As in Russia, in the "energy superpower" of Nigeria, about 10% of the population may well compare in terms of living standards with the Western middle and upper class. They use iPhones, go to nightclubs, drive around in expensive foreign cars, attend fashion shows, and occupy apartments in “business class” buildings. Looking at them, it is hard to believe that obscurantism, filth and poverty reign just a few steps away from this world of glamor.
The "Interpreter" decided to give sketches of Nigerian life in the form of "assorted", mixing bravura-glamorous photographs and reports and the "truth of life". In principle, if you take a major Russian media outlets, then the description of our life in it will also consist of such a mixture, where the story of Philip Kirkorov's mental anguish is adjacent to the story of the lawlessness of another cop, and hidden advertising describing the new Porsche Cayenne model - with information about the release from bondage of the next slaves.
The national motto of Nigeria is “Peace and Unity, Strength and Progress” (Peace and Unity, Strength and Progress). The Constitution of Nigeria, like the Constitution of the Russian Federation, allows one person to be the president of the country no more than two times in a row. The reign of Olusegun Obasanjo, who was elected at the end of 1999, was described by the Western media as unsuccessful, but stable. However, the immense love of the Nigerians allowed the president to be easily re-elected in 2003, after which the term "problem 2007" appeared in the Nigerian press. Obasanjo has often repeated that it will take time to complete the reforms he has begun, and that his term will expire in May 2007. At the same time, the Nigerian leader emphasized his commitment to democracy and stated that he was not going to change the political system.
Talk of a successor began after MPs from the ruling People's Democratic Party proposed a constitutional amendment giving Obasanjo the right to a third term. However, this amendment was rejected by the president himself. At the party convention on December 24, 2006, Olusegun Obasanjdo said, "I want to congratulate my brother, who will be my best successor."
Introduced as a brother, the governor of the northern province of Katsina, Umaru Yar'Adua, was not in any way related to the president and at that time was little familiar to the country's political elite. All the Nigerian media knew of the successor was that he was a former chemistry teacher with chronic kidney disease.
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Nevertheless, Umaru Yar'Adua was nominated as a presidential candidate by a majority vote and on the same day assured the deputies that he would definitely continue the work of the “father of Nigerian democracy”. Simultaneously with the election of a successor, the ruling party guaranteed Obasanjo to maintain control over the country after leaving the presidency. An amendment was made to the party charter to appoint him by the “conscience of the party” with broad financial and personnel powers. In the elections on April 21, 2007, Umaru Yar'Adua, having received 70% of the vote, became President of Nigeria.
About 800,000 people were forcibly evicted from their homes in the Nigerian capital Abuja over four years (from 2003 to 2007) to make room for new development projects in the city. Many people did not receive an eviction notice and were not granted the appropriate rights for the situation. Moreover, some were gassed and beaten from their homes, according to a report from the Swiss Center for Homeowners' Rights.
The organization sent a formal demand to the Nigerian authorities to stop the evictions and to stop driving the people of the country deeper into poverty.
These massive and still ongoing evictions result in massive migration of people to slums, with disastrous effects on their health, education, and career, the report says.
The third place in the world in terms of earned money after Hollywood and Bollywood in recent years has reached Nollywood, an industry that unites several film studios in Nigeria, earning $ 120-150 million per year. By the number of films, Nigerians have already come out on top in the world - 1200 per year. Among the favorite topics of the Nigerian audience are love and prostitution, witchcraft and bribery.
Lagos, the economic center of Nigeria - a country with a population of 155 million people - is the largest metropolitan area in black Africa. In the wake of the collapse of the public service system, its inhabitants live as best they can. Allegedly planned, but essentially anarchic, privatization has engulfed transport, education, healthcare, communications, electricity, and the city continues to grow in an atmosphere of violence. Hooligans harass passengers of old, wrecked taxis. Only occasionally do the police or the military appear to use truncheons to clear the roadway of the traders who filled it with newspapers and every trifle.
The root issue in Nigeria is maintaining ethnic balance while dividing the power pie. More than 300 peoples live in the country. They were united into one state only when the British colonized them in the last century. Since gaining independence and in view of the prospects for "oil" enrichment, they have less and less desire for coexistence, albeit within the framework of the federal state. Moreover, oil, the basis of national prosperity, is extracted in the south of Nigeria, and the northerners, who have occupied the dominant heights in the military hierarchy, traditionally are in power.
Lagos and its suburbs are literally packed with cars and motorcycles of various sizes, with busy traffic starting at 4.30 in the morning. It is noteworthy that, despite the fact that the country is "oil", and the income of the local population is very small, the price of gasoline is quite high - about 15 rubles in terms of Russian money.
There is no public urban transport in Nigeria as such, it is all private. Accordingly, the price of travel in any type of public transport depends only on the mood of the conductor, mutual sympathy or antipathy, as well as on the ability to bargain well! The city bus is a yellow car, which lacks glass in the windows and doors as such. In order to prevent people from falling out of the bus at turns, the doorway is closed with an iron bar approximately at the waist level.
Local minibuses are also noteworthy - these are rumpled and broken minibuses, doors in them either are not there, or they do not close. Passengers in minibuses are insured by conductors - they stand in the doorway, finding themselves outside the car, cling to the roof and spread their legs wide apart, while constantly shouting in hoarse voices about the destination.
In Nigeria, local authorities announced the arrest of 12 suspects in the case of the mass poisoning of children with the pain relieving potion My Pikin, which resulted in the death of 84 children and 11 children aged 2 months to 7 years.
Manufactured by local pharmaceutical company Barewa Pharmaceuticals Ltd., My Pikin was a paracetamol potion designed to relieve teething pain in infants.
During the investigation, the samples of the drug were found to contain a high content of diethylene glycol, a chemical compound that is toxic in high doses, which is usually used in the production of antifreezes.
“The people of Nigeria are the victim of heightened factional conflicts within the ruling elite. The poverty that most people live in in this resource-rich country creates an environment in which one community can be pitted against another. The World Bank estimates that only 1% of the population benefits from oil revenues. About 92% of the population lives on less than $ 2 a day, and more than 70% live on less than $ 1. The UN estimates that the poverty rate in Nigeria rose from 46% in 1996 to 76% in 2009. Nigeria has the second highest maternal mortality rate in the world. The country is home to about 2% of the world's population, but cases of maternal deaths occurring there -10% of the world. One in five children dies before the age of 5”.
Socialist columnist Trevor Johnson says: “It is massive and growing levels of social inequality that lie at the heart of what here in Nigeria is called a failed state. This is the result of plundering the country over the centuries by banks, large corporations and their local representatives. The response of the United States, Britain and other leading powers to the social and political crisis that gripped Nigeria will lead to increased repression, but not to a decrease in inequality."
Comrade Samuel Mbach, one of the leaders of the syndicalist Awareness Union, notes with bitterness: “Decades of military rule have given rise to a monstrous specter of unfreedom, denial of basic human rights, violence, oppression and brutal suppression of the psyche and spirit of the vast majority of the population. The tragedy of Nigeria is highlighted by the fact that the country continues to live well below its potential."
The police often used torture and other ill-treatment on suspects during interrogations. The country lacked a standard mechanism to prevent such offenses. Confessions obtained under torture continued to be used as evidence in court in violation of international law.
A 68-year-old inmate in Owerri Prison reported that police officers shot him in the leg, then whipped him with an electric cable and poured some kind of powder into his eyes. He spent 10 years in jail awaiting trial despite a medical report confirming his torture allegations, which were not investigated.
There were constant reports that police officers illegally killed detainees and people who could not or did not want to pay bribes, as well as people who were stopped on the roads to check their documents. The nongovernmental organization LEDAP (Legal Protection and Assistance Project) said it estimated that in 2007, state actors executed at least 241 people out of court.
On February 25, the Mobile Police Unit attacked the Ogaminana community, Kogi State, reportedly over the killing of a police officer. According to eyewitness accounts, 15 people were killed, including two children; in addition, cars, motorcycles and houses were burned. Following the attack, the deputy police commissioner who was allegedly in charge of the operation was transferred to another duty station. As of the end of 2008, there was no investigation into this case.
The conditions of detention in places of detention were extremely unsatisfactory. Overcrowding in cells, unsanitary conditions, poor food, lack of medicines, and a ban on visits with family and friends negatively affected the physical and mental health of prisoners. Many of them were forced to sleep in beds in twos or on bare floors. Some prisons had no beds at all; toilets either did not function or were not provided; there was no plumbing. Diseases were widespread. Children, who were only 12 years old, were kept in the same cells with adults.
Violence against women was widespread, including domestic violence, rape and other forms of sexual violence by government officials and private individuals. The authorities have failed to exercise due diligence to prevent and suppress sexual violence by both state and non-state actors, thereby further perpetuating impunity.
Human rights defenders and journalists critical of the government continued to face threats and harassment. The authorities' intolerance to media activities has increased. The State Security Service (GSB) and the police detained at least eight journalists. Some were released several hours later, others were held incommunicado for up to 10 days. In addition, the authorities raided media offices and closed down Channels TV; police and security officials intimidated and beat journalists. At least two journalists were killed in suspicious circumstances.
A nine-year-old boy was lying on a bloody hospital sheet, on which ants crawled, staring blankly at the wall.
The pastor of the church where his family goes, accused the child of witchcraft, and his father, in order to "exorcise the demon", tried to force his son to drink acid. The boy resisted, and the liquid did not enter his throat, but burned his face and eyes. All he could say was the name of the church that accused him - Mount Zion Lighthouse. The boy died a month later.
Nwanaokwo Edet is one of a growing number of African children accused of witchcraft by pastors and then tortured or killed, often by their own families. Half of the 200 "child witchcraft" cases studied by the AP involved pastors from 13 churches. Some of these communities belong to international Christian churches.
“It's outrageous what they're doing in the name of Christianity,” says Gary Foxcroft, head of the Stepping Stones Nigeria charity.
Families of "little wizards" are usually very poor, and for many of them the loss of one hungry mouth is only a relief. Poverty, bloody conflicts and poor education are the basis for accusations against children. The reason for them can be the death of a relative, the loss of a job, and often - the instructions of the pastor, says the press secretary of the United Nations Children's Fund Martin Dawes. “They are looking for the scapegoats that defenseless children become,” he explains. According to traditional African beliefs, some person is to blame for all the troubles - an evil sorcerer or a witch.
The belief in witches is far from new, but it has been experiencing a resurgence in Africa recently, largely due to the rapid growth of Evangelical Christian communities. According to activists, 15,000 children have been accused of witchcraft in just two of Nigeria's 36 states in the past 10 years, of which approximately 1,000 have been killed. In the past one month alone, three Nigerian children have been killed and three others have been set on fire.
There are more churches in the region than schools, clinics and banks combined. Many communities promise believers to solve not only spiritual, but also material problems - 80% of Nigerians live on less than $ 2 a day.
"Poverty must burn out!" - promises a sign of one church in Uyo. “Prayer will show you the path to riches,” shouts the sign of the Christ Embassy church next door. With this competition, it is difficult for churches to attract many parishioners, and some pastors maintain their authority and popularity by accusing children of witchcraft.
Jane's smiling face has a terrible scar: her mother tried to saw her head off after several exorcisms, costing 60 dollars, failed to "cure" the girl. 15-year-old Mary thinks about how the boys will look at the scars that cover her face - her mother dipped her in a solution of caustic soda. Rachel, 12, dreamed of becoming a banker. By order of the pastor, she was chained and beaten with sticks. Her uncle paid $ 60 to "cast the demon" out of his niece. Israel's relatives wanted to bury Israel alive, Nwaekwa's father drove a nail into her head, and Jerry was beaten, starved, forced to eat cement, and then his father set the boy on fire.
And this is the ruling regional, political and business elite of Nigeria:
