TV channels from Nigeria:

Channel Name	Live?		Information
.Channels TV		>	Channels TV is an independent News TV channel which produces featured news programs. It was founded in 1992. Its programming is mainly focusing on the Nigerian public. Part of the Channels TV mission, is to be a watch-dog of the government and its policies.
.Emmanuel TV		>	Emmanuel TV is a Christian TV Network. The channel is headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria and founded by T.B. Joshua of the Synagogue Church Of All Nations. The motto of Emmanuel TV is - Changing lives, changing nations and changing the world. Please note: the Anointing Water is not being sent out to individuals. Visit scoan.org for more info.
.Loveworld Plus		>	LoveWorld Plus is a Christian faith and lifestyle channel destined to bring a new level of dynamism into Christian television programming.
.MFM		>	MFM or Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries is a full gospel ministry devoted to the revival of Apostolic signs.
.NTA News24		>	NTA (Nigerian Television Authority) News24 is based in the Town of Garki. This News channel is controlled by the Nigerian Government.
NEW!: .Silverbird TV		>	Silverbird TV or STV generally is an Entertainment TV channel based in Lagos, Nigeria. Besides this the channel also offers news, local movies and shows.
.The Lord's Chosen		>	The Lord's Chosen Charismatic Revival Church, founded by Pastor Lazarus Muoka, is a Christian Ministry. The channel is based in Lagos, Nigeria.
.TVC Entertainment		>	TVC Entertainment is a News & Entertainment TV channel. The channel aim's to satisfy Nigeria's desire and quest for knowledge and information and we achieve this through high quality and exclusive news and entertainment. TVC is based in Lagos, the Capital of Nigeria.
.TVC News		>	TVC News is a 24-hour pan-African News Channel offering a fresh perspective on African and world events. Broadcasting from Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital and with offices and correspondents across Nigeria and Africa, TVC News brings its viewers the latest news 24 hours a day.

Jamie is 13 and hasn't even kissed a girl. But he's now on the Sex Offender Register after online porn warped his mind...

Jamie was ten years old when he saw his first pornographic sex scene. During a sleepover, a classmate offered to show him ‘some funny pictures’ on his laptop.

‘At first I found it a bit scary and a bit yucky,’ Jamie told me as he shifted uncomfortably on his chair during our therapy session.

‘I didn’t know it was possible for people to do those sort of things — and there were lots of nasty close-ups. But it gave me funny feelings and the pictures started to stick in my head.’

+5

Porn: Jamie watched his first pornographic sec scene when he was aged just 10 - and he became hooked (file photo)

For the next three years, while his parents assumed he was using his computer for his homework, Jamie visited porn websites for up to two hours a night.

Even when his school performance began to suffer, they had no idea of the murky world their shy, quiet son was inhabiting while upstairs in his bedroom.

While it’s not his real name, Jamie is typical of the young men I meet. He explained: ‘The websites led me to other websites and soon I was looking at even weirder stuff I could never have imagined — animals, children, stabbing and strangling.

‘I stopped leaving my room and seeing my friends because when I was away from the pornography, I was dying to get back to see what else I could find.’

 

And it was only when the police came knocking one morning that Jamie’s secret life was exposed.

After identifying that someone in the house was accessing child porn, they took Jamie’s laptop away for examination.  Jamie is only 13 — and he still hasn’t even kissed a girl, let alone had sex.

Though he is only a child himself, the result is that he has been put on the Sex Offender Register, blighting his life for the foreseeable future.

Even with intensive therapy, Jamie still suffers from deep shame — ‘as if it is written across my forehead’ — which has led him to fear he will never be able to form a healthy relationship with a woman.

+5

Unhealthy habit: Jamie is only 13 and is a porn addict. There are many teenagers like him (file photo)

As he told me at a recent session: ‘It still makes me think I might never have a proper girlfriend — because the pictures still come back to me sometimes. It make makes me want to shout, “Stop, stop.” But sometimes they still won’t go away.’

Jamie’s story is not unique. He is just one of the growing number of young patients referred by social services, youth offender services and police to the Portman Clinic — where I work as a psychotherapist. I would never normally consider speaking out in this way. But after much thought, I have come to the conclusion this is no longer just a private problem. It is a public health problem.

For the past 70 years our services, which are part of the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust, have been available to anyone who has committed any kind of offence.

But an increasingly large part of our caseload is taken up with young people whose behaviour has become out of control due, largely, to compulsive internet porn use.

This year alone, this has included 50 referrals of children under 18, and that’s just for North London, where we are based.

Yet even though we are one of the very few units in the country dealing with these issues, funding cuts mean mental health services are having to make drastic efficiency savings that significantly reduce our service.

Supervised internet use: Boy and father using laptop together

Our patients are the young people for whom seeing thousands upon thousands of sexually explicit images is still not enough.

I regularly see boys as young as 12 who have convictions for looking at child porn because they did not realise they had crossed the line.

I also treat children who are so frustrated at being unable to live out their fantasies in everyday life — and so confused by the message of endless sexual availability on the web — that they have committed rapes or sexual assaults.

Another example would be Paul, 12. He has been referred to us because his obsessive sexual viewing habits have now spilled into the real world.

At school, he has been repeatedly exposing himself to teachers and other pupils in lessons.

And, at home, his appalled mother has found him walking around the house naked in a constant state of sexual excitement.

Another case is Andrew, aged 13, who was referred to the clinic because he has been abusing his five-year-old half-sister. Due to his two years of constant porn use, he has built up a complex fantasy world — so it was no big step for him to try to involve her.

Our research at the clinic has found that although the internet doesn’t create these problems, it can release interests which would never have surfaced otherwise.

Without virtual pornography, it’s my belief that Andrew would not have acquired his compulsion to abuse, let alone dreamt up the idea of involving his sister.

One of my regular patients, Jude, was referred to me at the age of 18 by social workers who were concerned that years of web porn use had not only made him socially isolated but a danger to others, too.

+5

Safe: The main mobile phone operators implemented the technology to filter most pornographic and other adult-only content eight years ago

When a girl he liked did not return his feelings, he told me: ‘I feel like stabbing her.’ He also threatened to kill himself because he felt he would never be able to have a normal relationship, and admitted he liked ‘seeing women being hurt’.

A particular scenario he enjoyed thinking about was a man grabbing a woman’s throat and punching her in the face.

Chillingly, he had already taken to following women late at night, and maintained he would become more of a risk to them if he was forced to give up watching porn.

All these cases are only the tip of the iceberg. For every young person who has come to the attention of police or social services, there will be tens of thousands more who manage to keep their habit under wraps — but who still face long-term consequences for their mental and emotional health. After all, we are rearing a guinea pig generation — a generation of boys and young men raised in a world where internet porn is freely on offer at any time.

Of course, critics who oppose restrictions will say pornography has always been with us; young boys have always looked at risque magazines.

Yet the advent of the internet — and particularly broadband over the past decade — means that never in human history has such a vast and relentless amount of it been so easily and freely available to all.

'Our research at the clinic has found that although the internet doesn’t create these problems, it can release interests which would never have surfaced otherwise.'

According to a cross-party parliamentary report, published last week, the scale of the exposure is so vast that four out of five 16-year-olds  regularly access porn online — while one in three ten-year-olds has seen explicit material.

It means any child who has started to feel vaguely curious about sex can tap that same three-letter word into a search engine, and in a split second  have access to thousands of graphic video clips.

As a therapist, I am convinced that these images can be deeply traumatising to children — not least because a competitive market means that pornographers are trying to outdo each other to come up with the most extreme images.

This contest to push the boundaries means that straight intercourse is considered too boring. Images of brutal anal sex and women being humiliated and degraded by two or more men at any one time are the new norms.

For many young boys, this means their first sexual experience is not a nervously negotiated request for a dance from a girl at the end of the school disco. It is watching  grotesquely degrading images of women, all too often mixed in with violent abuse.

But because most parents are so uncomfortable with a child’s developing sexuality, few warn them about porn before they see it — or can face up to the fact they might be watching it. As a result, children don’t know that pornography is fiction and they naturally assume it’s what grown-ups do. Because it’s freely available, they think it must therefore be OK.

But once these brutal images have formed a child’s first sex lesson, in my experience, they can be difficult to erase. The more hardcore the material, the more intense and long-lasting the effects.

Of course, a lot will depend on the particular vulnerability — and developmental stage — of the child. But, inevitably, some of the kids who regularly see such scenes will become conditioned to being aroused by only the most extreme practices at a critical state of their sexual development.

'The advent of the internet — and particularly broadband over the past decade — means that never in human history has such a vast and relentless amount of pornography been so easily and freely available to all.'

Instead of seeking out meaningful, romantic relationships, voyeurism may also become their substitute.

Many of the boys I treat stop going out and seeing friends, and drop out of school because life seems easier and more gratifying in front of a computer screen.

I have treated patients who can easily spend up to six hours a day compulsively viewing porn.

Research by the Oxford University neuroscientist and former director of the Royal Institution, psychologist Susan Greenfield, has found that intense internet use alters brain chemistry, encouraging instant gratification and making young people more self-centred.

It has also been linked to mental disorders such as autism, attention deficit disorder and hyperactivity, and, once addiction takes hold, young people’s lives can become seriously derailed.

Evidence has found they become more prone to ‘real world’ violence, and less able to emphathise.

+5

Adult images: Middle class children often have computers in their rooms - allowing them to view anything without their parents realising

What’s more, it is also from porn that boys are forming their views of what women should look like, and how they should behave sexually. I hear young boys routinely refer to girls as ‘bitches’ who need to be dominated.

They bemoan the fact that they can’t go out with ‘real’ girls because they ‘want things’.

In other words, females who exist outside of cyberspace have needs of their own that boys resent having to consider.

But there are also worrying signs that girls’ behaviour is also being affected. Although almost all my patients are young males, one of them is a 15-year-old schoolgirl, who was referred to the clinic after posing for explicit images.

While it is true that children in families with weak parenting and fewer boundaries are more at risk, the therapists at our clinic also see plenty of youngsters from well-off, middle-class families.

In studies, these are the youngsters more likely to have computers in their rooms, who have more advanced skills with which to navigate the internet, and who are most likely to own smartphones — from which internet sex can be easily accessed.

One of my patients, the son of a wealthy businessman, had his A-level year wrecked and only narrowly escaped prison after he felt compulsively drawn to tracking down the most extreme sexual practices he could find.

Again, the family — who had no idea of their son’s activities — received a knock on the door from police who had discovered that child porn images were being accessed by someone in their home. They seized every mobile phone and computer in the house.

With so much pornography use among our children, it may seem astonishing that most parents simply have no idea of what their children are doing.

'One of my patients, the son of a wealthy businessman, had his A-level year wrecked and only narrowly escaped prison after he felt compulsively drawn to tracking down the most extreme sexual practices he could find.'

Yet most remain in denial, despite the fact that the largest consumer group for internet pornography is  children between 12 and 17.

In my experience, even savvy mums and dads can be terrified of laying a single finger on their child’s computer — for fear of breaking something, ‘messing it up’ or invading their offspring’s privacy.

But the reality is that leaving children to their own devices is no better than letting your child cross the road wearing a blindfold.

In the Seventies and Eighties, parents were urged to ask: ‘Do you know where your child is?’

The urgent question parents should now ask is: ‘Do you know where your child is going online?’ because, in my view, where they wander on the web is potentially more dangerous.

Parents must wake up to the fact that they need to regain their authority — and not be scared of laying down controls.

But it’s never going to be possible to apply filters to every smartphone — or every computer your child uses. This is where the internet service providers must come in.

MP Claire Perry and her parliamentary colleagues want the internet service providers to make porn something you have to opt in for — not something that  is automatically available on  your computer whether you want it or not.

After all, when magazines were the main way for people to access porn, our society never allowed them to be legally sold to minors.

In our culture, drink and cigarettes are also banned from sale to children because we know all too well the harmful effects.

As a therapist, I believe the internet has now been around long enough for us to see the toll that unregulated sexual imagery is having on our children.

Young people may become child-abusers while they are still children themselves.

Boys and young men may come to prefer simulated sexual relationships with porn stars rather than real women.

I have counselled enough damaged children to know that just as our society protects them from booze and smoking by imposing age limits, the time has now come for us to protect them from web pornography, too.

The names of patients in this article have been changed, and their identities disguised.

Interview by Tanith Carey

Families Of Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Gani Fawehinmi Rejects Centenary Awards, Soyinka Too

As part of the centenary celebrations, the Federal Government will today honour 100 persons with Centenary awards, but it won’t be honouring Gani Fawehinmi, Fela Anikulapo Kuti and Wole Soyinka as their families have rejected the awards.

Professor Soyinka is on the list alongside the likes of Professor Chinua Achebe, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Chief Odimegwu Ojukwu, Nwankwo Kanu, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Chief Mike Adenuga and Pastor Enoch Adeboye, among others, but the nobel laureate has hinted he would not be taking the award.

“I would have preferred that the entire day of infamy be ignored altogether. I’m even thinking favourably of just ignoring the obscenity, then turning up at the counter-event,” said
Professor Soyinka.

Professor Soyinka, however, said he will endeavour, to be at the centenary awards planned in London on June 27 during which diasporans will honour 100 outstanding Nigerians in the UK.

At a gala dinner due to take place at Waltham Forest Town Hall in East London tagged Nigerian Centenary Awards UK, diasporans will hand out honours to 100 Nigerians who have excelled in various fields in the UK over the last 100 years.

Also speaking, Femi Kuti, son of the late Afrobeat legend, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti stated that the family would not accept any centenary award in his honour.

Femi who made the statement through a Twitter correspondence while stating that the family has not been officially informed about any centenary award for Fela, noted that the Federal Government should first apologise for killing his grandmother, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, and burning of Kalakuta Republic.

“We have not heard such but I can speak for myself, Federal Government should first apologise for the killing of our grandmother and the burning of Kalakuta,” he wrote.

Asked if the family would accept the award if the government apologised for the two wrongs mentioned, Femi said he doubts if the family would accept the award.

“Like I said we have not heard anything from the Federal Government. But I doubt if the family will accept the award.”

Fela Anikulapo Kuti, is being honoured in the ‘Internationally Acclaimed Artistes, Literary Icons and Journalists’ category.

The family of the late human rights lawyer, Chief Gani Fawheinmi has also turned down his nomination for a centenary posthumous award.

The family cited the nomination of the former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida, for the same award, the unbridled killing of students by insurgents in the North Eastern part of the country and the incessant corruption reeking across the country, including the alleged missing of $20 billion from NNPC as reasons for rejecting the nomination.

According to the letter sent to the presidency via the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Anyim Pius Anyim, and signed by Mohammed Fawehinmi, for and on behalf of late Gani Fawehinmi family, the family said they acknowledged the receipt of the letter and commended the federal government for considering their father for the honour but cited the reasons above for turning down the offer.

“We want to thank the Federal Government for considering our late father for this honour. However, for reasons stated here under, our family has decided it would be inexpedient to accept the award.

“Our late father was empathetic to the sufferings of our people, particularly students. In the last 72 hours, 43 innocent students were mowed down by the blood- thirsty Boko Haram terrorists in Yobe State, while 20 other girls were similarly abducted by this same band of terrorists. These girls are still in captivity while their fate is unknown. If our late father were to be alive, would he be wining and dining with all the glitterati at a Centenary celebration under these circumstances? Certainly no.”

“In the past few weeks, the polity has been assaulted with putrid odour of corruption with the alleged $20 billion missing in NNPC, a development that became the Archilles heel of Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the suspended Governor of Central Bank. As an anti-corruption activist, if he were to be alive, our late father would have confronted the issue head-long and possibly gone to court. With the issue still raging, would our late father have accepted this award at this critical moment? Certainly no,” the letter read in part.

The family explained that their late father always championed the unity of the country and would have opted for the money being spent on the celebration of the centenary to have been devoted to infrastructure development instead of deploying the fund to celebrating Nigeria’s centenary.

“Our late father was unrepentantly for the unity of Nigeria. However, with the level of profligacy in some of the events celebrating Nigeria’s Centenary, our late father would have preferred these multi-million Naira expenditures channeled to our decrepit Teaching hospitals, than unproductive razzmatazz that do not improve the socio-economic well being of our people.

“For these reasons, our family respectfully declines to receive the award about to be conferred on our late father by the government,” the family said.

The list of the awardees include Sir Samuel Manuwa, Professor John Edozien, Dr Moses Majekodunmi, Professor Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, Professor Oladipo Akinkugbe, Professor Latunde Odeku, Professor­ Nelson Oyesiku and Dr. Funmi Olopade. Others on the list include Professor Oyin Olurin, Professor Orishejolomi­ Thomas, Professor Bello Osagie, Dr Beko Ransome-Kuti, Professor Ade Elebute, Dr Akinola Maja, Professor Femi Williams, Professor Ambrose Alli, Dr Dalhatu Tafida, Professor Ishaya Audu, Professor Oladele Ajose and Professor Tola Adebonojo.

Other awardees are the British monarch and Head of the Commonwealth, Queen Elizabeth II, Sir Fredrick Lugard, Dame Flora Louise Shaw, Ex-Military Heads of State and Civilian Presidents, Chief M.K.O. Abiola, Literary icons such as Prof. Wole Soyinka and the late Prof. Chinua Achebe.

Also to be awarded are Chief Gani Fawehinmi, SAN, Chief Odimegwu Ojukwu, Nwankwo Kanu, Alhaji Aliko Mohammed Dangote, Chief Mike Adenuga, Honourable Justice Maryam Aloma Mukhtar, GCON, Sir Abubakar Sadiq III, Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye, amongst others.

The award ceremony is scheduled to hold at the Banquet Hall, State House, Abuja.

At the ceremony, President Jonathan would be presenting awards in 13 categories to 100 distinguished personalities, either alive or dead, who eminently symbolise the tapestry of Nigeria’s first centenary.

Some of the categories include, contributors to the making of Nigeria, heroes of the struggle for Nigeria’s independence/pioneer political leaders, pioneers in professional callings/careers, promoters of democratic transition in Nigeria, internationally acclaimed artists, literary icons, journalists, etc.

Centenary Celebrations Inappropriate – Atiku

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has denounced the centenary anniversary celebrations going on in Abuja, describing it as ‘inappropriate’.

Atiku was reacting to the decision of the Federal Government to go ahead with the celebrations despite the recent massacre of over 29 students in Yobe.

He, however, congratulated Nigerians and President Goodluck Jonathan on the occasion of 100years of the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates.

In a statement posted on his Facebook page, Atiku said: “I’m appalled by this obscenity showing on NTA in the name of Centenary Celebration. It is inappropriate!

“I’m proud of our history over the last 100 years. I congratulate our President and Nigerians for this journey so far.

“However, I totally denounce the party currently happening in Abuja. It is a symbolic dance on the graves of those murdered FGC children. It’s a slap on the faces of those FGC parents currently mourning their children, and those crying over their abducted children”.

Rivers PDP Gives Amaechi 72-Hours To Secure Release Of Kidnapped Members

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State has accused the State Government of being behind the abduction of a former member of the Federal House of Representatives, Chinyere Igwe and two other chieftains of the PDP.

Igwe, who represented Port Harcourt 11 Federal Constituency in the lower chamber of the National Assembly from 2007 to 2011, was kidnapped with Chairman of the PDP in Port Harcourt City Local Council Area, Mr. Ikechi Chinda and Mr. Allwell Ihunda, at the Eagle Island area of Port Harcourt, the state capital, on Wednesday night.

As at the time of filing this report, the kidnappers have not made any contact.

The PDP Chairman in Rivers, Mr. Felix Obuah accused Governor Chibuike Amaechi and the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state of masterminding the abduction of his three members.

Speaking with reporters in Port Harcourt, the state capital on Thursday, Obuah claimed that Amaechi’s agitation for the redeployment of the former state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Mbu Joseph Mbu, was primarily aimed at intimidating and oppressing his perceived opponents.

Obuah, who described the abduction of the party chieftains, by unknown gunmen as malicious, vindictive and well organised, warned that the PDP would mobilise the people of the state to embark on a mother-of-all protests against the governor if he failed to secure the release of the kidnap victims in the next 72 hours.

“After a very careful examination of the circumstances surrounding the abduction of our party leaders, the party believes that it was masterminded by Governor Rotimi Amaechi and the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led government in the state. We are shocked that Governor Amaechi is playing politics with the security of lives and property in the state, thereby branding his political opponents his worst enemies. It has now become very clear that Amaechi’s consistent and sustained propaganda for the redeployment of the former Commissioner of Police, Rivers State, Mbu Joseph Mbu, was for him to intimidate and oppress his perceived and imagined political opponents as witnessed by the abduction of Chinda, Igwe and Ihunda”, he said.

The PDP chairman further urged the state government to urgently ensure that the three abducted party members are released unharmed. He said as a political party, the PDP would by no means tolerate the oppression or victimisation of any of its members for whatever political reason.

“We give Governor Amaechi 72 hours to ensure that the abducted PDP members are released unhurt. At the expiration of that time, the PDP shall mobilise its members and the good citizens of the state to stage the mother-of-all protests against Governor Amaechi’s terrorist tactics”, he said.

But the Rivers Commissioner for Information and Communications, Ms. Ibim Semenitari, has dismissed the allegation and instead castigated the PDP for being insensitive to the extent of playing politics with the lives of its members.

Semenitari said the state government condemns the abduction and has pleaded with the Police Command to expeditiously work towards securing their release unharmed.

However, the Publicity Secretary of the state APC, Mr. Andy Nweye, has berated the PDP for linking the governor and APC to the abduction of the three politicians.

“The truth is very clear; the APC has never been volatile. We have never believed in violence in this business. We are never and will never be involved in such things, so we condemn the kidnap. What we are praying is for peace to reign in Rivers State so that we can express ourselves and carry out our programmes. So, we are not involved and we can never be involved. It is not part of us and it will never be part of our programme”, he said.

The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Ahmed Mohammad, could not be reached to get his reaction to the development.

OBJ, IBB, Buhari, Abdulsalami Shun Centenary Event In Abuja

Four former Heads of State – Generals Olusegun Obasanjo, Muhammadu Buhari, Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubakar – as well as Senate President David Mark, were on Thursday conspicuously absent from the country’s centenary being held in Abuja. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar too was missing at the event.

They did not attend the international conference held as part of activities marking the centenary, which was witnessed by no less than 30 heads of governments and international organisations.

The only past leaders in attendance were President Shehu Shagari, former Head of State Yakubu Gowon and former Head of Interim National Government Chief Earnest Shonekan, former Vice President Alex Ekwueme and former Chief of General Staff Oladipupo Diya.

The conference tagged, “Human Security, Peace and Development: Agenda for 21st Century Africa”, was held under water-tight security at the International Conference Centre, Abuja.

Other dignitaries that attended the conference include the Speaker of the House of Representatives,  Aminu Tambuwal; Deputy Speaker, Emeka Ihedioha; state governors; security chiefs; former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku; National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Adamu Muazu; the chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih; members of the diplomatic corps, members of the National Assembly, members of the Federal Executive Council and other top government officials.

$22.8bn Fresh Allegation: NNPC Decries Campaign Of Calumny

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has decried what it termed as an orchestrated campaign of calumny to tarnish its image by some unscrupulous elements.

This is contained in a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday by Dr Omar Ibrahim, Acting Group General Manager, NNPC Group Public Affairs Division.

The statement cited the deliberate misrepresentation of the presentation made by the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) before the Rep. Muraina Ajibola-led Joint House Committee probing the Berne Declaration Report.

It stated that the report was an example of the well-orchestrated negative campaign targeted at the corporation.

“Some of the reports had sensational headlines alleging that NEITI had uncovered fresh unremitted $22.8 billion oil revenue by the NNPC.

“However, the body of the story was totally different from the headlines in terms of message and content”, it said.

It said after a careful perusal of the original presentation made by the NEITI Executive Secretary, Hajiya Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed, it discovered that the sensational headlines were mere inventions.

According to the statement, this is a calculated attempt to cast aspersion on the image of the corporation and heat up the polity.

“We wish to state that there is nothing farther from the truth. NNPC has a copy of the presentation made by Hajiya Zainab Ahmed, Executive Secretary of NEITI.

“And nowhere did she allege that NNPC failed to remit $22.8 billion to the Federation Account.

“We are convinced that there is a conspiracy by some groups or individuals to drag down the name of the corporation by whatever means possible”, It said.

It said that despite the obvious negative campaign against the corporation, the management of the NNPC under the leadership of Engr. Andrew Yakubu remains undaunted and determined to achieve its mandate.

Boko Haram Kills More People In Fresh Attack In Adamawa

Dozens of residents in northeastern Nigeria have been killed in two separate attacks launched by Boko Haram Islamists, according to officials and residents.

Scored of Islamist insurgents dressed in military uniforms stormed the Christian farming village of Izghe, in Borno state, late Saturday and opened sporadic fire on residents, killing at least 106 people in an attack specifically targeted at male residents.

The gunmen, who arrived in the village riding in trucks and on several motorcycles, opened fire and hacked male residents they had assembled in the village square. They moved door to door in search of male residents who were hiding.

The attack prompted an exodus of hundreds of panic-stricken residents of nearby villages to the neighboring Madagali district in Adamawa state.

"We suspect that the gunmen were members of Boko Haram. They have taken over the village," said Madagali local government chairman, Maina Ularamu..

The attackers looted businesses and food stores "and loaded all their spoils into vehicles owned by residents and fled into the bush," said Ularamu.

A survivor of the attack, farmer Barnabas Idi, said he scaled the fence of his house and crawled for about 40 minutes to safety. Idi said that security agents were not present during the attack.

In the second attack early Saturday, suspected Boko Haram gunmen opened fire on Doron Baga, a fishing village along Lake Chad.

"They opened fire from all directions, forcing residents to jump into the lake in a bid to escape, and many drowned while others were gunned down," said Babagana Gwoni, a survivor of the attack.

The gunmen looted fish and foodstuffs before setting houses on fire, Gwoni said.

Lt. Col. Mohammed Dole, a military spokesman, confirmed the Doron Baga attack but declined to give details.

"We received report of the attack on Doron Baga, but we don't have details because the area falls under the operational jurisdiction of the Multinational Joint Task Force," Dole said.

The Multinational Joint task Force comprises troops from Nigeria, Niger and Chad and was set up in 1998 primarily to fight light weapons proliferation. Its mandate has been expanded to include combating the Boko Haram insurgency.

Why I Think The Gay Community Should Come Out’ by Seun Kuti

I’m writing to condemn the recent anti-gay bill signed into law by our President Jonathan
 Goodluck. This law – which contains penalties of up to 14 years in prison for anyone
in a same-sex marriage or civil union, 10 years for anyone who attends a same-sex wedding, 10 years for anyone involved with an LGBT organization, and even 10 years for anyone who
shows affection for someone of the same sex – should be cast out. Since the law was
passed, police across Nigeria have begun arresting and torturing dozens of our fellow
citizens suspected of being gay. Don’t forget that in some of our states, if you are found
guilty of being gay, you could be stoned to death.

First of all, this law was unnecessary. There is not space in the existing constitution for
gay marriage. Our constitution is very definitive of marriage as a union between man
and woman. I see the signing in of this law for what it was: a cheap shot by an
under-achieving government to discriminate against people because they are different.

The president of Nigeria has a PhD, so he should understand better than most the
implications of the law. Even if he couldn’t stop the senate from passing the bill, he
had the power to delay signing it as a way of protecting the gay community.
The President has had the Petroleum Industry Bill in front of him for years, and
he and our senators have stalled on the bill calling for harsher punishment for corruption.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s senate has just sanctioned pedophilia in our constitution
(girls that are as young as 9 years old can continue to be married in if they are
“physically developed enough” according to their parents or prospective husbands)
– so this the ban on homosexuality can hardly be a so-called “moral” issue. This is
simply a move for cheap political points. Meanwhile, people’s lives hang in the balance.

Today I am writing this not as a fight for “gay rights”, I am fighting for all rights.
People should be allowed to express themselves freely and this includes their sexuality.
I believe all gay people should come out and organize openly. I expect that society
should allow them live their lives as they please.

It’s not a cultural thing – it’s a sexual thing. I have even heard people say it’s Western
culture imposed on us and if the West doesn’t recognize polygamy we should not accept homosexuality. This is the kind of scary ignorance that this kind of law will foster.
(I can say for a fact that the constitution of Nigeria does not recognize polygamy.
We have customary laws that are non-binding, but our secular courts and national
constitution does not allow polygamy even though it’s “our culture.”)

I believe in education as the answer to any problem and I know this law does not educate
positively. It just criminalizes and institutionalizes hate towards the gay community.

Here’s a call to action: I believe the gay community should come out! They need to put
love above fear. I also believe that gay people in Africa not just Nigeria who are being
targeted like this should put pressure on the West by claiming asylum in their countries.
I think we are about to see a new wave of sexual refugees!

Love over fear should be the way forward.

-Seun Kuti

‘The Right To Choose Your Own Sexuality is a Human Right’ by Femi Kuti

In the wake of the recently passed “anti-gay” law by our government and President 

Goodluck Jonathan, there has been much speculation online as to how Fela Kuti, 

my father, would react. So let us get this clear, and I will also express my own views 

on the matter.

My father would not support this law. He would know why the law was passed: 

as a way of distracting the population from the main problems we face today – poverty, 

lack of electricity and services, corruption, mismanagement, and so on and so forth.

That being said, Fela may have had some reservations about homosexuality itself. 

Who is to say? No one can speak for him. But Fela would not have had any reservations 

about upholding and protecting basic human rights. The right to choose your own sexuality

 and sexual behavior –as long as it is between consenting adults– is one such human right.

It’s a difficult topic for a lot of people in Nigeria to understand as it’s a very new issue 

that has never been quite public. Our culture and traditions and certain religious values 

make it more difficult for many to accept or understand, and it will take some time for

those people to learn to respect the fundamental human rights of others to express 

themselves freely. People have said that being gay is “un-African” – I’m not an expert 

on our history, but I don’t know of anywhere the topic is mentioned in our history

 (I am not referring to Christian orthodoxy that was brought by non-African missionaries).

The gay community in Nigeria will have to be patient and realize acceptance of 

homosexuality is a gradual process which will take a very long time – especially in the 

north of Nigeria. But they must slowly put their case forward. They will need a lot of 

diplomatic support, and they will have to fight the law. They might definitely lose, 

but they will just have to keep on fighting for their fundamental right to live. There is no other choice.

We have to keep talking about the issue of gay rights, but it’s the government’s 

responsibility to take the lead to defend people’s fundamental rights. Citizens must 

have the right to be who they want to be.

-Femi Kuti