Petropolitics and AFRICOM

"Nigeria's Resurgent Oil Diplomacy" comments on how the Yar'Adua administration is taking advantage of high oil prices to reposition Nigeria regionally and internationally. At stake is the gas flaring deadline, and location of the DoD's new AFRICOM initiative.

Guns and Whammo

A bunch of naija military officers were fingered for gunrunning recently. An audit of arms and ammunition "could not give an accurate account for nearly ten thousand General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG), and over five thousand riffles [sic] and thousands of boxes of grenades and other ammunitions." That's a lot of heat. Supposedly the weapons were bought by "criminals" in neighboring countries and by "militant groups" in the Delta region. One of the guys had to be recalled from a peacekeeping mission, probably the African Union Mission in Sudan, to face charges.

Pre-Valentine's Day Special: Nothing Says Forever Like a Magun Charm

Ok, i don't know where to start here... How about with the article "Choir Leader Dies After Extra Marital Sex" [sic] in today's Independent. Then for follow-up reading on the power of the magun charm, there's this hot romance between two police officers whose circumstances resemble wolf physiology. Still not convinced? Maybe this discussion board on myth and reality can debunk the juju.

Power Problems

I mean electricity, and control. Looks like the energy infrastructure is operating at 40 percent of capacity, and national needs are about 2.2 times capacity. $10 billion was allocated to the National Integrated Power Projects to fix this problem, but results have not materialized. That's a lot of money with which to do nothing.

Darfur = Global Warming

I wasn't aware that the argument he criticizes Ban Ki-Moon for making was either widespread or threatening to his own.

Remittance Data

Hi Sarah,

I've found this chart - so far haven't found anything on the newspaper sites themselves. Looks like the bulk of the money is coming from workers in the US (but I've read the UK elsewhere). Nigeria is one of the top 5 recipients.

Pop Stars

Well, that is one thing about him, he is so nice, and he knows how a woman feels. Whenever he knows he has stayed away for long, he comes around even if it is for four days just to see me, so I am fine by that. Actually I never use to like men before. It’s not like I am a lesbian, so I can cope with that. Though, it hurts sometimes when I see a guy and a girl having fun, it hurts. I can’t cheat on him. I am not trying to sound so faithful. I’d rather let go than cheat and since I can’t do that I’d rather wait for him.

What's up with these interviews???????

Failing to Remit

Hey--note to self--it is interesting to keep tabs on remittance flows in the countries we look at. If you pass by any articles on this please post them! DeGracias

Sorry Cats

Ive been uber busy this month. will jump on the next one i promise.

p.s. how do you put them purty pictures and videos into the blog.

Nigeria Trying to Kick the Habit

Gosh, Pittsburgh isn't even on the smoking ban bandwagon yet. The Nigerian government is suing some major companies for $44 billion, and now trying to boot tobacco factories. WHO Convention on Tobacco Control calls for 1/3 of label space dedicated to health info.

Obasanjo Family Saga

It's a little tough to unpack all the history and characters of the outgoing president's life, but based on the various scandals, including incest, he was probably on the darker side of shady.

My Pipeline

"As we all know, we own the blood-net work in our body, so should we as of right and justice own and control the God-given deposits and landmasses."