Pregnancy Kills: “144 Pregnant Women Die in Nigeria Every Day”

Communication for Social Change, a nongovernmental organization recently released statistics stating that 144 pregnant women die during childbirth in Nigeria every day, 6 women per hour. Nigeria’s maternity rate is just behind India’s which currently has the worst rate in the world. These deaths are even more unfortunate because the majority of them could be avoided. Says Sandra Mbanefo-Obiago, the Executive Director of Communication for Change, “These women die due to avoidable problems such as inadequate healthcare services in communities, unskilled birth attendants, lack of education, cultural stereotypes and barriers and because we have these stoic culture of silence in the face of pain”. The CFC has developed three short videos depicting the vulnerability of women and young girls to pregnancy complications. These films discuss the influence of “peer pressure on our youths, family power dynamics, inadequate access to information, and the disastrous effects of not educating and empowering women”. PREGGERS. For more information, please click here.

The Crew

Goodluck Jonathan has recently created a 26 man advisory counsil to help his new rule, as well as reconstituted the Niger Delta Development Commission monitering team. The Advisory Counsil is designed to help increase Jonathan's credibility as the president, as well as increase the speed with which he can access expertise. It is already known that Jonathan is a very consultative leader, relying on others to provide him with the information he needs to properly run office.

The counsil will assist with the running of utilities and with social programs throughout the nation, and will hopefully increase the faith citizens have in Goodluck Jonathan's administration. Without word from Yar'Adua, Jonathan could be running the show for awhile.

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Yar'Adua still Veiled

It has been less than a week since Yar'Adua's been back and the country has not in any way returned to normal. For one, no one has actually seen Yar'Adua, causing concern that the president is incapacitated. It is this lack of information that prevents the National Assembly from actually doing anything in present days, settling the Nigerian government into somewhat of an impasse. There is general unrest in the country as not only government officials but also the Nigerian people become anxious in their wait to see the president and find out his true condition. Speaking on the matter, the Action Congress leader in the House, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, argued that the National Assembly should start to investigate Yar’Adua’s state of health by invoking Section 88 of the 1999 Constitution. Section 88 allows the National Assembly to conduct investigations into national affairs.

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Nigeria Defends Oil Reforms After Industry Backlash

Last Wednesday, Nigeria announced reforms that are going to be made on their oil and gas sector. These reforms have been under fire from various oil companies such as Royal Dutch Shell since then, and now government representatives are addressing the concerns raised, such as the slowing of the development of deep water reserves. It has also been stated that these reforms could cause Angola to surpass Nigeria as Africa’s top oil producer by 2020. The government representatives have argued against these claims, stating multiple times in response to accusations that "nothing could be further from the truth". This legislation (the Petroleum Industry Bill) is supported by both President Yar’Adua and Vice President Goodluck Jonathan. It is still being worked on in Parliament and there is time for revisions on it to be made. For more information, click here.

Jubilation in Katsina over Yar’adua’s return

The country rejoiced this morning as Yar'Adua made his return to Nigeria landing in Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja. Yar'Adua's return was a tightly kept secret. To be continued...

Whispers

Information has been released regarding the acting president's approach to governing the nation. With reform of the cabinet and the seemingly extensive reforms Jonathan has been pushing for, this insight may prove valuable to the stability of Nigeria.

Jonathan has been described as "highly consultative," alluding to a certain respect for specialists and experienced politicians. He makes these consults in the name of his three-point plan, which was derived from sick president Yar'Adua's original seven-point plan. Goodluck Jonathan has reported he wishes to stay loyal to Yar'Adua, despite the fact that many in his kitchen cabinet want him to go renegade.

This information is particularly disturbing, as Jonathan has also acknowledged that the political deadlock his country just passed through may have been nurtured by such antagonistic kitchen cabinet members.

Also interesting is that Goodluck Jonathan has announced he will not resist the upcoming Presidential elections - good news for stabilization of a regular electoral schedule.

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Militant Rehab

original article

The Presidential Committee on Amnesty is spending $450m USD on a "rehabilitation and re-integration" program for ex-militants from the Nigerian Delta. This is %0.2 of Nigeria's 2008 GDP and 20,193 militants are going to go through the proposed program.

The United States spends about $47b on corrections programs with 9 out of every 10 dollars going to fund the prison system. So the money we spend on "rehabilitation and re-integration", as of 2008 is around $4.7b or a mere %0.03 of US GDP. Apparently there are 5.1 million people on probation or parole. So Nigeria is spending a relative 7 times the money on a population segment that is relatively 1/126 of the segment of the US population on parole or probation.

The program that the militants are going to be sent through will be held at the "Citizenship and Leadership Training Centre" in the River Delta state. Apparently it is modeled after the Outward Bound program and attempts to instill "core values" through "Character Development, Adventure and Challenge, Compassion and Service, and Social and Environmental Responsibility." The Nigerian government is sending militants who were just recently destroying Nigeria's infrastructure and fomenting general chaos to a program that, if its claims are to be taken seriously, shows the potential to greatly benefit a group of young Nigerians and turn them into productive citizens. This seems like a civilized and intelligent way to handle the militant situation in Nigeria. However, the government must also create policies that will allow the reformed militants to contribute to their own communities. In other words, many of the MEND's grievances must be met, including the demand for "true federalism" as Jomo Gbomo, because under the current system, the oil riches of the Delta are relied on and exploited by the rest of the country, causing the majority of politicians to shy away from any sort of policy that would curtail oil revenue in the process of improving the lot of Nigerian Delta citizens.

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