BNET Special Edition October Digest 2016
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Registered Charity No. 1120876 Europoint House 5 Lavington Street London SE1 0NZ Telephone : +44 (0)20 7261 9650 E-mail : [email protected] Website: www.britain-nigeria.org CONFIDENTIAL Special Edition NIGERIA DIGEST – October 2016 BNET Exclusive – The Chibok Schoolgirls Members will be aware of the recent news that 21 of the schoolgirls who were kidnapped from the village of Chibok in April 2014 were released, meaning that 219 of the schoolgirls are still in captivity. This happened after intense negotiations between the Nigerian Government and Boko Haram, which were brokered by the International Red Cross and the Swiss Government. What was not made public at the time was that the appalling news that of the 21 schoolgirls, 18 had had babies. Negotiations for the release of the remaining schoolgirls are still ongoing at the time of this report. Whilst the parents of the schoolgirls who remain in captivity wait in hope for the return of their children, news has emerged the President Buhari recently rejected the opportunity to pay €5 billion ransom (N1.711 trillion) for the release of the schoolgirls who remain in captivity, following negotiations between the Nigerian Government and Boko Haram, which have carried on in secret for a number of months. This startling revelation is reported to be contained within the book Muhammadu Buhari: the Challenges of Leadership in Nigeria written by Professor John Paden, to be published on December 1 st 2016. In the book it is claimed that on several occasions captured Boko Haram terrorists were taken to Maiduguri to be exchanged for the Chibok schoolgirls, but negotiations collapsed when, in addition, Boko Haram demanded a ransom of €5 billion for the release of the girls. The Nigerian Government was clearly not going to acceded to Boko Haram's extraordinary demand for this massive sum of money, which would have been used no doubt, to fund future attacks in Nigeria and elsewhere in pursuit of their militant Islamist activities. It is understood that negotiations continue, brokered by the International Red Cross, the Swiss Government and other western countries for the release of the remaining Chibok schoolgirls and it seems highly likely that President Buhari will have more success in achieving this outcome than did his predecessor. The latest information from Nigeria is that the negotiations have now concentrated on the release of a further 100 schoolgirls although very sadly it is understood that there are 100 of these schoolgirls who have been so far radicalised and traumatised by their experience that they have no wish to leave the Boko Haram enclaves. No information is available at the time of going to press as to whether this will involve the payment of a ransom, or the release from detention of further Boko Haram terrorists in Nigeria. Boko Haram Despite being driven back to their enclaves in the Sambisa Forest, it has not prevented Boko Haram terrorists from making sporadic attacks on villages and towns in Nigeria. The Nigerian Air Force continues to bomb the Sambisa Forest as the Joint Task Force (JTF) continues its operations to clear the forest entirely of terrorists. In a recent video which was in the traditional form, it showed Abubakar Shekau (who had been presumed dead) taunting Nigeria and its leaders and threatening to kill the President himself. In the latest battle, 83 Boko Haram terrorists were killed in action by the JTF and it is only now that the humanitarian crisis that has occurred as a result of Boko Haram activities can be revealed to the world. There are nearly half a million people -- mostly children – around Lake Chad facing severe and acute malnutrition, according to UNICEF, due to the seven year campaign of Boko Haram, compounded by the severe drought, 49,000 of which are living in Nigeria’s Borno State. In Borno State nearly two thirds of the hospitals and clinics have been partially or completely destroyed, and three quarters of the water and sanitary facilities need to be rehabilitated. As a result of the terrorist activities there are over 2.2 million people trapped in areas which remain under the control of Boko Haram or who are staying in camps in Nigeria, too terrified to return to their own homes. Boko Haram's main tactic continues to be the deployment of child suicide bombers of which there have been over 40 cases this year, compared to 4 in 2014 and just over 40 last year. Education President Buhari and his administration were elected primarily on an anti-corruption platform with which there have been tremendous achievements (which will be detailed later on in this special edition of the Digest). In his 2016-17 budgets, the new President (who, members will be aware, was briefly a military Head of State in the mid 1980's) has for the first time in Nigerian history introduced an all-encompassing, compassionate form of Government that reaches out to assist every Nigerian in the country. Apart from the well-publicised pursuit of stolen funds and the conviction of former corrupt Ministers, State Governors, politicians, businessmen and Nigerian elders, one of the key platforms is education. On October 11 th , Vice President Yemi Osinbajo announced that the Federal Government was to deploy 200,000 unemployed graduates to become teachers, spread throughout the 36 States of the Federation. A further 300,000 unemployed graduates will also be offered employment under the Government's Social Investment programme being deployed in the agriculture sector in various States as well as new jobs in the catering industry to supply food to schools. Under a micro-credit scheme, one million potential entrepreneurs, traders and market women will be offered loans ranging from N60,000-100,000 which will be made available through the Bank of Industry. More specifically 1.5 million women will be empowered by the Government through a separate funding facility. The new graduate teachers are considered vital to the future of Nigeria, due to the neglect of the sector by previous administrations, notably at State Government level, as has been revealed in the corruption trials of former politicians and State Governors who diverted the funds for their own personal benefit. In 2016 the Federal Government and the 36 State Governments are spending N1.03 trillion on education, which is primarily allocated for recurrent as opposed to capital expenditure. This amounts to 8.5% of their total budget, as compared to the proposed UNESCO 26% benchmark ratio for education in developing countries. A breakdown shows that the Federal Government is spending N367.73 billion on education, compared to 33 out of 36 States in the Federation, which will spend N653.53 billion. Of this, it is the 219 States in Northern Nigeria that will spend N361.123 billion, thus demonstrating the commitment of the new Government to prioritise the education sector in the poorest parts of Nigeria. According to the UNESCO report of 2015 (Financing Education in Nigeria-Opportunities for Action) there are some 8.7 million primary schoolchildren that have no education at the present time. The Report states that Nigeria has the highest population of 'out of school' children in the world. According to the Report, the estimated primary-school-age population is 30 million, including 14.5 million girls (34% of whom do not attend school) and 15.1 million boys (29% of whom do not attend school). However, adding in capital expenditure, the Federal Government's commitment to the education sector for 2016 amounts to over N500 billion, which is the highest allocation ever made by a Nigerian Government. According to the President, education is a critical priority for his administration. Other News Much has changed as a result of the President's anti corruption drive, and policies. In celebration of the first anniversary of his administration it was announced that out of US$17 billion estimated to have been stolen from Nigeria between 2004 and 2013, his Government has already recovered in excess of US$2 billion. As a result over 60 officials have been indicted in criminal proceedings including 15 former State Governors, 4 former Federal Government Ministers, 12 senior “public servants” who were appointed to various Federal and State Government parastatals. In the first 6 months of 20016 alone, the EFCC secured over 140 convictions against as what can only be described as high profile Nigerian criminals. At the same time, as well as recovering billions of dollars worth of money, they have also blocked numerous avenues of money laundering. These figures do not include the US$2 billion which the former National Security Advisor to former President Jonathan, Sambo Dasuki, is accused of stealing, funds which had been allocated for the purchase of arms from South Africa for the fight against Boko Haram and which is currently the subject of criminal proceedings. It is notable that a significant amount of stolen money has been returned to Nigeria, voluntarily, without court proceedings having been instigated. A detailed breakdown of the assets recovered as at June 1 st 2016 is detailed below. * 2 *The following, the statement said, is the breakdown of the recovered cash and assets: 3 The Nigerian economy has been severely affected by the sharp fall in oil prices, which has been exacerbated by the re- emergence of militant activity in the Niger Delta area. As a result Nigeria's foreign exchange reserves have fallen by over 50% in a matter of years. The Government has had to seek a US$2.5 million loan from the World Bank and a parallel US$1 billion loan from the African Development Bank. Even these were insufficient to finance the budget deficit, which was originally estimated to be 2% of GDP but rose to over 3% as a result of the turmoil in the world oil markets.