Last week a friend  wrote about Computer Village, on techcrunch  where many of the gadget-hounds in Lagos go to get their gadgety fix. But what about new technology being developed in the country? The city’s tech entrepreneur scene is small, but several people are working on changing that.

Oo Nwoye–  or @oothenigerian as he’s known on Twitter– is one of the more enthusiastic champions of this nascent scene. (That’s him on the left.) I met him two years ago in London, where he cornered me at an event and made a case for me going to Nigeria, so he was one of the first people I contacted when I finally did.

Since then, he’d moved back home. He’s working on a to-be-determined startup and spending the meantime trying to galvanize a startup community. He organized a fantastic demo day to give me a taste of what people are working on.

In the days leading up to the pitches, I spoke with half a dozen tech entrepreneurs in Nigeria who had a lot of complaints about the ecosystem. There was the ever-present emerging market complaint of not enough venture capital, but the entrepreneurs also complained about the extremely high costs of doing business in Nigeria given how small the online market is so far, the spotty infrastructure, and the lack of enough developers who want to work for startups instead of the big oil companies.

Victor Asemota (pictured at Demo Day with me to the left) moved to back to Nigeria after starting his mobile technology services company in Ghana, lured by the juicy 150 million person population. He pays the same amount for his office space in Nigeria that he used to pay for a house and a comparable office space in Ghana. More galling: Because the infrastructure is so poor in Nigeria, he also has to provided his own power and water backups. “I have to build my own city just to live here,” he said, exasperated.

Asemota also talked about a bigger challenge to building a tech company in Nigeria: The stigma of illicit 419 scams. He’d negotiated a deal with a customer in Florida one time and was wrapping up the meeting by handing the man his business card. Simply seeing that he was from Nigeria killed the deal instantly, Asemota says. The man wouldn’t even keep his business card. I noticed at the end of our dinner, when Asemota handed me his card it listed his company as located in Ghana. And, he says, ground down by the frustrations of doing business in Nigeria, he’ll probably move back there.

So I entered Demo Day halfway through my trip, desperately looking for some hope. I found the first glimpse of it, appropriately, in a guy wearing an Obama Hope T-Shirt. His name was Gbenga Sesan, and he runs a organization called Paradigm Initiative of Nigeria. It takes small delegations of Lagos’s techies into less developed and frequently more violent parts of Nigeria to convince 13-year-olds to get interested in computers. “If you don’t start at 13, they can’t be millionaires by the time they are thirty,” he says.

Another group called Co-Creation Hub immediately caught my attention. It is building an incubator to help entrepreneurs with business advice, funding and mentoring. Their focus is using technology to solve real problems Nigeria faces, not just copying what people read on TechCrunch. It welcomes more than just coders, but teachers, doctors, or anyone from any background that has a dramatic idea of how to make life in Nigeria better. A new co-working space to be opened later this year will operate like an open living lab for social change.

I love that strategy. I always advise entrepreneurs if they want to build a Western-facing consumer Internet company to move for the Valley; it will just be easier. But if they want to be pioneers in their own markets, focus on the problems and endemic strengths there. (And probably read sites like TechCrunch a little less too.)

So right away between Nwoye’s evangelism, Paradigm Initiative of Nigeria’s efforts to build a young generation of coders and Co-Creation Hub’s cushy nest for social change, there was a pretty impressive mix of people actively working to foster an ecosystem. Things were looking up for Nigerian entrepreneurs. The demos started, and I was impressed by many of the companies too. They ran a tight ship doing pitches of no more than five minutes, and there were only a few copy-cat Western Web ideas in the bunch. My favorites are below. I should mention there was also a Garage48 hacker event over the weekend in Lagos that I wasn’t able to attend. The demos from that day are here.

Gyst: This was one of two truly long-term, big-idea, swing-for-the-fences startups I saw in the country. (I’ll write about the other one on Saturday.) Sim Shagaya (pictured to the left) has a Harvard MBA, but don’t hold that against him. After studying in the US and bouncing around the tech and banking world, he returned home to build a traditional old media billboard business.

He’s now leveraging the cash-flow of that to build two exciting new media companies. One is a daily deal site called DealDey. The other is super exciting. It’s called Gyst, and it’s a very local business directory search engine. He hires a bunch of kids throughout the country and gives them each a smart phone with a camera. They go door-to-door, manually getting information and GPS coordinates on every small businesses in the city, gathering the information in a database. Amazingly, nothing like this exists in Nigeria– no Yellow Pages, no local search engines, no 411 service. Like most emerging markets, many cities in West Africa don’t even have a formal system of streets and addresses or a working postal system.

This is an insanely expensive and ambitious project, and it’s 100% bootstrapped by the parent company. The opportunity is huge. It’s Google on a local level combined with Yelp, JustDial,SMSOne, Gigwalk, and a bunch of other exciting companies who rethink cost effective ways to amass huge amounts of local data in one easy-to-access place. “It will take a long time to show the true value of this business, but we’re willing to wait,” Shagaya says. Right now the company has 20,000 business listings, and its ultimate ambition is to index every city in West Africa with more than one million people. And the company will make all that information completely free for users. Whoa.

There are obviously huge synergies between these three businesses. A daily deal site that is tied to billboards and the region’s onlycomprehensive small business directory is a lot more powerful and exciting than a run-of-the-mill Groupon clone. It’s a textbook example of how industries develop in parallel, not serial, in emerging markets, utterly transforming how they develop. Imagine if Clear Channel, Google and Groupon were all the same company. And I love the ambition: Shagaya said he is focused on building nothing less than the Naspers of Nigeria.

Naspers– the South African media conglomerate– is not only one of the most dominant new media companies in Africa, it’s investing in the most important new media companies in the emerging world. One of their companies, DealFish, was even a sponsor of this Demo Day. It’s about time a continent as big as Africa has more than one new media powerhouse. This company is one to watch.

Skoola: This company has taken several years of Nigeria and Western Africa’s standardized tests and converted them into a basic test prep app that can run on any mobile phone, smart or dumb. I asked how big the market is and the whole room laughed. This is the test everyone takes if they have any ambition of higher education.

The business– which is so clear that the entrepreneur pitched in under three minutes– is a no brainer on a lot of levels. More people have phones in the developing world than toilets so it’s the ideal medium, and it’s a way to kill time sitting in traffic and further your education at the same time. It’s a perfect example of how to build a mass market product in a country like Nigeria: It’s distributed on the broadest possible platform, solving a problem a huge percentage of the population has, and priced for volume at less than $.30 per test. The company is working on French translations so neighboring West African countries can use the product too. I’m amazed I haven’t seen something like this in India. I’m sure it already exists. If it doesn’t, it should.

Traffic Nigeria: Speaking of the need to kill time in traffic, this company uses crowd-sourcing to monitor the traffic in Lagos, delivering results over the Web or SMS. 

Also not featured on The Techcrunch Article we have 

9jabook.com a nigerian social network powered site who are presently offering members partnership options

9jax.net a link sharing and advert partnership site 

9jamovies.com a youtube embedding website 

http://ojoojoo.com  a search nigeria site powered by google search modified greatly for nigerian websites ! 

Businessman stabs female student in the eye …Victim risks blindness, cries for justice 
By  

Miss Goodness Moses has just finished the Ordinary National Diploma (OND) at the Institute of Management Technology (IMT), Enugu and came to Lagos for her one year Industrial Training (IT). The 26-year-old lady had actually approached Nestle Foods Plc for the training and was hopeful of being given the opportunity to serve in the multinational company, for her practical experience, before going back for her Higher National Diploma (HND).

Miss Goodness Moses


Miss Goodness Moses has just finished the Ordinary National Diploma (OND) at the Institute of Management Technology (IMT), Enugu and came to Lagos for her one year Industrial Training (IT). The 26-year-old lady had actually approached Nestle Foods Plc for the training and was hopeful of being given the opportunity to serve in the multinational company, for her practical experience, before going back for her Higher National Diploma (HND).

Miss Goodness Moses

Presently, verifications are going on in the school to know those who qualify for the HND. But the Marketing student may not have the opportunity again, at least, not for now. She is battling to ensure she doesn’t go blind, after she was allegedly hit and stabbed in the eyes by a businessman, Uzoma Nwezie. The incident occurred on Sunday, March 13, 2011, at 6, Ajayi Street, Catholic Road, Ipaye, Iba Town, Ojo, Lagos.


Trouble started for Goodness, when she was trekking to Ipaye bus-stop that fateful day alongside one of her sisters. According to her, Nwezie, who was driving, almost ran over her if not that she ran into the bush where she fell flat.

The victim, who said it was the fall inside the bush that saved her from being crushed by Nwezie’s car told Daily Sun how she got up, cleaned herself and they continued their journey, only for him to reverse and challenged her for allegedly calling him devil.


“I didn’t call him devil, I only said, ‘it would not be well with the devil’. I even apologized to him and he still used sharp object to hit me in the jaw and I started seeing stars. My eyes later went blank and I started screaming for help. People tried to stop him from further torturing me but he refused. He tore my clothes and bra. The incident occurred between 7.30 and 8 pm. I lost my purse, money and the torn dress,” she said.


According to her, the businessman, his wife and group of boys stormed their compound, fuming with rage.

“He resumed the attack on me and even extended it to my father. That was the time he stabbed me in one of my eyes. Because of the hitting and the stab, I started vomiting blood and was quickly rushed to the El-Shaddai Hospital, Iba Town, but the doctors referred me to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH). At LUTH, I was referred to St. Edmund Clinic and Eye Hospital, which later referred me to Eye Foundation, Ikeja, where they performed Rectinal detachment.”


After the operation, Goodness said she couldn’t see with one of the eyes, while the other one is getting worse.

“Pus is also gushing out from one of my ears,” she lamented. She was supposed to be going for medical check-ups and further treatment, but her alleged attackers have refused to take responsibility for that and refuse to show up.

Businessman stabs female student in the eye …Victim risks blindness, cries for justice 
By  

Miss Goodness Moses has just finished the Ordinary National Diploma (OND) at the Institute of Management Technology (IMT), Enugu and came to Lagos for her one year Industrial Training (IT). The 26-year-old lady had actually approached Nestle Foods Plc for the training and was hopeful of being given the opportunity to serve in the multinational company, for her practical experience, before going back for her Higher National Diploma (HND).

Miss Goodness Moses


Miss Goodness Moses has just finished the Ordinary National Diploma (OND) at the Institute of Management Technology (IMT), Enugu and came to Lagos for her one year Industrial Training (IT). The 26-year-old lady had actually approached Nestle Foods Plc for the training and was hopeful of being given the opportunity to serve in the multinational company, for her practical experience, before going back for her Higher National Diploma (HND).

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Funeral Thieves Nabbed: As you mourn they Steal

Army clashes with militants in oil delta..after months of "vacation"

Man kills mother in Church Premises

Naija Mayor Dies In UK

Previously:

Meet Genevieve "Junior" Could this be her Daughter ? http://bit.ly/lV5dhV

Ten Murdered Corpers Families get Ten Million Naira each.Photos Late Obinna & Ukeoma http://bit.ly/kfdYbE

Bridgette Radebe kissing Graca Machel When it comes to big money, men still call the shots in Africa – just like in the rest of the world. While there is no single African lady today who can lay claim to a $1 billion fortune, there are about 2 or 3 African women who possess legit nine-figure fortunes. Here are nine African women, all worth at least $50 million:

Isabel Dos Santos Nationality: Angola Source: Investments The eldest daughter of Angola’s President, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, Isabel dos Santos got her start in business at age 24 by using her father’s influence to corner lucrative state contracts. Keeps close ties with Portugal. Kento Holding, a Maltese-registered investment firm she fully owns, holds a 10% stake in Zon Multimedia, a Portuguese media conglomerate. She acquired the stake for 164 million Euros in 2010. Also owns major stakes in Portuguese banks Banco Espírito Santo and Banco Português de Investimento, and in Energias de Portugal, which generates and distributes electricity.

Bridgette Radebe Nationality: South Africa Source: Mining The elder sister to South African billionaire Patrice Motsepe, Bridgette Radebe started out as a contract miner in the 80s, managing shafts and procuring for the larger mining houses. Went on to found Mmakau mining, an immensely successful mining firm with assets in platinum, gold, uranium, coal, chrome, exploration and mining interests. Also serves as president of the South African Mining Development Association. Married to South Africa’s Justice Minister, Jeff Radebe.

Irene Charnley Nationality: South Africa Source: MTN Former trade unionist made first mark as a shrewd negotiator for the National Union of Mineworkers in South Africa. Went on to take up a job as an Executive Director at MTN, Africa’s largest telecoms group, where she led the company’s successful foray into several African countries. Was instrumental in negotiating for and acquiring one of four GSM licenses in Nigeria. She also helped MTN secure the second GSM license in the Islamic Republic of Iran. In return, was rewarded with huge chunk of MTN stock valued at over US$150 million. Left MTN in 2007 under controversial circumstances. Now serves as CEO of Smile Telecoms, a low-cost telecommunications operator based in Mauritius.

Pam Golding Nationality: South Africa Source: Real Estate One of South Africa’s most well known real estate icons, she founded Pam Golding Properties in 1976 with no start-up capital and a sales assistant. The company is now one of South Africa’s largest independent property trading companies. 2010 turnover: US$1.7 billion (11 billion rand). Has retired from active management; still remains chairperson. Now devotes energy to philanthropy.

Wendy Appelbaum Nationality: South Africa Source: Insurance The only daughter of former South African billionaire Donald Gordon, Wendy was a director at Liberty Investors, the previously listed holding company of the Liberty Group – the insurance and real estate concern her father founded. Sold off her stakes; became cash rich. Together with husband, Hylton Appelbaum, purchased DeMorgenzon, a wine estate in Stellenbosch. Has donated US$23 million (R150 million) to create the Gordon Institute of Business Science (Gibs), and the Donald Gordon Medical Center. Wendy chairs the South African Women’s Professional Golfers’ Association.

Elisabeth Bradley Nationality: South Africa Source: Investments Elisabeth Bradley’s father Albert Wessels brought Toyota (TM) to South Africa in 1961. In 2008, Wesco Investments, a South African holding company which she controls, sold off its 25% stake in Toyota South-Africa to Toyota Motor Corp. in Japan for US$320 million (R2.1 billion). She walked away with at least US$150 million (R1 billion). Bradley has served on the boards of blue chip companies such as Standard Bank Group, Hilton Hotel and Roseback Inn.

Mamphela Ramphele Nationality: South Africa Source: Investments The one-time man

Photo: Panairjdde

Hold your breath. You are about to witness some very severe historical penalties. Though our ancient cultures were said to be verycivilized, there is evidence of their having used a wide variety ofhideous torture methods throughout history to end the lives of criminalsand traitors.

10. Death by Boiling Photo: unknown

Can you imagine boiling someone alive in large pot? Though not common, this was an unusually cruel method of execution. There is plentyof evidence that it was practiced throughout human history.Archeologists have found human bones in cooking pots and hearths in China which were found to be around 500,000 years old.

In England in the 1500s this was the legal method of punishment. The victim was immersed in boiling water, oil or tar until dead. Imagine thefear the prisoner felt when they were taken to this deadly big pot tosuffer their horrible fate.

9. Crucifixion
Photo: Baptiste Marcel

Crucifixion was among the most gruesome and painful of ancient execution methods and was practiced from about the 6th century BC untilthe 4th century AD, mainly among the Seleucids, Carthaginians, Persiansand Romans. The condemned person was tied (or nailed) to a large woodencross and left to hang till dead. Their dead body was then left ondisplay as a warning. Sometimes, the victim was ordered to carry theirown crossbeam – which weighed about 75-125 pounds (35-60 kg) – on theirshoulders to the place of execution. Not only this, but to humiliatethem, they were ordered to be hung up naked.

There is evidence of a practice much like crucifixion having taken place during World War I and II. A punishment known as ‘Field PunishmentNumber One' was very similar – although it involved the victim beingflogged rather than executed. In the British Army, especially duringWorld War I, soldiers were punished for crimes such as refusal of ordersand disobedience.

Nowadays, versions of crucifixion are practiced as a devotional ceremony in some part of New Mexico and the Philippines. Though thechurch greatly discourages this practice, followers of Jesus stillimitate the suffering of Christ by being 'crucified' for a limited timeon Good Friday. It has been seen in the town of Iztapalapa, just outsideMexico City, and also in San Pedro Cutud, during the ‘Passion WeekCelebration’ of 2007.

8. Flaying
Photo: Michelangelo Buonarroti

In this author's opinion, this was the most uncivilized method of torture and punishment practiced during the Middle Ages. Brutal to thebone, it involved removing the skin from the body of a still livingprisoner.

Flaying was an ancient practice, inflicted on criminals, captured soldiers and 'witches' around a thousand years ago in places such as theMiddle East and Africa. The victim was flayed alive as part of a publicexecution, after which the skin was nailed to the wall as a warning, sothat others would heed the lesson and never ever dare to defy the law...........

7. Disembowelment
Photo: Kunikazu Utagawa

Disembowelment was among the most severe forms of punishments ever heard of or seen. This method was used to punish thieves and thoseaccused of adultery. Some or all the vital organs were removed one byone from the body, mainly from the abdomen. Sources say it was practicedin England, the Netherlands, Belgium and in Japan.

In Japan, it was a ritualized suicide method for Samurai, referred as “seppuku”, in which two cuts across the abdomen were made. In anotherversion, a fine cut was made in the victim’s gut, leaving him to ca

In the fourth of a series of articles looking at policing in Nigeria, the BBC's Andrew Walker asks what happened to the "Apo Six", the most infamous case of extra-judicial killing in Nigeria's history:

The pictures are truly gruesome - we cannot publish them.

Lawyer Amobi Nzelu spreads the glossy prints out on his desk, covering it with horror.

There is nowhere else to look except at the bodies.

There is a close-up of a face, gaping exit-wound at the temple.

Limbs and torsos covered in blood.

Dead eyes stare upward.

"This is a human being," he says.

"Look what they did."

Apology

The bodies belong to six young Nigerians killed by the police.

Ekene Isaac Mgbe, Ifeanyin Ozor, Chinedu Meniru, Paulinus Ogbonna and Anthony and Augustina Arebu were killed on 7 and 8 June, 2005.

My friend was going to the bush, to go to the toilet, when he saw the police digging a hole and preparing to bury some people Elvis Ozor Younger brother of Ifeanyin

The police tried to say they were armed robbers who had opened fire first.

But a judicial panel of inquiry set up by former President Olusegun Obasanjo rejected the police's story and the government apologised on behalf of the police for their killings.

The government paid $20,300 (£13,800) compensation to each of the families.

It recommended the officers be arrested and face a criminal trial.

But nearly four years since the night the Apo Six were killed, the trial has got nowhere.

The public has almost forgotten the case is still going on.

Danjuma Ibrahim, the senior police officer accused of ordering the killings, lives free on medical bail.

And the families of the dead have all but given up on justice.

Tight-knit

Elvis Ozor is the younger brother of Ifeanyin Ozor.

Like his brother, he works as a spare car parts merchant in the Apo mechanics' village, south of the capital, Abuja.

It is a kind of shanty-town of sea crates and workshops where five of the Apo Six worked.

This is a tight-knit community, mostly of ethnic Igbos from Nigeria's south-east.

On 8 June 2005 the Apo mechanics found the police burying their friends in a cemetery that, by chance, was near their workshops.

"My friend was going to the bush, to go to the toilet, when he saw the police digging a hole and preparing to bury some people," Elvis says.

"They recognised my brother. When the police said they were armed robbers, no-one believed them - they knew my brother was not like that."

"When I arrived at work, word had spread, but I didn't know. I arrived and everyone was looking at me," he says.

The story was out, and an angry mob gathered.

There was a riot in Apo and the police shot two more people dead.

Unlike any other case of suspected extra-judicial killing in Nigeria, some of the police broke ranks and turned on the senior officer involved.

The other five officers accused of the murders and eight more police witnesses have testified that Danjuma Ibrahim ordered the killings.

During the judicial panel hearings, some Igbo police officers fed information to Mr Nzelu, who represented the families of the Apo Six.

The panel heard that the six were at a nightclub in Abuja's Area 11 when Mr Ibrahim - then off duty - propositioned Augustina.

She turned him down, according to the testimony of Ifeanyin Ozor's friends.

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Police yesterday said two of their non-commissioned personnel (names withheld), are currently being detained at the prison in Awka, Anambra State for alleged kidnapping and conspiracy.

Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Assistant Commissioner of Police Emmanuel Ojukwu who said this noted that the two policemen were arrested for the crime they allegedly committed something in 2009.

He said the Police Corporals, formerly serving in the 29th Police Mobile Force (PMF) Squadron, Awka have been dismissed from the force and are currently attending to their trial from the prison under the instruction of the Awka High Court.

"The two officers and their collaborators, were involved in the offences of criminal conspiracy, kidnapping and armed robbery, within Anambra and Imo States in 2009.

"As is expected of the Police, the officers were arrested, dismissed from the Police and charged to court in Anambra State, being one of the venues of their offences.

"They are currently in Prison custody on the orders of a Chief Magistrate Court sitting in Awka, Anambra State.

"Nigerians are all aware of the menace of kidnapping and violent crimes particularly in the South-East sub region, and the determination of the Police high command to address the issue squarely and holistically.

"The prompt arrest and prosecution of the two errant policemen, was one such steps, and should be welcomed by all peace-loving citizens who had been clamouring for improvement in Police attitude and conduct.

"It is instructive to note that the Inspector-General of Police has a constitutional and statutory mandate to enforce discipline within the officers and rank and file of the Force.

"This call to duty includes weeding out bad a

Late Boko Haram Leader, Mohammed Yusuf

Saharareporters has learned that adherents of the dreaded religious sect, Boko Haram, have killed two local district chiefs and shot another village warden in Maiduguri, Borno State.

The two district chiefs known, with the title of "Lawan," were slain behind the palace of the Shehu of Borno in a fierce twilight attack carried out by Boko Haram militants. The militants accused the chiefs of serving as police informants. The third victim of the attack, a Bullama, was shot in the leg and left for dead.

The brazen attacks have heightened tension in the area. Our sources said the palace of the Shehu of Borno and the areas surrounding it were thought to be beyond limits to Boko Haram militants because of the tight security in the area. One SSS officer described the area as the "green zone," a reference to the heavily fortified administrative area in Baghdad, Iraq, manned by US military security. “We were caught unawares,” said the source, adding, “If Boko Haram could infiltrate the area, then they are a huge threat to lives and property.”

Last year, the police and army quelled an insurrection mounted by Boko Haram adherents in Bauchi and Maiduguri, killing the extremist group’s leaders. However, our sources revealed that the group had since re-organized and began small but effective attacks against security agents and local chiefs they believe were responsible for the clampdown on members of the group last year.

Irate students in Abeokuta, Ogun State yesterday disrupted a campaign rally for former military dictator Ibrahim Babangida. The students then chased away Babangida’s ragtag band of campaigners from the ancient town in the southwest state of Ogun.

The students, who are members of the National Association of Nigerian Students, mobilized from various higher institutions in the state and invaded the rally organized by supporters of the former dictator.

Arriving at the Ibara neighborhood where the rally was in progress, the students sent the few pro-Babangida campaigners packing. Several eyewitnesses disclosed that the demonstrating students sang anti-Babangida and student solidarity songs before tearing down Babangida's posters and dismantling canopies erected by the campaigners.

One source told Saharareporters that the Babangida supporters put up an initial resistance, then surrendered. “They were completely outnumbered by the students,” the source said.

Babangida, who ranks as one of the hated politicians in Nigeria, recently earned the widespread condemnation when he stated that Nigerian youth were not capable of running the country.

During his 8-year rule as a military dictator, Babangida closed down national universities for several months at a time, rusticated students, fired academics and routinely jailed popular professors as well as student activists opposed to his style of governance.

One of the protesting students told Saharareporters that the attack on Babangida’s rally “is part of our continuing protest over the fact that he annulled the election of an indigene of Ogun state, Bashorun M.K.O Abiola.” Abiola, a multi-millionaire telecommunications mogul, won the presidential post in an election on June 12, 1993 that was adjudged the most credible election in Nigeria’s history. But Babangida who claimed that he had to cancel the election in the interest of Nigeria’s unity scuttled Abiola’s presidency.

The streets of Abeokuta are not the only places where Babangida's ambition to run for office is facing mass resistance. Militants in the Niger Delta are also organizing to thwart his candidature.

By Tunde Chris Odediran

omestic goats are known to be stubborn animals. In a traditional African market, traders wield long sticks as a deterrent to market goats, which roam with the intention of stealing from unsuspecting sellers.

No matter how hard the trader tries, the market goat keeps coming at its target. It is sleek, calculating and seemingly gentle, but is irredeemably destructive. It never stops to roam until it can carry out a stealth raid on its victim. Wise traders are never deceived by the meekness of this familiar animal that is capable of turning the day's gain into significant loss. The success of the goat in every market is simply remarkable, and it thrives on three elements of success.
Persistence. Focus. Stubbornness.

With these three attributes, it wears down opposition. Anyone who will deter the proverbial goat at the beans market must match its resilience and pay close attention to its tricks. While it is almost impossible to pay full attention to it because of the other reasons for being at the market, wise traders are often able to deter it with the only language it understands - the cane. Watching from the corner of the eye, the trader is ready to fling the whip whenever the goat attacks.

Ibrahim Babangida is Nigeria's market goat and we must not spare him the cane. He has never been away. Rather, he always picks his moment to strike. Those who think he retired do not really know him. In fact, he never said he was leaving power - he only stepped aside until a time like this when he calculates we are worn by his persistence. He reasons the best time to strike and loot the market is the height of its activity. Babangida has been around, focused as ever and immensely stubborn against a forgiving society. Probably even more forgiving to him as a result of the loss of his wife, Maryam.

In recent months, I have come to the sad realization that we now have large sections of Nigerians who were either too young to know who Babangida is or simply have volatile memory. In their ignorance, these Nigerians on Facebook and web blogs sing praises of one of the most dangerous dictators in Africa's recent history. I call him dangerous, not because he did the things he did, but because he did them so perfectly that the least discerning did not even know anything happened. He is like an arts thief who steals the original piece and leaves a counterfeit behind. Such a criminal could get away with the heist for a long time. Babangida is counting on using his greedy friends and the naïve ones among us to ride right back to power. For the sake of these clueless Nigerians, I like to take a moment to introduce the man, Ibrahim Babangida.
Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, a.k.a, IBB, was popularly called Maradona by Nigerians for his special skill to cheat and divert, in the fashion of Argentina's soccer genius, Diego Maradona, who infamously cheated to earn victory over England in the 1986 World Cup. A self-described 'evil genius,' Babangida led Nigerians through a tortuous and deceptive political and economic transition that ended in a cul-de-sac. Perhaps because of his craftiness, it wasn’t until the end of his military career that the dictator's ruthlessness and lust for power became obvious.

He is believed to have been born August 17, 1941, at Minna, Niger State and attended Government College, Bida, from 1957 to 1962. There is no evidence he passed his School Certificate examination, as he did not receive his undisclosed results until three decades later in a publicized ceremony as the military head of state. Babangida received his military training at the Nigerian Military College, Kaduna, and was commissioned into the Nigerian Army as a 2nd Lieutenant in 1963. Judging by his records, he was more interested in politics than a professional military career, as he had been the face behind every military coup in Nigeria over a 30-year period. The BBC remarked that Babangida had taken part in all coups in Nigeria, through which he unleashed many years of needless bloodshed and power rotation that left Africa's highest grossing nation one of its poorest.

When the military returned to power on December 30, 1983, IBB became the chief of army staff and member of the highest ruling military body, the Supreme Military Council, SMC. He also served in that council during the Murtala Muhammed/Olusegun Obasanjo administration. On August 27, 1985, the Muhammadu Buhari/Tunde Idiagbon administration was toppled in a palace coup by Babangida, who made himself Nigeria's first "military President," an indication of his lust for political power. Babangida was Nigeria's sixth military ruler and inarguably the most powerful.

As with most dictators, the evil genius was methodical, shrewd in power, flamboyant in style, and ruthless in response. His predecessor, Mohammadu Buhari was resolute, but Babangida would kill by any means necessary and would not consider it inappropriate to weep at his enemy's funeral. Deft and tactical, Babangida announced himself to power as a champion of human rights, but unleashed a spate of human rights abuses that was only matched by his savage hand-picked successor, Sani Abacha. As he strategically spread his political tentacles, Maradona's first call was to release most of those jailed by Buhari, including the late music star, Fela Kuti. Nonetheless, Babangida brutally muffled opposition, as he frequently detained labor leaders, students and human rights advocates. He closed newspapers at will and sent soldiers to shoot protesters of his economic program on sight in daylight. In the course of my seven-year journalism career, I worked with The Guardian, Concord and Punch; all were closed as a direct or remote consequence of Babangida's war against the freedom of speech. This is why my heart sank at the report that editors of media companies, some of whom were colleagues who suffered under Babangida's heavy boots, went to his house recently to collect his blood-stained 10 million naira in the dark of the night. The blood of innocent Nigerians who died as a result of June 12 is on those journalists who betrayed the trust of the people and the sanctity of the pen.

Ibrahim Babangida has been indicted by the Human Rights Violations Investigation Commission, led by the respected Justice Chukwudifu Oputa, for the killing of Nigeria's top journalist, Mr. Dele Giwa, by a parcel bomb in 1986, reportedly to stop a story linking Babangida and his wife to a drug trader. Up till now, the killers of Dele Giwa have not been officially exposed, and efforts to probe Babangida's implicated associates have been consistently blocked by him. The report noted: "On General Ibrahim Babangida, we are of the view that there is evidence to suggest that he and the two security chiefs, Brigadier General Halilu Akilu and Col. A. K. Togun are accountable for the death of Dele Giwa by letter bomb. We recommend that this case be re-open for further investigation in the public interest." Babangida has blocked that report from being released, through the judicial system he blatantly corrupted.
By the time Babangida was one year in power, he had begun to demonstrate his deceptive abilities. He started a national debate on whether to accept an International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan or embark on austerity measures.

Thinking their leader was faithful, Nigerians favored the measures but soon found that the Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) was not being faithfully executed. While they were sacrificing, billions of dollars of Nigeria’s money was being pocketed by Babangida and his followers, such that under SAP, unemployment numbers, food prices, and cost of living soared. As Ghana and Uganda made gains under SAP, Nigeria was going under, until Nigerians responded in a 1989 riot, to which the dictator replied by first killing hundreds of protesters, then issuing palliative measures. A World Bank report issued in 1995 fully documented how grand theft under Babangida’s regime nullified the gains of SAP.

His government implemented a myriad of failed programs, which only helped to divert attention and fritter scarce national resources. Such programs include the People's Bank, Directorate of Food, Roads and Rural Infrastructure (DFRRI), National Directorate of Employment (NDE), and Better Life for Rural Women. All these programs are today dead or moribund. IBB tricked respected people, including Professor Wole Soyinka and the late Tai Solarin, to serve under his administration. They later found they had been tricked and resigned.

Among his leadership abilities, Babangida replaced his deputy, Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe with Rear Admiral Augustus Aikhomu -the former was headstrong and idealistic, while the later was largely a yes-man. He executed dramatic changes in public administration, filling strategic military and ministerial positions with his loyalists. Babangida introduced measures that threatened the secularity of Nigeria. Under his watch, Nigeria secretly became a participant at the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), an action so controversial that it was linked to the ouster of Ebitu Ukiwe.

As things got worse, a band of top officers, including Babangida's colleague and best man at his wedding, General Mamman Vatsa, allegedly planned to remove him. They were all captured and killed without sufficient evidence. We later learned that Vatsa may have been murdered for offences he did not commit, going by revelations by the former Chief of Defence Staff, General Domkat Bali.

Nigeria continued in spiral fall until April 22, 1990, when a brave junior officer, Major Gideon Orkar, almost toppled the Babangida regime. The official residence of the head of state, the Dodan Barracks, was razed. Babangida escaped by a slim stroke of luck. Significantly, Nigerian civilians were, for the first time, involved in a coup attempt, a development the dictator responded to by quickly moving the seat of power from the heavily populated Lagos to previously abandoned national capital city of Abuja, just about an hour's drive from his hometown of Minna. Orkar had, however, made damaging allegations about Babangida’s personal life and political problems, including homosexuality, drug peddling and corruption.

From this point, IBB was held in widespread suspicion among Nigerians. He held on to power with a single promise: to lead Nigeria back to democracy. Trusting and hopeful once again, Nigerians were carried along until 1992, when his abrupt cancellation of a political process led to mass suspicion about his true intentions. At this point, the term "Hidden Agenda" was coined by the late lawyer, Mr. Alao Aka Bashorun, who declared that Babangida was attempting to succeed himself. Bashorun seemed to have provided light in a dark tunnel as Nigerians began to place the evil genius' programs under the microscope.

The outcry that followed the cancellation of presidential primaries about to be won by the late General Shehu Yar'Adua led Babangida to hurriedly, without much of his usual plotting, move the political transition process at such a pace that caused a generally accepted candidate, billionaire philanthropist, M.K.O Abiola, to be elected as president in Nigeria's most peaceful and acceptable election. Confused and dazed, IBB annulled that election and unleashed a national outrage that led to his downfall. Hundreds of Nigerians were killed by soldiers acting under the directives of Babangida and his beneficiaries, as the citizens fought for the mandate given to Abiola.

Eventually, it dawned on the Maradona, the game was up. He was forced to vacate his beloved presidential seat. Nigerians can remember how Babangida made a spectacle of himself on the NTA as he bounced continuously on a chair in utter confusion when he had to “step aside.” Babangida was forced out, but not before he planted his equally ruthless and utterly vindictive partner, the late General Sani Abacha, to guide a lame civilian caretaker administration of Ernest Shonekan. It surprised no one that Abacha sent Shonekan packing in less than three months, and continued the evil legacy of his former boss, IBB.
Do not be fooled into thinking Babangida is not serious about being a civilian president at the age of 70. The evil genius knows he had stepped aside long enough and his insatiable thirst for power cannot be quenched by time. IBB has sent his beneficiaries out to the field on a mission to buy back lost political patronage with his vast wealth, stolen from Nigerians, and which is now being employed to bring Nigerians back to servitude in 2011.

The bedrock for today's economic and financial problems was laid by this man, Ibrahim Babangida! He created conditions malignant to national advancement, such as the institutionalization of the culture of corruption that is now heavily entrenched in the social and moral fabric of the Nigerian society. The phenomena of the notorious thievery schemes or theft-by-deception, a.k.a "419," is largely believed to have gained undue prominence and seeming acceptance during the eight-year misrule of Ibrahim Babangida in Nigeria. Today, the nuisance of the so-called "Yahoo Boys" is believed to be a by-product or creation of the IBB era. Owing to corruption and deception, Nigeria is not able to participate without restriction in modern com

Sixty-eight firms comprising foreign and local investors with interest in diverse sectors of the economy, as at last week, were said to have so far shown strong intention to do business at the Lekki Free Trade Zone (LFTZ). They cover textile, oil and gas, tourism, real estate, cottage industries, construction, car assembling among others.

Although some listed above will come on stream later as the project develops and expands, however, how soon others will roll into action will depend on the magic that the Lagos State government and its development partners — a consortium of Chinese investors can perform between now and November 2010 when the first phase, according to the management will be opened for business operations.

The first phase of the multi-billion dollars project sits on over 3000 hectares with a huge infrastructural challenge. It is being developed by a group of Chinese firms in partnership with Lagos State. And so far, work on the development of critical infrastructure such as power plant, sewage systems, water treatment plants though ongoing is still a challenge.

Although the Chinese are the first partners in the development of the trade zone, the state government is still keeping its doors open for more investors especially in view of the huge financial outlay. It is estimated that the overall project will cost over five billion US dollars.

“The Chinese are the first set of developers we have in the zone to jump-start things. And we are currently developing the launch area (phase 1),” Olusola Oworu, special adviser to Lagos State government on commerce and industry, whose office supervises the developments told BusinessDay.

As a way of attracting investors, the government is offering a number of incentives including tax exemption. Also, companies to operate within the zone could be 100 percent foreign owned and would be allowed the option of repatriating their capital and profits overseas if they so chose. In terms of meeting up the requirements for setting up a business in the zone, the state government plans to put in place a one-stop-shop where all necessary procedures and processes leading to business registration as well as issues bordering on immigration, customs, safety and security of investments and personnel will be addressed in one fell swoop so as to facilitate smooth operations.

In the view of Oworu, the LFTZ has been conceptualized not just a trade zone but a model city. So apart from its industrial component, the trade zone is designed to embrace urban developments, which include residential accommodation, business centre, a financial hub and tourism activities. The zone therefore is incorporating light industries such as textiles, electronics, household equipment as well as foods and beverages.

Upon full development, the zone will have three modern ports which will accommodate heavy industries like petro-chemicals and oil refineries. It is also going to have five kilometers of coastline a deep seaport that will be able to accommodate huge vessels expected from around the world.

The idea is to make the ports the shipping hub of West Africa. Also being planned to further boost LFTZ’s operations is an international airport that will be sited not too far. The airport will not ferry people but also service the logistical needs of corporate bodies in and around the Lekki corridor.

The Lekki trade zone’s key advantages are its accessibility, location and the market. Lagos State remains the commercial hub of Nigeria and plays host to about 65 percent of the country’s commercial activities. The state has the largest population in the country estimated at about 18 million people which is a good market for products and services.

Oworu says the effort at ongoing infrastructural development at the trade zone is show of government’s determination to create the enable environment and prepare investors to start off with ease. 68 prospective investors have so far shown interest. But the biggest of the challenge I think are logistics problems. But we have investors who have shown strong interests in oil and gas, manufacturing, hotels and entertainment, car assembling plant, construction materials and real estate development.

“Currently our emphasis is on development of infrastructure to encourage investors to come in. And when I say infrastructure, I am talking about road network and power. To start with, we have installed 1000 KVA generating set to power the area in the interim. A permanent power installation will come later and we are working towards this.

“In terms of road, we have constructed about several kilometres of roads and a standard factory so that investors can start making use of it without having to necessarily build theirs before starting operations,” says the special adviser.

Adeyomo Thompson, deputy managing director of the LFTZ is optimistic that business operations will commence by October or before the end of this year. His optimism is hinged on the completion of some road networks creating access to various parts of the zone, provision of 1000 KVA standby electric generating set as well as the completion of a standard factory from where some manufacturing activities can begin. According to the deputy managing director, the long delay in take-off has been due to problems of logistics. Specifically, he says the absence of infrastructure at the site, a major challenge, is being addressed with over 70 companies now waiting to commence operations.

The companies are those with interest in agro-processing, clothing and textiles, food and beverages, forestry, mining, pharmaceuticals, housing and tourism. He said that the establishment of the free trade zone was in line with the desire of the Lagos State Government to harness investment and business potentials in the state. “Although the project is currently not ready for use as a result of inadequate infrastructure, there are indications that some industries from China may begin operation here soon,’’ he said.

Thompson said that the first phase of the project would cost about 1.5 billion dollars while the entire project would gulp over five billion dollars. He said that the zone would have its own independent power plant, adding that the first phase, made up of 350 hectares, would be powered by 10,000 KVA generators. But it is not only foreign companies that are in the forefront at the zone, as Oando Nig. Plc, according to Thompson, is planning to build a refinery with capacity to refine 360,000 barrels of crude per day. The company has since 2009 carried out feasibility studies on the project.

“We believe that a refinery that targets approximately half of the deficit for 2017 will be viable against local production and against substitute input. Such a refinery will benefit from the closest sources of crude oil. We are going to put in place a complex refinery which will take advantage of the light crude we see in the area and maximise PMS production,” Thompson said, adding that the company upon commencement of operations would be targeting about 360,000 barrels per day as the first phase will do 340,000 barrels which will give an approximate of 15,000 tons per day of PMS.

However, Femi Deru, President of Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, has applauded the adoption of Public- Private Partnership to attract investments, describing as a popular and viable option. He believes the zone will attract investments when infrastructure such as good network of roads, power, sewage and water treatment plants are completed and put to use.

Although government has paid compensa