the poor weather. As the saying goes, however, better late than never. I have never been at home with the cold, and I will tell you why. I am a child of the sun, that’s why. At any rate, I have no doubt that your family is in good health and excellent spirits.
Your Majesty, I will do well not to hold back what I have to say to you. If I have rambled round and about the subject up to this point, put it down to a royal habit I acquired since I became king. That last bit of information, indeed, should give you a fair idea as to how I summoned the audacity to extend a few words of hope in conversation with Your Imperial Majesty, as Nigeria marks her Golden Jubilee. Do allow me to whisper this detail in your ear, if you don’t mind coming a little closer. I am His Royal Majesty Nengi Josef Ilagha, Mingi XII, Amanyanabo of Nembe Kingdom. I am also the author of twelve books spanning the full calendar, from January through December, as you may have noticed from the Pope Pen Library that prefaces this book. Glad to meet you.
Time does fly, Your Majesty. Don’t you find it amazing that you have ruled Britain for all of fifty-eight years, that in a couple of years you will be marking your Diamond Jubilee? Isn’t God wonderful to have kept you through the storm of eleven Prime Ministers? Before David Cameron showed up, I was wondering who would be your Twelfth Prime Minister. Now we know that you are overseeing the first coalition government since 1945. May God give you the fortitude and grace to undertake the assignment to the glory of his name.
Lest I forget, let me promptly invite you to my coronation ceremony in the selfsame critical year of transition which marks your Diamond Jubilee. I shall be formally ascending the throne in that capital year, 2012, as King of Eden, better known as Nembe in modern geography. I have no doubt that your entire entourage will be on hand to demonstrate to our land and people what the imperial ceremonies are like, and should be, even in a former colony such as Nigeria. Do bring along your beefeaters, your buffeters, your bagpipes, your puppeteers, your horses, your Metropolitan police and your Imperial Guard of Honour.
Come and stage a carnival as colourful, as grand, as magnificent, as brilliant, as vintage as the one I just witnessed at Nothinghill. Come with your trumpets, come with your bugles. Come and stage a lavish party in Nigeria, beginning from Bayelsa. Come to the Glory Of All Lands. You must come and set a new standard, or at least, revive the memory of our people as to what it means to be part of the British Commonwealth. What is more, I believe you will do well to send word to your worthy counterparts in Spain, Denmark, Jordan and such other countries where the monarchy is still respected as a timeless institution, to grace the coronation ceremony of Pope Pen The First.
There we are! The proverbial cat is out of the bag, out of the proverbial bin, in spite of all the efforts of the Mary Bales of this wicked world. My friends call me Mingi Nengi XII, the Lion King of Nembe. So now you know why I am so conscious of the year 2012. What are your earnest plans for your Diamond Jubilee celebration in 2012? I want to be a part of it all. Well, now we have our bearings right, let us get down to brass tacks, so to speak. But let it not be that I am being presumptuous. It is possible that you cannot quite place Nembe on the map of British history, so I will go so far as to help you.
Fifty-eight years is a long time indeed, Your Majesty. So much has happened. So much more is happening, even as we speak. You may have forgotten certain matters that called for your urgent attention in times past. You may at present be preoccupied with A Journey, the memoirs of Tony Blair. I have my copy in hand as well. I will read it on the Tube, from Golders Green to Finchley, from Finchley to Baker Street, from Baker Street right through to Aldgate. Up and down the Jubilee Line, I will read from Stanmore to Stratford and back, my all-day travel card in my pocket, like a typical City Boy. But let me not digress.
As I was saying, Your Majesty, certain incidents may have become mere figments from the past, as if they never happened. Certain faces may have become blurred in memory. Certain names and dates may escape you from time to time in the course of conversation. I don’t blame you. After all, none of my royal predecessors kept you in remembrance of our abiding relationship as colonizer and colonized, certainly not the last Mingi of Nembe. I do hope that the language you left behind in my country will avail me with the right and proper words to express myself to the fullest, and to extend the great expectations that my subjects back home want you to consider, without let, without hindrance.
From time to time, I shall consult Daniel Ogiriki Ockiya, the reverend gentleman who extensively documented the historic Nembe-British War of 1895 in The History of Nembe, and E.J. Alagoa, Emeritus Professor of History, University of Port Harcourt, author of The Small Brave City-State. The credentials of these noble sons of the soil lie in the fact that they had the presence of mind to record the events of the day as faithfully as they could manage. They deserve trophies from Her Majesty The Queen, as much as many gallant Nigerians who have contributed to the grandeur of England in no small way.
As Nigeria turns fifty, Your Majesty, it is tempting to undertake a comparison of the country you once colonized and check it for critical differences with yours, from the time Britain annexed our parcel of land after the partitioning of Africa in 1884, right up to 1960 when we returned the Union Jack to you through Princess Anne of Kent, right up to the present -- and to see just how far we have come as a nation. I shall promptly fall for this temptation. The internet is my witness. I shall consult it for facts. I shall also do well to conduct a cursory parade of your queenly parks, your royal gardens, your busy highways, your underground network of rails and its workaday population, in order to put in fair perspective the disparities between Lagos and London, between Brass and Brighton, between Nembe and Nottingham.
I want to hail Nigeria, Your Majesty. But I find it hard to do so. I want to hail the profound ideals expressed in the inaugural national anthem composed by Flora Shaw, Lord Lugard’s companion, who first gave us the name Nigeria in an article published in The Times of London on January 8, 1897. Nigeria is not quite the same country you granted political independence in 1960. Take it from me. In the words of one of your famous political theorists, Thomas Hobbes, life in present-day Nigeria is “short, nasty and brutish.” I will tell you why. I am obliged, indeed, to bring you abreast with developments in my beloved country, with particular emphasis on the state of my domain. But if the matters I bring before you in the intervening pages sound confusing, if this epistolary journey upon which we have embarked, qualifies as a mosaic of sentiments trussed up together, without form or order, don’t blame me too much. Put it down to the chaotic temper of my country, the haphazard scheme of existence under which we have laboured, these past fifty years.
Even so, I assure you that our nation is on the verge of rebirth. Good luck has come to Nigeria. There is an inevitable tectonic shift in the political order. I invite you to push for the restoration of the values that make England such a prosperous and stable example, that we might take our cues afresh. I have no doubt that you will give me your fullest attention. I will do well not to bore you, but if I do so at all, put it down to my second-hand acquaintance with the Queen’s English.
I will do well to be reasonable. I will do well to uphold the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God. I pledge not to insult your royal intelligence. I promise to remain faithful to the picture I have studied of my country since I was born into it on December 18, 1963. I am, Your Majesty, a full-grown child of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the best sense of the expression. I will do well to grip my country, literally by the scruff of the neck, and yank it for faith.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, no one can take that divine right away from me.
By His Majesty Nengi Josef Ilagha
Mingi XII, Amanyanabo of Nembe
Bayelsa State, Nigeria
More from the same author.
A Memorial Tribute to a Fisherman, Melford Obiene Okilo
A Perspective on Goodluck Jonathan’s Attitude to Governance While He Was Governor of BayelsaState
King Ilegha Writes to Vice President Goodluck Jonathan On the Trashing of the Nigerian Constitution By Those Who Want to Prevent Him from Attaining the Presidency
A Profile of Goodluck Jonathan, Vice President of Nigeria
"Tattoes Are Forever": A Discussion of Nigeria's Social Ills
Epistle to Maduabebe:A Fictional Portrayal of Corruption in Nigeria
Children International Expedites Relief to Poor Children Around the World and Reduces Operational Costs With New Donations Management System
CHILDREN INTERNATIONAL WEB PLATFORMChildren International uses web platform to expedite relief to poor children. (PRNewsFoto/Children International) 2 Sep 2010 14:47 Africa/Lagos
Children International Expedites Relief to Poor Children Around the World and Reduces Operational Costs With New Donations Management System
Program projected to save $3M in annual expenses
KANSAS CITY, Mo., Sept. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Children International, a Kansas City-based nonprofit organization, announces the Aidmatrix Foundation has completed implementation of a web platform enabling the charity to accept donated supplies to help poor children and families around the world. The platform was donated in part by Aidmatrix and is valued at $250,000. Use of the system is projected to save Children International up to $3 million in annual expenses while significantly reducing the amount of time and effort used in the procurement of gifts-in-kind donations, thus freeing up more funding to help children in need.
To view the multimedia assets associated with this release, please click: http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/childreninternational/40377/
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100902/MM57679 )
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100902/MM57679 )
The platform helps Children International manage their product donations more efficiently. Items such as clothes, textbooks, school supplies, shoes, hygiene items and medical supplies needed to help children and families living in poverty around the world are donated by Children International corporate partners through the website. The new web platform will also provide Children International and its international agencies throughout Latin America, Asia, Africa and the United States the ability to post their needs on the Aidmatrix Network and share them with all the members.
Children International CEO and President Jim Cook says, "We are committed to operating Children International's Gifts-in-Kind program as effectively and efficiently as possible. Using Aidmatrix is enhancing our ability to reach out to children and families in dire need of the support from our generous corporate donors."
Children International has a robust gifts-in-kind program that has shipped more than $52 million worth of textbooks, school supplies, clothing, shoes, hygiene items and medical supplies to their partner agencies around the world in the last year. The Aidmatrix platform will save the organization $3 million each year and a significant amount of time and effort used in the procurement of gifts-in-kind donations. Aidmatrix is a nonprofit organization and was able to grant a large portion of the Donations Management Module to Children International.
About The Aidmatrix Foundation, Inc.
The Aidmatrix Foundation, Inc. builds and operates powerful technology hubs that support diverse stakeholder groups in their efforts to work together to solve the world's most challenging humanitarian crises. Our solutions enhance participation, amplify contributions, and accelerate results for humanitarian relief. More than 35,000 leading corporate, nonprofit and government partners leverage our solutions to mobilize more than $1.5 billion in aid annually, worldwide. The donated goods, money and services impact the lives of more than 65 million people. Aidmatrix is a 501(c)3 nonprofit headquartered in Dallas, Texas, USA, with offices in Wisconsin, Germany and India.
www.aidmatrix.org
About Children International
Established in 1936, Children International is a humanitarian organization with its headquarters in Kansas City, Missouri. Children International's programs benefit more than 335,000 children and their families in 11 countries around the world including Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Zambia, Honduras, India, the Philippines and the United States. For more information, visit Sponsor a Child.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
For Children International
Dolores Quinn Kitchin
Public Relations
Direct: (816) 943-3730
Cell: (816) 718-0711
Email: dkitchin@children.org
https://twitter.com/ci_doloresk
For Aidmatrix:
Melis Jones
Vice President - Programs
P: (972) 869-8171
melis_jones@aidmatrix.org
Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100902/MM57679
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100902/MM57679
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com Video: http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/childreninternational/40377
Source: Children International
CONTACT: For Children International: Dolores Quinn Kitchin, Public
Relations, +1-816-943-3730, Cell: +1-816-718-0711, dkitchin@children.org, or
For Aidmatrix: Melis Jones, Vice President - Programs, +1-972-869-8171,
melis_jones@aidmatrix.org
Web Site: http//www.children.org
Another Tragic Sunday as Father, Kids and others Die in Ghastly Road Accident
The Lagos-Ibadan ExpresswayAnother Tragic Sunday as Father, Kids and others Die in Ghastly Road Accident
A father, two kids and others were reported killed in a ghastly road accident Sunday night in Ibafo on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, just meters away from the Berger Bridge where over 40 lives were lost in a similar auto accident on August 15.
Three oil tankers, a KIA sport utility vehicle (SUV) and other vehicles were involved in the road crash.
Eyewitness accounts blamed the accident on the KIA SUV BZ 342 AKD that suddenly stopped in traffic and the speeding oil tankers behind crashed into it with loud explosions. The inferno from the explosions engulfed the tankers and jeep and spread to other oncoming vehicles.
Releases displayed in Africa/Lagos time
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Workshop on safety and protection of African journalists
14:00
Ion Torrent Selected as World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer
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Sunday, September 5, 2010
What If Obama was a full blown White Male in the Political-Psycho-Social Thought of America?
President Barack Obama and family.What If Obama was a full blown White Male in the Political-Psycho-Social Thought of America?
Within the American psyche there has always being a divide between the ordinary people; and the influential, the selected few, leaders or the cream of the crop. The divide historically revolves around economic, political and legal activities.
Armed with money, position or power the privileged has always been able to scale through societal problems. Since the birth of America, at least from the British parenthood 200 years ago, if there is one thing that bridges the gap between the psyche or minds of the ordinary and privileged Americans, Whites and Black included, it is what could be called the presence of an ‘all out white American Male’.
In America and from time in memory and to this day there is the American mentality that automatically ties the psychology of handsomeness, toughness, smartness, successfulness, competitiveness and industriousness to being a White male—from a boy and then to a man.
It is a reality that to be a White male in America, and not be successful, leaves that person in a state of scornfulness generally by many Americans, including Whites, Blacks, and others.
It is a fact that since the 1960s the air of multiethnic and cultural globalism has successfully penetrated into the atmosphere of the White man supremacy in America which has resulted in some degree of opportunity for non-Whites on the basis of the recent laws of inclusion, diversity and fairness.
For a racialist society like the United States of America the new multicultural outlook is a positive reference away from what once was an American White Kingdom (AWK) with Blacks and non-Whites as possessions and amazing servers.
Nonetheless, both in rhetoric and in attitudes Americans believe that when the white man is quite visible and on top at all levels of private and public influences and power that means leadership in all aspects of their lives.
The American psyche is imbued with the spirit and psychology that the white male is by definition a special brand. Throughout his developmental and maturing periods his grandparents, parents, movies, Television shows, and art/literature/history/science books feed him with messages of being special and worthy, as such, he is bound and entitled to success and power.
He is told to win by any way possible, he is asked to play by the rules for the most part, he is told the more winnings and achievements that he gets bring in more reward, attention and recognition. He is told that it is only natural that he be respectful of himself, he is told to be careful at all times, he is told to show respect to those who work had to achieve on their own but he must always try and remain on top of all others, and that the world is his to lose if he “f” up.
Barack Obama in an outstanding way, through struggle, trial and error, through risk taking, quiet optimism, through playing the game to get ahead and devoting himself to amazing strong education, has demonstrated strong work history, built powerful cycle of men and women around him and founded a fine family. Blessed with boyish looks, tallness, slimness, bravery, focus, adventuresome, talent, pleasantness, courtliness, dynamic expressions, he became Harvard-educated, a lawyer, a middle-class man, and now at the apex of American power.
He is everything that America wishes and wants to see and notice in a person on top of public and private influence. But he is Black.
That is, he is a man of color, African-American, or a non-Caucasian as defined by the American psyche and culture.
His monumental achievements compared to the combined works of presidents from Franklin D. Roosevelt to George W. Bush remain quite a record. Good-faith Liberal and Conservative political and economic researchers/pollsters have agreed that his achievements within his short span in office are worthy.
We see for the first time strong legal protections for credit card holders and mortgage borrowers.
There is for the first time an overhaul and expansion in student loans and guaranteed insurance for persons with pre-existing medical and mental illnesses. He has saved the American auto manufacturers and industries from disappearance. Job growth is slowly increasing compare to the last three years and has expanded more aids to small business.
He has championed the free-enterprise system and reduced squandering in the government. In the area of foreign policy as it relates to the Iraq war which the majority of Americans hate, he has not only completed the war but he is bringing the soldiers back home.
His measured success in education as evidenced in his bringing in competition for federal grants, adopting higher standards among teachers and demanding for more accountability among schools remain obvious to everyone. Yet he gives no reason for the current ethnic majority in America to celebrate his accomplishments.
In a society where one can be “too black” in order to frighten the white psyche or not “black enough” in order to irritate the African American psyche to both blacks and whites Obama is caught between their respective doubts—a consequence of the American manifest racialism.
As a black man who attended Ivy League school he is blamed for being an intellectual but no other White President like George W. Bush—who attended Ivy League schools were ever blamed for embracing intellectual outlets like the Harvard University.
It has been asked that if America is still ingrained with the complex of racialism and anti-blackness, then how did Obama managed to win 43 percent (as against John McCain’s 55 percent White votes) of the White vote.
There is no easy answer to this question. However, a theory could be built that the Euro-American or Western psychology as we know it has historically and generally ignored the spiritual and transpersonal dimension of humans.
But that does not mean that the realization of the mystical part of the American human does not happen from time to time.
So could it be that on that super Tuesday of November 4th, 2008 of presidential election within the mainstream politics of that day, many or some in the American majority and minority ethnic persons (certainly there were those whites and blacks who all along irrespective of rational or mystic influence freely looked for that day to cast their presidential vote for a black or female American) were on the part of apparent conversion, transcendence and spirituality as they cast their votes?
As both whites and blacks as well as others possibly thought of the deepest racial wounds in America and with their spirit and minds apparently being guided by the extraordinary experience of that day—Barack Hussein Obama—won the irrevocable cast of vote at that second, at that minute and at that hour.
At the time of this writing there are many Americans especially those that self describe themselves as Angry White Men and Women who are openly speaking and showcasing images of violence.
They appear to be losing their minds over the Obama effect during that election day and agitated by the current Obama phenomenon which is marked with a new order of things that are ‘insourcing’ or gripping the whole of America—inclusiveness, diversity and equity.
The question that remains is that if Obama was a white man will he suitably capitalize on that American psyche, admiration and sentiments that equates historical excellence, power, achievement, success and gentlemanliness to a white male, the answer is a resounding yes!
Now, it time for all of Americans—Blacks, Asians, Latinos, Whites and others to understand that it is the personal qualities and not the racial outlook of an individual that will define the 21st century America. As of today, that is what the young Black, Hispanic, Asian and White male or female across all colleges and universities are hearing from Barack Hussein Obama, the 44th President of the United State of America.
~ By John Oshodi
John Egbeazien Oshodi, Ph.D, DABPS, FACFE is a practicing Forensic/Clinical Psychologist and the Interim Associate Dean of Academic Affairs-Behavioral Science, North Campus, Broward College, Coconut Creek, Florida. joshodi@broward.edu.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Too Many Churches, Too Many Fake Christians
Too Many Churches, Too Many Fake Christians
There are more churches in Nigeria than any other nation on earth. But the credibility of most of them is in doubt, because the more you look at the congregants the less Christianity you see in their lives outside the walls of their churches.
As our Lord and Master Jesus Christ our MESSIAH said that by their fruits you shall know them, the fruits of these churches are rotten.
I do not see much difference in the lives of the so called Christians and pagans. In fact, the pagans in Nigeria fear their juju voodoo more than these Nigerian Christians fear GOD.
How can we have millions of people who claim to be regular churchgoers and yet Nigeria is one of the most corrupt countries on earth.
The police officers extorting money from motorists on the road are still showing up in church to increase the congregations of hypocrites.
The covetous and greedy parents who have turned to the pimps of their giddy-giddy daughters are also the so called Christian mothers and elders in the churches.
Majority of the looters in the National Assembly and state assemblies, Local Government and Council offices and other public offices are still the same people sharing the pews with you in the church.
The same impressionable and innocent brothers and sisters posing and posturing as your fellow Christians are still the same cheating, lying, stealing and plotting more evils to harm and even kill others.
Well, you can know them by their fruits and separate the bad apples from the good ones.
~ Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima
There are more churches in Nigeria than any other nation on earth. But the credibility of most of them is in doubt, because the more you look at the congregants the less Christianity you see in their lives outside the walls of their churches.
As our Lord and Master Jesus Christ our MESSIAH said that by their fruits you shall know them, the fruits of these churches are rotten.
I do not see much difference in the lives of the so called Christians and pagans. In fact, the pagans in Nigeria fear their juju voodoo more than these Nigerian Christians fear GOD.
How can we have millions of people who claim to be regular churchgoers and yet Nigeria is one of the most corrupt countries on earth.
The police officers extorting money from motorists on the road are still showing up in church to increase the congregations of hypocrites.
The covetous and greedy parents who have turned to the pimps of their giddy-giddy daughters are also the so called Christian mothers and elders in the churches.
Majority of the looters in the National Assembly and state assemblies, Local Government and Council offices and other public offices are still the same people sharing the pews with you in the church.
The same impressionable and innocent brothers and sisters posing and posturing as your fellow Christians are still the same cheating, lying, stealing and plotting more evils to harm and even kill others.
Well, you can know them by their fruits and separate the bad apples from the good ones.
~ Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima
Workshop on Safety and Protection of African Journalists
1 Sep 2010 19:42 Africa/Lagos
Workshop on safety and protection of African journalists
ADDIS ABABA, September 1, 2010/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- Invitation to representatives of the media
Theme: “Peace and Security for African Journalists!!!”
WHEN: 2 – 3 September 2010
WHERE: Headquarters of the African Union Commission. Conference Center, Committee Room 2
WHO: The Division of Communication and Information (DCI) of the African Union Commission, in collaboration with the Federation of African Journalists (FAJ).
WHY: The Year of Peace and Security offers an unprecedented opportunity for the African Union Commission and the Federation of African Journalists to celebrate some accomplishments in partnership with the international community, and review current efforts to peace building on the continent, with a view to strengthening and, where appropriate, launching
new initiatives for peace and security. Such a goal cannot be reached if freedom of expression and a free media, key conditions for good democratic governance, are not able to flourish and journalists cannot work in a safe and secure environment. Thus, the need to join force in organizing this workshop on the safety and protection of African Journalists.
Objectives:
African journalists need the establishment of enduring and effective
safety standards throughout the continent so they can do their legitimate and much-needed work to keep citizens informed.
Safety training and protective equipment have in a few instances been
provided to journalists but they are not enough to guarantee their safety. In the end it will be up to the political will of African leaders
to spell out the measures necessary to help protect journalists.
Policies must be developed and implemented to minimise the risks
faced by journalists. Such measures will send a powerful message of support and solidarity for the newsmen and women who are committed to tell the story of Africa to the Africans and to the rest of the world.
Expected Outcome:
The draft resolution resulting from this workshop is expected to set out extensive policies that will impel member states, their legislative institutions and law enforcement agencies to deal with issues of protection of journalists and impunity.
Participants: The workshop will bring together:
Over 35 unions and associations of journalists across Africa;
Politicians;
Diplomatic Corps;
African Union officials;
Officials from the Federation of African Journalists (FAJ) ;
Officials from the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ);
Journalists leaders in Africa
International and regional lawyers;
Advocacy groups and Safety experts amongst others.
Outline of the Draft Agenda:
Promoting the Safety of Journalists and Overview of Media Security in Africa: General Trends and Main Challenges:
The Risks of Death , Real and Serious: The Case of Somali Journalists
Deadly Trap of Investigative Journalism: Crimes against Journalists in Nigeria
Silence over Crimes and End of Press Freedom: The case of DR Congo
Precarious Working Conditions of North African Journalists
Legal Prospective: Who has responsibility to protect journalists and Why?
Women Reporting Wars – The Challenges
Key role of the African Union in protecting journalists' safety: Identify basis for action and draw up a plan
Measures to uphold the safety and protection of journalists in Africa
Impunity: Source of Insecurity and Continuous Danger
Background:
In Africa, the world's second largest and second most populous continent, journalists take great personal and professional risks to collect process and disseminate news and information to over 1 billion African citizens in 54 states. But sadly, being a journalist today in many places can often be a deadly pursuit, particularly for those covering conflict and other dangerous assignments. Conflict areas and post-conflict areas in Africa are predominantly dangerous environments for journalists.
The African Heads of States and Governments took the decision to declare 2010 the Year of Peace and Security in Africa, proclaiming in paragraph 9 of the Tripoli Declaration that: “We are determined to deal once and for all with the scourge of conflicts and violence on our continent, acknowledging our shortcomings and errors, committing our resources and our best people, and missing no opportunity to push forward the agenda of conflict prevention, peacemaking,
peacekeeping and post-conflict reconstruction. We, as leaders, simply cannot bequeath the burden of conflicts to the next generation of Africans”.
On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day on 3 May this year, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Mr. Jean Ping, condemned “all violations of the right to freedom of expression”. “During this year,” he said “our common goal is to make every effort to ensure that weapons are silent, crises are resolved and tensions subside, so that all African nations can peacefully continue continental integration and stand proudly amongst all nations. The press must be able to fully participate in this project by generating and conveying information, to freely play its role in sharing knowledge and in promoting a culture of peace. On this highly symbolic day, I also call upon all the actors of the media to join the African Union so that together we make peace happen in Africa. It is not an option for Africa but a necessity. Peace and security are sine qua non conditions for the development of the media industry and the effective promotion of freedom of expression.”
The Year of Peace and Security offers an unprecedented opportunity for African governments, citizens and institutions, in partnership with the international community, to celebrate our accomplishments and to review current efforts to peace building on the continent, with a view to strengthening these and, where appropriate, launching new initiatives for peace and security.
Journalists in Africa and associated media personnel like camera crew have been increasingly involved in covering news in so-called “hot spots” in war zones or hostile environments as conflicts flared up in countries like Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The mushrooming of news media organisations meant that increasing number of young people joining the profession without the necessary training on security awareness. At the same time, the technological advances allowed media houses to greatly increase the number of journalists covering conflicts while intensifying the competitive pressures that can force them to take unjustifiable risks. Camera crews and photographers take the biggest risks in conflict areas as they need to be up close to the action. Reporters are often at the sharp end in the battlefields because they want to get information from areas where others fear to tread. Some journalists started to believe that if there is no war, there is no news to report.
The working conditions of journalists are in the most cases inadequate. Journalists working in Africa, as fulltime, and as a freelance, are overall poorly remunerated. They do not enjoy health and safety protection and rarely are covered by insurance. They are not even provided with the necessary equipment to help them protect themselves in conflicts or civilian unrests. Most media houses are not financially stable or strong, and those who have the financial capacity to take safety measures do not want to invest in the safety of journalists.
The African Union Commission, the Federation of African Journalists (FAJ), the pan-African regional organisation of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), which is the global body of journalists representing 600,000 journalists worldwide, has been extremely concerned about the safety of journalists in Africa. Increased insisting that governments as well as media organisations which employ them should take steps to reduce the risks journalists face by protecting them and by ensuring that journalists have all the protective measures they might need.
The Federation of African Journalists and the African Union Commission have joined forces to organise this Regional Workshop on the Safety and Protection of African Journalists which concurs with the objectives associated with the Year of Peace and Security. The Workshop will bring together African journalists, AU politicians and officials, and civil society partners to discuss issues of protection of journalists and impunity. At the heart of these discussion will be the drafting of a resolution, similar to UN Security Council Resolution 1738, which will recognise the protection of journalists based on international law, various UN charters and AU constitutive act and resolutions/policies, Geneva conventions and additional protocols and will put the onus on member states to be responsible for putting an end to intentional attacks against journalists and media professionals, to comply fully with its obligations under international law and to respect their professional independence.
The continental congress of FAJ bringing together representatives of all the African journalists meeting in Harare, Zimbabwe, in March 2010, adopted a powerful resolution on safety and security of African journalists. The World Congress of the IFJ in May 2010 in Spain also unanimously voted for strong support of and solidarity with African journalists. The protection of journalists engaged in dangerous assignments in armed conflict is a major concern for the international community and a key obstacle for achieving the full implementation of the right to freedom of opinion and expression.
Obligations of governments related to the protection of journalists in armed conflict are mostly enshrined in international humanitarian law. The Third Geneva Convention, in its article 4(A) (4) states that persons who accompany the armed forces without actually being members thereof, such as war correspondents, provided that they have received authorisation, from the armed forces which they accompany, benefit from the prisoner-of-war status.
On 23 December 2006, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1738 calling on Governments to protect journalists in armed conflict situations. The Security Council expressed its deep concern at the frequency of acts of violence in many parts of the world against journalists, media professionals and associated personnel in armed conflict, in particular deliberate attacks in violation of international humanitarian law. It condemned intentional attacks against journalists, media professionals and associated personnel, as such, in situations of armed conflict, and calls upon all parties to put an end to such practices. The Security Council demanded that all parties to an armed conflict must comply with their obligations under international law to protect civilians in armed conflict. States and all other parties to an armed conflict were urged to do their utmost to prevent violations of international humanitarian law against civilians, including journalists, media professionals and associated personnel. It also emphasised the responsibility of States in that regard, as well as their obligation to end impunity and to prosecute those responsible for serious violations. UNESCO has a specific mandate to defend freedom of expression and press freedom. In this context, UNESCO has dedicated part of its work to the issue of protection of journalists, in armed conflicts in particular, and has taken various initiatives in that respect.
The Federation of African Journalists and the African Union Commission, in alliance with civil organisations, will endeavour to make the safety and security of African journalists a special feature of The Year of Peace and Security.
CONTACT PERSONS:
Mrs. Habiba Mejri-Cheikh
Spokesperson,
Head, Division of Communication and Information (DCI)
African Union Commission
Tel. Off. (+251) 11 551 7700 Ext. 236
Email: HabibaM@africa-union.org / Mejri-cheikh.habiba@hotmail.com
Mr. Omar Faruk Osman
President, Federation of African Journalists (FAJ)
Tel. +251921322802 / +253 869230
Email: omar@nusoj.org / faruk129@gmail.com
Skype: omarfaruk10
Source: African Union Commission (AUC)
Workshop on safety and protection of African journalists
ADDIS ABABA, September 1, 2010/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- Invitation to representatives of the media
Theme: “Peace and Security for African Journalists!!!”
WHEN: 2 – 3 September 2010
WHERE: Headquarters of the African Union Commission. Conference Center, Committee Room 2
WHO: The Division of Communication and Information (DCI) of the African Union Commission, in collaboration with the Federation of African Journalists (FAJ).
WHY: The Year of Peace and Security offers an unprecedented opportunity for the African Union Commission and the Federation of African Journalists to celebrate some accomplishments in partnership with the international community, and review current efforts to peace building on the continent, with a view to strengthening and, where appropriate, launching
new initiatives for peace and security. Such a goal cannot be reached if freedom of expression and a free media, key conditions for good democratic governance, are not able to flourish and journalists cannot work in a safe and secure environment. Thus, the need to join force in organizing this workshop on the safety and protection of African Journalists.
Objectives:
African journalists need the establishment of enduring and effective
safety standards throughout the continent so they can do their legitimate and much-needed work to keep citizens informed.
Safety training and protective equipment have in a few instances been
provided to journalists but they are not enough to guarantee their safety. In the end it will be up to the political will of African leaders
to spell out the measures necessary to help protect journalists.
Policies must be developed and implemented to minimise the risks
faced by journalists. Such measures will send a powerful message of support and solidarity for the newsmen and women who are committed to tell the story of Africa to the Africans and to the rest of the world.
Expected Outcome:
The draft resolution resulting from this workshop is expected to set out extensive policies that will impel member states, their legislative institutions and law enforcement agencies to deal with issues of protection of journalists and impunity.
Participants: The workshop will bring together:
Over 35 unions and associations of journalists across Africa;
Politicians;
Diplomatic Corps;
African Union officials;
Officials from the Federation of African Journalists (FAJ) ;
Officials from the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ);
Journalists leaders in Africa
International and regional lawyers;
Advocacy groups and Safety experts amongst others.
Outline of the Draft Agenda:
Promoting the Safety of Journalists and Overview of Media Security in Africa: General Trends and Main Challenges:
The Risks of Death , Real and Serious: The Case of Somali Journalists
Deadly Trap of Investigative Journalism: Crimes against Journalists in Nigeria
Silence over Crimes and End of Press Freedom: The case of DR Congo
Precarious Working Conditions of North African Journalists
Legal Prospective: Who has responsibility to protect journalists and Why?
Women Reporting Wars – The Challenges
Key role of the African Union in protecting journalists' safety: Identify basis for action and draw up a plan
Measures to uphold the safety and protection of journalists in Africa
Impunity: Source of Insecurity and Continuous Danger
Background:
In Africa, the world's second largest and second most populous continent, journalists take great personal and professional risks to collect process and disseminate news and information to over 1 billion African citizens in 54 states. But sadly, being a journalist today in many places can often be a deadly pursuit, particularly for those covering conflict and other dangerous assignments. Conflict areas and post-conflict areas in Africa are predominantly dangerous environments for journalists.
The African Heads of States and Governments took the decision to declare 2010 the Year of Peace and Security in Africa, proclaiming in paragraph 9 of the Tripoli Declaration that: “We are determined to deal once and for all with the scourge of conflicts and violence on our continent, acknowledging our shortcomings and errors, committing our resources and our best people, and missing no opportunity to push forward the agenda of conflict prevention, peacemaking,
peacekeeping and post-conflict reconstruction. We, as leaders, simply cannot bequeath the burden of conflicts to the next generation of Africans”.
On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day on 3 May this year, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Mr. Jean Ping, condemned “all violations of the right to freedom of expression”. “During this year,” he said “our common goal is to make every effort to ensure that weapons are silent, crises are resolved and tensions subside, so that all African nations can peacefully continue continental integration and stand proudly amongst all nations. The press must be able to fully participate in this project by generating and conveying information, to freely play its role in sharing knowledge and in promoting a culture of peace. On this highly symbolic day, I also call upon all the actors of the media to join the African Union so that together we make peace happen in Africa. It is not an option for Africa but a necessity. Peace and security are sine qua non conditions for the development of the media industry and the effective promotion of freedom of expression.”
The Year of Peace and Security offers an unprecedented opportunity for African governments, citizens and institutions, in partnership with the international community, to celebrate our accomplishments and to review current efforts to peace building on the continent, with a view to strengthening these and, where appropriate, launching new initiatives for peace and security.
Journalists in Africa and associated media personnel like camera crew have been increasingly involved in covering news in so-called “hot spots” in war zones or hostile environments as conflicts flared up in countries like Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The mushrooming of news media organisations meant that increasing number of young people joining the profession without the necessary training on security awareness. At the same time, the technological advances allowed media houses to greatly increase the number of journalists covering conflicts while intensifying the competitive pressures that can force them to take unjustifiable risks. Camera crews and photographers take the biggest risks in conflict areas as they need to be up close to the action. Reporters are often at the sharp end in the battlefields because they want to get information from areas where others fear to tread. Some journalists started to believe that if there is no war, there is no news to report.
The working conditions of journalists are in the most cases inadequate. Journalists working in Africa, as fulltime, and as a freelance, are overall poorly remunerated. They do not enjoy health and safety protection and rarely are covered by insurance. They are not even provided with the necessary equipment to help them protect themselves in conflicts or civilian unrests. Most media houses are not financially stable or strong, and those who have the financial capacity to take safety measures do not want to invest in the safety of journalists.
The African Union Commission, the Federation of African Journalists (FAJ), the pan-African regional organisation of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), which is the global body of journalists representing 600,000 journalists worldwide, has been extremely concerned about the safety of journalists in Africa. Increased insisting that governments as well as media organisations which employ them should take steps to reduce the risks journalists face by protecting them and by ensuring that journalists have all the protective measures they might need.
The Federation of African Journalists and the African Union Commission have joined forces to organise this Regional Workshop on the Safety and Protection of African Journalists which concurs with the objectives associated with the Year of Peace and Security. The Workshop will bring together African journalists, AU politicians and officials, and civil society partners to discuss issues of protection of journalists and impunity. At the heart of these discussion will be the drafting of a resolution, similar to UN Security Council Resolution 1738, which will recognise the protection of journalists based on international law, various UN charters and AU constitutive act and resolutions/policies, Geneva conventions and additional protocols and will put the onus on member states to be responsible for putting an end to intentional attacks against journalists and media professionals, to comply fully with its obligations under international law and to respect their professional independence.
The continental congress of FAJ bringing together representatives of all the African journalists meeting in Harare, Zimbabwe, in March 2010, adopted a powerful resolution on safety and security of African journalists. The World Congress of the IFJ in May 2010 in Spain also unanimously voted for strong support of and solidarity with African journalists. The protection of journalists engaged in dangerous assignments in armed conflict is a major concern for the international community and a key obstacle for achieving the full implementation of the right to freedom of opinion and expression.
Obligations of governments related to the protection of journalists in armed conflict are mostly enshrined in international humanitarian law. The Third Geneva Convention, in its article 4(A) (4) states that persons who accompany the armed forces without actually being members thereof, such as war correspondents, provided that they have received authorisation, from the armed forces which they accompany, benefit from the prisoner-of-war status.
On 23 December 2006, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1738 calling on Governments to protect journalists in armed conflict situations. The Security Council expressed its deep concern at the frequency of acts of violence in many parts of the world against journalists, media professionals and associated personnel in armed conflict, in particular deliberate attacks in violation of international humanitarian law. It condemned intentional attacks against journalists, media professionals and associated personnel, as such, in situations of armed conflict, and calls upon all parties to put an end to such practices. The Security Council demanded that all parties to an armed conflict must comply with their obligations under international law to protect civilians in armed conflict. States and all other parties to an armed conflict were urged to do their utmost to prevent violations of international humanitarian law against civilians, including journalists, media professionals and associated personnel. It also emphasised the responsibility of States in that regard, as well as their obligation to end impunity and to prosecute those responsible for serious violations. UNESCO has a specific mandate to defend freedom of expression and press freedom. In this context, UNESCO has dedicated part of its work to the issue of protection of journalists, in armed conflicts in particular, and has taken various initiatives in that respect.
The Federation of African Journalists and the African Union Commission, in alliance with civil organisations, will endeavour to make the safety and security of African journalists a special feature of The Year of Peace and Security.
CONTACT PERSONS:
Mrs. Habiba Mejri-Cheikh
Spokesperson,
Head, Division of Communication and Information (DCI)
African Union Commission
Tel. Off. (+251) 11 551 7700 Ext. 236
Email: HabibaM@africa-union.org / Mejri-cheikh.habiba@hotmail.com
Mr. Omar Faruk Osman
President, Federation of African Journalists (FAJ)
Tel. +251921322802 / +253 869230
Email: omar@nusoj.org / faruk129@gmail.com
Skype: omarfaruk10
Source: African Union Commission (AUC)
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