Nigeria to lead others in rejection of EU trade agreement

Olusegun Aganga (R) says Nigeria not big on EPA with the EU

By Nkiruka Nnorom

African ministers of trade and experts in trade and regional integration have agreed to boycott planned signing of Economic Partnership Agreement, EPA, with European Union. The signing of the agreement is scheduled for October 1, 2014.

Speaking at the Extra-Ordinary Session of the Conference of African Union Ministers of Trade in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the ministers said the trade liberalization deal with the European Union will have a long-term negative impact on the continent's efforts towards industrialization and job creation.

The meeting was convened to discuss Africa's common position ahead of the October 1st deadline for signing of the EPA with EU; the establishment of the Common Free Trade Area (CFTA) by 2015; extension of African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) by the American government for 15 more years and Africa's strategic response to World Trade Organisation negotiations, among others.

While reiterating Nigeria's position on EPA, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, said rather than entering into the agreement, African countries should leverage their abundant natural resources and large market to develop industries and create jobs for their people.

"Nigeria's position on EPA is very clear. Africa is on the rise. It is a very big and strategic market for any trading partner. That is what the EU wants from us but Africa must jealously protect what it has.

"We should leverage our abundant natural resources and large market to develop our industries; create jobs for our people; increase intra-African trade and achieve regional integration. We must not be in a hurry to give away what we have. We must not sign an agreement without first of all carrying out a robust economic analysis of the overall impact the agreement will have on the region, our children and future generations," Aganga affirmed.

He, however, cautioned against anything that would undermine Africa's regional integration, saying, "Whilst it is important to look into the October 1, 2014 deadline for the signing of EPA, we should also fully examine the impact of the withdrawal of market access by EU after this deadline. If it is necessary, Africa should look at ways of compensating member countries that will suffer losses as a result of this withdrawal. We must not be in a hurry to sign an EPA if it will not be in the overall best interest of the continent."

Zambian Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry, Mr. Robert Sichinga, agreed with Nigeria's position, noting that rather than jeopardizing their industrialization and job creation drive by hastily signing the EPA, African countries should work towards enhancing regional integration and intra-African Trade through value addition of their abundant raw materials, "especially in the areas where they have competitive and comparative advantage."

Sovereign National Conference: Yoruba delegates reject provocative and divisive document being pushed by the North

By Kamarudeen Ogundele

Yoruba young delegates from the South-West on Tuesday rejected an "offensive document" circulated by their northern counterparts.

The delegates expressed dismay about the document titled, 'Issues before the northern contingents.'

Rising from an emergency meeting in Abuja, the Yoruba young delegates said the document was "provocative and divisive."

Their spokesperson, Chief Bisi Adegbuyi, said the document was predicated on "assumptions and outright falsehood."

Speaking on Tuesday night, Adegbuyi said the Yoruba might be pushing for a confederal arrangement in Nigeria.

He said, "In the light of what is happening particularly the provocative, highly incendiary and a disuniting document distributed by northern delegates to all the delegates who are working at the committee level, it is important to say that the Yoruba may be pushing for a confederacy in Nigeria.

"This is predicated on assumptions and lies contained in the document."

Adegbuyi said the front page of the document contained a Nigerian map purportedly apportioning 80 percent of the Nigerian land mass to the North while the whole of the South-West, South-East and South-South occupied just 20 percent.

"We have thought that the essence of this conference was to foster unity and find solutions to the problems confronting the Nigerian state.

"It is extremely provocative for the North to be circulating document purporting that the whole of the South does not matter claiming the North is the backbone of Nigeria."

Adegbuyi said events at the committee level showed that any proposal by Yoruba delegates had met stiff resistance "no matter the merit and benefits."

"There is a mindset and collective decision to oppose it," he added.

He said the parliamentary and state police demanded by Yoruba delegates had been opposed by a voice vote as against the rule set for the conference.

Adegbuyi said there were issues coming up that might make the Yoruba young delegates at the conference to take a hard decision.

"Yorubas have never pushed for secession in the Nigerian state, we have always labored for unity. Our leaders, starting from the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo was imprisoned, the late M.K.O Abiola that won the presidential election was not allowed to rule and was murdered," he said.

Continuing, he cited Chief Olu Falae, Gen. Alani Akinrinade, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Olaniwun Ajayi, the late Bisi Onabanjo and the late Bola Ige, among Yorubas that had paid heavy sacrifices for the unity of Nigeria.

"We are going to respond to the inaccuracies and sometimes outright falsehood contained in the incendiary document.

"The content of the document is divisive and will likely undermine the search for unity in Nigeria.

"The essence of this conference is to put our heads together and imbibe the spirit of give and take so that we can have a very strong, indivisible and progressive country that will cater to the needs of the people.

"A country that will be safe. A country where school children will not be abducted or kidnapped."

Adegbuyi warned that the incident at the conference might tear the country apart if not immediately addressed.

Recalling that a consensus had been built on devolution of power, he stated that the Committee on Devolution of Power had only been able to remove six of the 68 items on the Exclusive List of the 1999 Constitution.

He said, "The problem with Nigeria is that the center is by far too strong. If we don't devolve power as agreed upon, that means this conference might turn out to be a waste of time."

He stated that about 70 percent of Nigerians that submitted memorandum asked for restructuring in governance.

"The committee on restructuring have retained the existing 36 states as the federating units. Are we in anyway restructuring Nigeria by that?" he queried.

He said the conference must consider devolution of power and state police as a minimum irreducible condition.

He asked, "If we can't achieve state police, we can't achieve fiscal federalism, devolution of power, restructuring of Nigeria, then why are we at the conference?"

Calling for regionalism, he said the presidential system currently being practiced in Nigeria encourages corruption and impunity.

"Regionalism is very crucial to us. If some parts of the country don't want regionalism, those of us that want it should be allowed to pursue it.

"We demand for self- determination within Nigeria. Failure to do this, the Yoruba nation would push for self determination.

"We don't want Nigeria to take us back, we have suffered enough. We will push for the right of people to secede from Nigeria if they so desire because if people don't have their wishes and aspirations met, they have the right to pull out. The United Nations guarantees that."

Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling's recorded conversation with his girlfriend.....

CC Video Highlight

Note: It would seem this conversation occurred in California which requires two-party consent. However, there may be grey areas with regard to confidentiality (implied or otherwise) and the very nature and circumstances of the conversation between Sterling and his girlfriend.

It is "refreshing" though to see a racist white male actually own up to his own very make-up and I am pretty confident that he is not the only white owner of a professional sports team in the United States or anywhere else, that feels that way.

Listen to the conversation below, it is both intriguing and revealing.

Canada passes the U.S. in middle-class wealth.....

"Screw the middle-class, greed is good!"

CC Must-Read

According to a New York Times report, the rich in the US are getting richer, but the poor and middle classes are falling behind some of their Western peers. 

"Middle-class incomes in Canada - substantially behind in 2000 - now appear to be higher than in the United States," David Leonhardt and Kevin Quealy write. "The poor in much of Europe earn more than poor Americans."

The UK median income is still behind that of the US, but it's catching up fast - a 19.7% increase since 2000. This is the same increase as Canada's, whereas the US number was up by only 0.3%. (It's worth noting that Germany's middle class is also stagnating - at 1.4%.)

The Times reporters based their conclusions on a survey of household incomes in about 20 countries over the course of 35 years, taking into account inflation, differences in taxes, government benefits and cost of living in different locations.

"With a big share of recent income gains in this country flowing to a relatively small slice of high-earning households, most Americans are not keeping pace with their counterparts around the world," they write.

The reporters point to three reasons why all but the wealthiest American may be falling behind:

First, educational attainment in the United States has risen far more slowly than in much of the industrialized world over the last three decades, making it harder for the American economy to maintain its share of highly skilled, well-paying jobs…

A second factor is that companies in the United States distribute a smaller share of the bounty to the middle class and poor than similar countries elsewhere…

Finally, governments in Canada and Western Europe take more aggressive steps to raise the take-home pay of low- and middle-income households by redistributing income.

The struggle for middle- and lower-class Americans is reflected in public opinion polls, the reporters write, which generally show greater dissatisfaction with their government than in other Western nations.

If the US middle class has it bad, the poor have it worse.

"The American poor now clearly trail the poor in several other rich countries," Leonhardt and Quealy write. "At the 20th percentile - where someone is making less than four-fifths of the population - income in both the Netherlands and Canada was 15 percent higher than income in the United States in 2010."

Source: BBC ECHO CHAMBERS

Victims of Islamist terrorists Boko Haram

CC Video Highlight

Obafemi Awolowo: 27 years and his memory still lives on

CC Video Tribute

Chief Obafemi Awolowo: Quality Leadership

CC Video Perspective

Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa is received by LBJ upon JFK's invitation

CC Historical Insight

Guess Aaron was right after all as he gets hate-mail for his comments on the state of race in America

Hank Aaron

Mike Oz - Yahoo Sports - There are people in this country who will tell you that in 2014, we live in a post-racial America. We have a black president, the thinking goes, so therefore racism can't exist anymore. 

Tell that to Hank Aaron, who is the subject of a new wave of racist hate mail this month, 40 years after he received floods of racist mail when he broke Babe Ruth's home-run record in 1974. The calendar may have a different year on it, and methods of sending racist prose might have changed — it can be emailed now — but the sentiment is unfortunately the same.  

Bob Nightengale explains in a story published in USA Today on Jackie Robinson Day in Major League Baseball, of all days:

"Hank Aaron is a scumbag piece of (expletive) (racial slur)'' a man named Edward says in an e-mail to the Braves front office and obtained by USA TODAY Sports.

Edward invokes the epithet five times in four sentences, closing with, "My old man instilled in my mind from a young age, the only good (racial slur) is a dead (racial slur)."

And:

The Braves have been besieged by hundreds of letters, e-mails and phone calls deriding Aaron for his comments made to USA TODAY Sports.

Marion calls Aaron a "racist scumbag.'' Ronald won't attend another Braves' game until Aaron is fired. Mark calls Aaron a "classless, racist.'' David says that he will burn Aaron's I Had A Hammer autobiography.

What did Aaron do to revive the ire of 40 years ago? Well, on the eve of the 40th anniversary of his historic homer, he told Nightengale that he still holds on to the racist letters he got back in 1974 to remind him what the world was like then. Aaron, 80, says he looks around today and it's not as different as people might think. This is what Aaron said earlier in the month:

"We are not that far removed from when I was chasing the record. If you think that, you are fooling yourself. A lot of things have happened in this country, but we have so far to go. There's not a whole lot that has changed. We can talk about baseball. Talk about politics. Sure, this country has a black president, but when you look at a black president, President Obama is left with his foot stuck in the mud from all of the Republicans with the way he's treated.

"We have moved in the right direction, and there have been improvements, but we still have a long ways to go in the country. The bigger difference is that back then they had hoods. Now they have neckties and starched shirts."

If you boil it down, Aaron's basic point was that racism still exists in America. And people who were upset about that figured the best way to respond was to send racist email directed at him and/or call him a racist?

That's sad, though not all that surprising, because Hank Aaron is right. This, obviously, is not a post-racial America. 

Abduction of over 100 female students by Islamists from Boko Haram again rains on the liberal parade of Amnesty International and its co-horts.....

Goodluck Jonathan - Too weak to lead Nigeria?

Maiduguri (Nigeria) (AFP) - Heavily armed Boko Haram Islamists kidnapped more than 100 girls from a school in northeast Nigeria, sparking a search by soldiers to track down the attackers, a security source and witnesses said Tuesday.

The unprecedented mass abduction in Borno state came hours after a bomb blast ripped through a crowded bus station on the outskirts of Abuja, killing 75 people, the deadliest attack ever in Nigeria's capital.

The violence underscored the serious threat the Islamists pose to Africa's most populous country, with the group capable of carrying out large-scale attacks in remote areas and massive bombings in major urban centers.

Gunmen stormed the Government Girls Secondary School in the Chibok area of Borno after sundown on Monday, torching several buildings before opening fire on soldiers and police who were guarding the school, witnesses said.

They ultimately overpowered the guards and entered the school, said Emmanuel Sam, an education officer based in Chibok who fled to the state capital Maiduguri after the attack.

The girls were then forced onto trucks and driven away by the attackers, multiple witnesses said.

A security source who requested anonymity said more than 100 girls were taken and blamed the attack on Boko Haram, a radical group whose name means "Western education is forbidden".

"We were able to follow the path of the truck and we found it broke down deep in the bush," the source told AFP.

"We are now trying to locate the whereabouts of the abducted girls," he added.

Some of the schoolgirls narrowly escaped their kidnappers by jumping off a truck in the middle of the night before running back to Chibok.

One of those who escaped said their opportunity to flee came when some of the gunmen became distracted after one of the vehicles in the convoy broke down.

"They tried to fix it," she told AFP by phone from Chibok on condition of anonymity. "It was at this moment that some of us jumped out of the vehicles and ran into the bush."

Boko Haram is blamed for killing thousands of people across north and central Nigeria since 2009 in an uprising aimed at creating a strict Islamic state in the north.

The group has carried out scores of school attacks, spraying gunfire on students in their sleep and bombing educational buildings across the north.

But a mass kidnapping specifically targeting girls is unprecedented in the group's rebellion.

Much of Boko Haram's recent violence has been concentrated in the northeast, the group's historic stronghold, where more than 1,500 people have been killed already this year.

The military, which launched a massive offensive in the region last year, had said it has confined the Islamists in the remote region, a claim discredited by Monday's mass bombing just a few miles from the seat of government.

"No serious analyst ever really believed" that the military had managed to trap Boko Haram in the northeast, said Alex Vines, head of the Africa program at the London think-tank Chatham House.

The Abuja bombing "isn't a surprise", he told AFP. "It's just a reminder that the threat remains. It is completely consistent with what we know about Boko Haram."

The health ministry's casualty figures for the bombing include 75 dead with another 141 wounded, but spokesman Dan Nwomeh said the death toll may rise as more victims were identified -- a difficult task as their "bodies were totally dismembered".

Police in the capital have been put on "red alert," with security intensified "at all vulnerable targets," spokesman Frank Mba said.

Central Abuja, home to major hotels, foreign embassies and sprawling government complexes, has been mostly locked down for more than two years, with security reinforced after an August 2011 car bombing at the United Nations headquarters in the city, also blamed on Boko Haram.

The World Economic Forum said it would go ahead with an Africa conference scheduled for May 7 to May 9 in Abuja despite the bombing and pledged to protect delegates with "the largest security operation ever mounted in (Nigeria) for an international summit".