Rooting for terror: #BringBackOurGirls = #BringBackOurTwinTowers

by Eze Eluchie

Listening to its leadership and observing its activities, one is convinced that if the characters behind the #BringBackOurGirls gang were American citizens, they would have set up a #BringBackOurTwinTowers ensemble soon after the dastardly 9-11 terrorist attacks, rallying to castigate the President George Bush presidency in the United States for inability to prevent or stop or rescue/resuscitate the victims of 9-11.

Matters get further complicated for the Nigerian Government with some civil society elements and a government agency (Human Right Commission) ever ready to lampoon Security agencies for efforts at tackling terror; this again would have been akin to Human Right Watch, Amnesty International and the US State Departments Annual Human Right Report on the United States equally castigating the US security forces and personnel for their robust war on terror, which often times led to rights violations of the rights of terrorists or suspected terrorists.

The Government and peoples of Nigeria are thus trapped in a ‘heads-we-lose-tails-they-win’ scenario with our war against terror.

The presence of vociferous, obstructionist and anarchist opposition who often times express tacit and clear support for terror in Nigeria, serve to compound the woes of our domestic authorities efforts at tackling terror. This again is comparable to a situation where the United States’ Democratic Party, which was in opposition when 9-11 occurred, to soon after the terrorists attacks on the United States, take upon itself the role of frustrating any and all State efforts to confront terror, inclusive of obstructing requests for funds to better equip the Security agencies.

The oddities highlighted in the Nigerian polity after the country came under sustained terror attacks by BH and like-minded groups, is not totally unexpected of a contraption founded on very faulty foundations. The contraption is perceived by most as a cow to be milked, and very few bother about such mundane matters as sustainability, propriety and patriotism.

The call for a holistic restructuring and renegotiation of the contraption is factored on the need to spare ourselves and particularly the West African sub-region, and beyond, of the dire consequences of our continuing folly – we do not have forever to do the needful.

Picture: Scene of a BH terror attack in northern Nigeria

HIV/AIDS move over, the Big Boy is in town!

by Eze  Eluchie

Could there be any reasonable excuses why the World Health Organization and its partner public health agencies (particularly the Health Ministries) in the West African sub-region failed to initiate its Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) protocols in a timely manner in response to the outbreak of the Ebola virus across several countries in West Africa?

In response to earlier outbreaks of SARS and the H1N1 viruses in Southeast Asia, WHO had responded with incredible dispatch, in one instance, producing a dubious report which encouraged countries across the world to spend billions of dollars procuring and stocking vaccines which eventually proved useless and a waste.

Is there any reason why the West African Health Organization (WAHO), an arm of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) failed to be proactive and live up to its responsibilities when the current outbreak of the Ebola virus transcended national borders for the first time in the history of the infirmity?

WAHO and Public Health administrators across the West African sub-region, with their penchant and reliance on donor grants for most of their activities, tend only to look into matters that their foreign funders prioritize, irrespective of the domestic needs.

For over a decade, basic health care issues afflicting the vast majority of the populations of sub-Saharan Africa, such as Malaria, Malnutrition, and Cholera were relegated to the background and emphasis and funding support was focused on the HIV/AIDS. In most countries across sub-Saharan Africa, the budget for HIV/AIDS surpasses, by a wide margin, the combined total of the Health Ministry and all other health projects.

With mortality rates that dwarf HIV/AIDS, and means of infection which elicits widespread fear in the population, Ebola presents itself as, and is actually, a far greater danger to society than AIDS ever was. Public Health practitioners are unfortunately faced with an unsavory ‘my-disease-is-worse-than-yours’ situation. Enhancing the quality of life of peoples via good quality education, high public hygiene standards, provision of adequate preventive and primary health care services and facilities, rather than near-exclusive focus on particular ‘fashionable’ diseases will best serve the health interest of any population.


It is hoped that the ongoing experience of the response to the ongoing Ebola outbreak will afford an opportunity to critically examine domestic health crisis response mechanism in Africa to forestall a repeat of the ongoing disaster.

Picture: Gloves and other apparel used by medical personnel tackling Ebola virus washed and left to dry for subsequent reuse – dearth of resources makes it impossible for disposables to be used. Not so for HIV/AIDS.  it is unfortunate those on the frontline of tackling Ebola have to recycle such materials. Disposables would have been far more hygienic. (an AFP Photo/Seyllou. Taken at Guekedou, Guinea, West Africa. April 2014)    

Stomping on the sickle

by Eze Eluchie

Do the various sanctions being levied against the Russian Federation by the United States and its European Union allies not qualify as acts of war?

Will Russia be justified in taking drastic actions to protect itself and its peoples from economic, social and political strangulation?

Is there a duty on Russia to ensure that its retaliation is commensurate with the sanctions levied? Or will it be justified in taking any and all measures its leadership deems fit?

Should it not suffice as a cause of worry for those imposing these sanctions that each new set of sanctions, increases President Vladimir Putin’s popularity and approval rating with the Russian population?

Where does sub-Saharan Africa fit in this entire fast developing scenario. What can we get from it (presuming most of those foisted over the continent as rulers have a thinking cap to put on).

We sure do live in interesting and perilous times.

Picture: 'Russian flag'