Babies are special gifts from God and Okiki Daniel Adetayo is a very special creature of God given the circumstances of his birth. While most babies stay in the womb between 9-11months or a little more, Okiki was there for ten years.
As mother was contending with the pain, physical and psychological, societal stigma, and above all the uncertainty of what the fruit would bear for that period, Okiki seemed to be enjoying himself defying all medical and trado-medical examinations. Some of the examination results were negative. No baby in the womb.
Yet, some confirmed the existence of a baby in her womb but with dangerous consequences.
For nine years, nine months and nine days, the family was on a tortuous and tormenting search for solution.
The mother, Mrs Dorcas Ramota Adetayo, 57, who has carried four other successful pregnancies. She narrated her story to Saturday Vanguard at her Igbe Road, Ikorodu, residence. “I was 44 years old when I conceived the baby and I gave birth to him in January 14, 2007. Long after my due date, there was no sign that the baby was coming.
Infact, I went for an ultra-scan, the report began to show that there was no baby in my womb. But when I returned home, I used to feel the movement of the baby and as an experienced mother, I refused to be convinced.â€
“I went to the Lagos state University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, and I was told there would be a surgery to evacuate what was in my womb still maintaining that it was no baby, I refused.
At that point, I felt it was time to try the native option, but the story was the same. I remember a place I went when the pregnancy was about seven years. The man after offering sacrifices, called me that I should bring my ‘baby things’ indicating that I would be delivered of a baby. I rushed to pick them and when I got back to him, he turned me back saying he could not do it again. I cried and dedicated myself to God. I started attending Celestial Church with a vow never to go anywhere again.†she explained.
The father, Mr Joseph Olufemi Adetayo, a retiree, explained that the whole development was a mystery to him.
“You see, at some point, I was not even thinking about the baby anymore, I was thinking about the life of my wife. We went to several places spending huge amount of money to no avail. I sold everything I had including my plots of land to ensure that all what was needed were provided in order to bring what was in her womb out without losing her life.â€
“When I couldn’t pay some of the debt back, a close friend came to me and advised me to give out two-room house in lieu of the money borrowed. In the process, I had an accident which almost claimed my life. My left limb and feet were apart, they were joined through a surgery after I spent 18months in the hospital.†he lamented.
Giving a spiritual dimension to the whole incident, Mr Adetayo said: “We were told that before my wife would deliver, she had to confess if she had slept with another man. But you see, my wife was a virgin when I married her and she swore with everything they provided that if she did, she should die, and nothing happened.â€
Continuing, he said it was Evangelist Adesugba of the Celestial Church, Igbogbo, Ikorodu that God used. “The Prophet, after a 7-day prayer and fasting revealed that very soon God would deliver the baby and the revelation came to pass.â€
On how it happened, Mrs Adetayo said: “Few years back, the pregnancy had not been noticeable. So, I walked about as if nothing was wrong with me. Fourteen days after the revelation, I had gone to visit a friend and it was at my friend’s house that I felt pain on my left leg from my waist down.
My host advised me to go to the hospital immediately, but because I had vowed that I would not go to any hospital again, she gave the option of a nearby nurse for a pain relief injection which I obliged. After taking the pain relief injection, instead of subsiding, the pain increased it and I couldn’t move. On that same left limb close to my waist, I felt the baby moving and before I could utter a word, the baby came down.â€
Prophet Adesugba told Saturday Vanguard that god revealed to him that Mrs Adetayo would be delivered of a baby and he advised her to wait on the Lord. “On the 1st of January, she came to me crying that they kept advising her to go for surgery, to evacuate what was in her womb. I prayed and advised her to wait on the Lord.
I’m happy that the family heeded my advise. On the same month she was delivered of a baby.â€
The prophet said the baby was a special creature “because for 10 years, people had thought he would have grown teeth or show sign of a grown baby in the womb, but no, God perfected everything about him. He is a special gift.â€
The father, Mr. Adetayo said, “Okiki will be four next January, but when he talks you’ll think he is an adult. He amazes even his peers. His analytical prowess is stunning. Again, at one time he was ill and before we knew it all his dread-lock vanished and there was no hair on his head. After sometime, the dread-lock returned.â€
Adetayo stressed further that “If he feels uncomfortable with the dread-lock anytime, he uses his hand by merely scrubbing it, and few days after it will reduce drastically on its own. Also, if any dread-lock removes on its own, wherever he may be, he always bring it home and ask his mother to keep it for him. He’s got fame right from the womb and that is why he was named Okiki.â€
The mother, Mrs, Adetayo added that she has never doubted that Okiki is a special baby going by the circumstances of his birth. She said although he can be naughty sometimes but she will not spare the rod.
“He provoked me to beating him one day and the next moment he said passionately that, ‘Mummy, you beat me, so you can beat me’.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
The plant of Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company Limited, Nnewi, was commissioned last week by President Goodluck Jonathan during his maiden official visit to Anambra State.
Chairman and chief executive of the company, Innocent Chukwuma, said the company uses 60 per cent local raw materials to manufacture all of its brands, which include 14, 26 and 35-seater buses, double cabin pick-up vans and sports utility vehicles and employs 1,600 Nigerian workers.
Chukwuma told the president at the commissioning of the plant that the mission of the company was to reduce the prices of vehicles and cut down the country’s dependence on imported vehicles, adding that the company’s mission and vision tallies with the aspiration of the Federal government geared towards making the country one of the top 20 industrialized nations in the year 2020.
He said his factory could boast of the same equipment as the ones overseas and that his technical partners are experts who know so much about vehicle manufacturing.
One major aspect of the encouragement Chukwuma pleaded for was contained in his address, which was that home-made goods are patronised by all agencies of government. “We want to appreciate the example of the Enugu State Governor, Mr. Sullivan Chime (who ordered hundreds of buses and refuse disposal vans from Innoson) and pray that every tier of government from Federal to Local Government and government parastatals, should emulate this patriotic act.â€
He also prayed Mr. President to quicken the process of fulfilling the promise of boosting electricity in Nnewi, adding that efficient power supply will energise the hundreds of industries that have made Nnewi the Taiwan of Africa.
Other requests by Chukwuma were soft loans with not more than five per cent interest “to enable us achieve our production target†and tax holidays for a period of 10 years “to enable the automotive plant stabilise.â€
He said: “Mr. President, we want to assure you that if these requests are granted, in two years’ time, such things like motor engine which we still import, we shall begin to manufacture them locally.â€
President Jonathan lauded the plant as one that is creating employment, giving boost to government’s efforts towards economic growth and development, as well as contributing to the drive to catch up with, and possibly overtake, other countries who gained independence same period Nigeria was weaned by Britain.
“I am indeed happy that Innoson is not just assembling parts that are imported from other countries. From all indications, it is only the engine that is imported. Apart from that, every other thing is manufactured in Nigeria,†he said, praising Chukwuma for meeting the challenges of earlier time that looked insurmountable.
President Jonathan wished that many more Nigerians would emulate Chukwuma to help frog leap the country in its ambition to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Meanwhile, the manner the concept of a motor manufacturing plant came to Innocent Chukwuma, chairman and chief executive of the company in 2006, could best be likened to the vision of the man who saw a hidden treasure in a farm land, went home and sold everything he has and bought it, for when he came up with the idea, he sold everything he had and went into the venture. Even when men of Customs and Excise delayed his equipment and some sensitive materials meant to be used in production for reasons best known to them, he never gave up.
What informed his vision? Daily Independent asked. His response: “It is simply this: I was into motorcycle spare parts business originally. And when I was dealing on motorcycle spare parts, time came when people could no longer afford new motorcycles. And I discovered that new motorcycles were becoming too expensive. Then, a motorcycle was being sold for N180, 000, and I was worried. On investigation, I discovered that those who import new motorcycles did so in units in 40- feet container. By this, the cost of importing the motorcycle was higher than the cost of the motorcycles themselves. So, I traveled overseas and devised a means of dismembering motorcycles into Completely Knocked Down (CKD) parts for purposes of importing them into the country. When I did this, I got 240 pieces of motorcycles in one 40-feet container. As soon as my consignment arrived, the price of motorcycles dropped drastically because I sold at cheaper rate.
“This is the effort I made that crashed the price of motorcycle till today. I found the same thing in motor vehicles. Everybody now go for a second hand car. Even some government offices buy second hand vehicles. The cause of high cost of vehicles is the high cost of importing them into the country. In other countries where motor vehicles are produced, vehicles are cheap. So, I decided to take a cue from what I did in my motorcycle business. I ordered those parts my factory cannot readily produce now and add them when I am assembling the vehicles. That is why I also have assembling plant just like you have them overseas. We use the parts we can produce here locally with materials I bring in from overseas to assemble the vehicles and they are of the same quality as the imported ones.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
A PRESIDENTIAL visit to any of the component states of the federation is one of the informal mechanisms of modern politics that a president can use to govern well if he can articulate his message well and feel the pulse of the people he is visiting. It is like a ‘listening tour’.
A president can use it to get the best from the people by addressing the central issues that concern them as well as giving assurances that have practical chances of succeeding. For a president with his ears on the ground, and eyes fixed on the ball, such visits enable him to know how, and what the people feel about him, which in turn, can boost his chances in the event of an election. For many people in the states he is visiting, it is a rare chance to assess the president up-close, how kind-hearted or uncaring he is, how ethical, intelligent, or forceful leader he is, or the opposite.
Call it old-fashioned politics, state visit by the president leverages on the power of incumbency. Deals can be made through such visits, new bridges of understanding can be built, coalitions can be formed and “concorted†or perceived images can be corrected. It is like a compass that guides a president in working his way through the informal channels of power.
Indeed, it serves as a source of information that could help the president and his political strategists to direct his energies toward desired goals. Information is power, and a primary instrument of power. And oh boy, every president craves for this knowledge.
The picture which emerges from all the above descriptions is that all human contacts have a purpose, each unique in its own, with unique lessons to learn that were not there before such a visit. The recent visit to Anambra state by President Goodluck Jonathan was an eye-opener of sorts. This is not in the hordes of school children and women who lined up the streets to welcome him, neither is it in the hundreds of handshakes, nor the chieftaincy title of Nwachinemere that he was conferred by the state.
They were ‘sideshows’ to the ‘real thing’ that the President saw. It is the vibrancy of entrepreneur spirit that has reached a critical mass in the state. Anambra of today is witnessing more than ever before individuals who are creating and expanding markets on such a large scale, adding value and turning attacks that kill good ideas to their own advantage.
This is a place where the management word ‘Citizen sector’, a term used to define groups of individuals with a mission-minded, can-do-spirit who are addressing critical social needs of the country has found its true meaning. Over the past six years in particular, this group has blossomed in Anambra with increased productivity, size and economic growth. Creative individuals are driving them. The power of this citizen sector lies primarily in the complementary strengths of the individual entrepreneurs and the support the state government is giving them. These innovators are thriving in Anambra largely because they believe that businesses do offer scale. Such expertise can be found in such diverse areas as manufacturing and pharmaceuticals. Together, they are creating real economic and social value.
Take, for instance, Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company Ltd., the first indigenous Assembly Plant in Nigeria. Owned by one of Nigeria’s young entrepreneurs, chief Innocent Ifediaso Chukwuma, the vehicle plant which was incorporated in February, 2007, and located at Akwa – Uru village, Umudim, Nnewi, is using the business model of Discount Cash Flow (DCF) which is anchored on the conventional financial tool that it may be cheaper to manufacture at home than import from abroad. And it is working despite the initial rough and tumble. Built with the support of a Chinese consortium of auto makers, Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company is providing a wide spectrum of automotive brands which include 14, 26, 35 seater buses, double cabin pick-up vans and Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV).
The first batch of these brands was displayed last year at the 2nd Nnewi International Auto Trade Fair. One of the remarkable things here is that the plant is driven by substantial local content in the production chain. The aim is to reduce drastically the prices of vehicles and cut down Nigeria’s dependence on imported vehicles. The company is riding on the crest of success it recorded with the assembly of commercial motorcycles (Okada). With an installed capacity of 10,000 vehicles per annum and expected turnover of N30.4bn, the company has an employment target of about 2,500 Nigerians and foreign expatriates, mainly from China, its technical partners.
Apart from this plant, the Juhel Pharmaceutical industry located in the state capital, Awka which is one of the best parental drug factories in the country, commissioned by President Jonathan during his visit, is a testament of the audacious business acumen of Anambra people. But why are these entrepreneurs discovering their niches now more than ever before? Good governance has a great part to play. As a human enterprise, Governor Peter Obi, being an entrepreneur himself, regardless of his foray into politics, knows how to sell water in the desert even when it suddenly begins to rain. He knows what it takes, in business terms, to retool an organization and transform its supply chain, and the knowledge that your products, wherever they may come from, is everybody’s business. He saw the creative ingenuity in the owners of Innoson and Juhel and convinced them to invite the President to tour their plants.
More than that, the state government is patronizing their products. The governor said, in the coming months and years, the bulk of the vehicles and drugs needed by the state will be supplied by Innoson and Juhel. Good governance, good leadership are the engines that drive the Citizen sector. Before now, from what I saw in Anambra, it is no longer safe to ignore this spirit of enterprise, because previously, this segment of the economy was relatively small in scale and low in productivity. But that is no longer the case. From Nnewi to Awka, from Awka to Onitsha, this sector is fast redefining business with big return on investments, and better insights into how to make business succeed. The lesson is simple: Think like an entrepreneur, and give the relevant stakeholders a bigger say in the running of their businesses. Revenue and profits will flow.
Although the Obi administration says it is on course in meeting its target on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the year 2015 in areas of poverty eradication, improvement in maternal health and environmental sustainability through the state Integrated Development Strategy (ANIDs), few constraints still on the way of the citizen sector. For instance, Power supply, security and water in the key commercial centres of the state, Onitsha and Nnewi remain issues of serious concern. The problem of insecurity resulted in the kidnap of three staff of Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company on March 17, 2007, at the factory premises. One of them, Mr. Sang Sheyi, a Chinese died in the hands of his abductors.
Sanity is fast returning to the commercial nerve centre of Onitsha. The United Nations UN-HABITAT, at a recent EXPO in China, put Onitsha in the list of one of the “five fastest growing†intermediate cities in the world, a feat attributed to good governance in Anambra State. However, Governor Obi regrets that the other four cities, Johor Bahru (Malaysia), Tetouan (Morocco), Uberlandia (Brazil) and Hunchun (China) ranked alongside Onitsha have all been declared “Economic Zones†by their respective countries. In that regard, Obi has made a case to President Jonathan to declare Onitsha and Nnewi axis as “Special Economic Zone,†and accordingly, direct appropriate and immediate “governmental actionâ€.
With Obi’s new master plan for these two industrial areas, Onitsha and Nnewi, it makes economic sense that the Federal government obliges the request of the state government. This is in addition to making the second Niger Bridge a reality. Described as the “single most important bridge†in the country, Obi laments that previous administrations at the centre made the 2nd Niger Bridge a “419 projectâ€, with no sincerity of purpose to execute it. But he expresses optimism that the administration of Jonathan will deliver on his promise.
“It will be unfortunate if it fails to do soâ€, the governor said. Working on this frontier can be challenging, but it is certainly exciting. What, if you may, ask, is, the secret of these inspirational individuals in Anambra? It’s simple: They have conquered fear, the biggest killer of good dreams.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan said that if the country must achieve its set goal of becoming one of the top twenty largest economies of the world, Nigeria must embrace manufacturing and the non-oil sector, just as he said that the country must develop the non-oil sector with resources from oil.
He was speaking, last week, in Abuja at the first Nigerian Non-oil Sector Export Presidential Award 2010 for outstanding Corporate Organizations, individuals, state governments and related trade support institutions involved in promoting export trade activities in Nigeria.
The President who was represented by the Minister of Commerce and Industry, Senator Jubril Martins-Kuye stressed that the nation’s future will be bleak if as a country we fail to diversification the country’s economy from oil to non-oil sector.
The three day event was organized by the Nigerian Export Promotion Council, NEPC in collaboration with Olam, West African Cotton Company Limited with the CEO, Koinonia Ventures Limited, Femi Boyede as the Convener, with the theme: ‘Soaring Towards the Future… Non-oil Exports as Driver of Nigeria’s Vision 20:2020′.
According to him, we must pay serious attention to manufacturing, agricultural goods, movie production, among others because the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from these is very high, just as he hailed the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) and Koinonia ventures for putting up the first Nigerian non-oil export conference, exhibition and awards.
“The larger economy is the non-oil and gas and the future belongs to that. The nation should stick to that sector for improved and better economy,†the President said. Participants at the end of the three day conference called on the government to diversify the economy if the 20:2020 target must be achieved, adding that export diversification was a key strategy for sustained economic growth.
Participants at the Conference were from the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), top Exporters, Banks, Shipping lines, Insurance Companies, Chambers of Commerce and Industry and other relevant government agencies. The target audience was an opportunity for all entities associated with Nigeria’s Non-Oil Exports to network, collaborate, synergize and create a new export opportunities.
“Participants noted that appropriate trade strategies are derived from an adequate understanding of export diversification and growth.
“Participants acknowledged with keen interest that more potential for market penetration exists in developing than in developed countries but noted further that the composition of export diversification has to match the import structure of the target countries.
“Participants noted the progress in the on-going WTO Negotiations under the Doha Development Agenda particularly in the areas of Agriculture and Non-Agricultural Market Access and commended the agreement to eliminate export subsidies by Developed nations by the year 2013.
“Participants noted that the key to Nigeria’s future is in the non-oil export as it is the major nation’s passport to gaining competitive economic advantage in today’s international community.
“Participants decried the continuous dependence on crude oil, being the country’s current main source of foreign exchange, due to the fact that crude oil is an exhaustible asset characterized by price fluctuations and thus, cannot be relied on for sustainable development.â€
Meanwhile, Vanguard Media Limited was given the most Export Friendly media award and it was received on behalf of the Organization by the Abuja Bureau Chief, Mr. Emmanuel Ujah, while other awards were those of outstanding export performance , exporter the year of cocoa, leather, plastics, foot wears, textiles, household items to most proactive state in export promotion among others.
Other beneficiaries were Olam Nigeria limited as the overall best exporter of the year; Saro agro-allied limited as best indigenous exporter of the year-cocoa; Eleme Petro-chemicals Company limited as the plastics exporter of the year and African textile manufacturers limited as the textiles exporter of the year.
Multimix export academy won the export support services for education, Niger state as the most proactive state in export promotion among other recipients.
In a media chat, Programme Director/CEO, MultiMix Academy, Obiora Madu, stressed that exportation of education should not be left for the government alone, adding that there must be synergy between the government and the private sector.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Julia Cameron, an American teacher and author, is quoted as having said that “growth is an erratic forward movement: two steps forward, one step back.†As odd as that may sound, I wish it were the case in the Nigerian educational system but, sadly, growth in that sector seems one step forward, two steps back. It takes a calculated, suicidal plan for any government to neglect its educational system. Only stark mental blindness can lead the leadership of any country to think that there can be growth where the educational system is left to rot. Worse still is the mindset of any leader who sees the academics’ concern as a power tussle moment where nothing else matters than getting the entire NUT to accept at all cost his periods in all matter without as much as being human. The goings-on in our educational system where a four-year course sees a student through seven years before graduation is the worst mistake that the government has repeatedly been making.
The several excuses from the ministry of education and the leadership of Nigeria as to why teachers’ strike actions have gone on for years without a reasonable solution are all flimsy, white-washed, and a display of inefficiency and nepotism that have ravaged the entire leadership. As terrible and unbearable as the lack of good roads, electricity, and water supply in Nigeria are, the traditional strike actions in our schools is far worse than anything imaginable. There can be no separation between growth and education and one of the best ways to rate the growth of any country is by finding out how qualitative and constant its educational system is. The discovery of fuel in Nigeria has so far done nothing for Nigerians than created a fool’s paradise for those in power, and so the race has left everything else to focus on how to get into power
The death of any country’s educational system is the absolute death of that country and the inability of our leaders to have been convinced about this truth beyond all doubt is an international display of our leaders’ ignorance in leadership. How can we hope to combat crime in the society when the few that can barely afford to be in school are not even allowed to learn something else beside common crime? How do we ever hope to make our nation inhabitable when we have refused to let our youths be who they are? How can the police and the judiciary pass judgment of condemnation on students who have been forced out of their classes into the streets and into crime by the very people who are spearheading their condemnation? How can any leader but an impostor fail to see that these incessant strike actions in our schools are the sharpest tools in carving out a state of crime?
It takes only a myopic leader or an enemy of the state who is in power not to see that the culmination of these mistreatment of our youths in different schools across the country will produce only one thing: rebellion against the authority. The generational consequence of abandoning our educational system by our government is war and its aftermath. No country in the western world or in other parts of the world can contain the rage of its students if what happens in Nigeria repeats itself there.
The most laughable step that most of our leaders have taken towards saving themselves from the consequences of their deliberate decisions against our home schools is the idea of sending their children abroad to study in the best schools in the world and wasting our national resources on the host countries through their children while those at home pay for education they do not receive and are expected to be happy about it
This step by our leaders shows that Nigeria has never been a country to them but only a ripe plantation where only the strong gets to reap all. The result of this plot will yield a far painful fruits for those leaders involved in tearing our national resources to shreds. The call today goes to all leaders in our country who are responsible for what happens in our educational system: remember that education is the greatest weapon against poverty, crime and chaos. Get the necessary authorities involved in settling these ever-increasing disputes between the government and the Nigerian teachers in order to bring our youths out from the wrong places and back into their classrooms. The problem is not with the teachers but with the government not leading rightly.
We can’t afford, as a nation, to make fun of our teachers or our educational system-it’s about the only way to get us out of this self-dug pit of lawlessness in a lawful country. We have had several foreign workers in our oil sector and other sectors for decades because we have refused to train our own people. No leader, no candidate is worth electing who does not put our educational system at the forefront of his/her priority list. No leader who has been in office before is worth re-electing who did not achieve uninterrupted education in his/her area of governance. We as a country have suffered through years with the consequences of constantly interrupted power supply, we may not live as a country to tell the story of the results of neglecting our educational system. Its generational interpretation will be a dissolved Nigeria.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Julia Cameron, an American teacher and author, is quoted as having said that “growth is an erratic forward movement: two steps forward, one step back.†As odd as that may sound, I wish it were the case in the Nigerian educational system but, sadly, growth in that sector seems one step forward, two steps back. It takes a calculated, suicidal plan for any government to neglect its educational system. Only stark mental blindness can lead the leadership of any country to think that there can be growth where the educational system is left to rot. Worse still is the mindset of any leader who sees the academics’ concern as a power tussle moment where nothing else matters than getting the entire NUT to accept at all cost his periods in all matter without as much as being human. The goings-on in our educational system where a four-year course sees a student through seven years before graduation is the worst mistake that the government has repeatedly been making.
The several excuses from the ministry of education and the leadership of Nigeria as to why teachers’ strike actions have gone on for years without a reasonable solution are all flimsy, white-washed, and a display of inefficiency and nepotism that have ravaged the entire leadership. As terrible and unbearable as the lack of good roads, electricity, and water supply in Nigeria are, the traditional strike actions in our schools is far worse than anything imaginable. There can be no separation between growth and education and one of the best ways to rate the growth of any country is by finding out how qualitative and constant its educational system is. The discovery of fuel in Nigeria has so far done nothing for Nigerians than created a fool’s paradise for those in power, and so the race has left everything else to focus on how to get into power
The death of any country’s educational system is the absolute death of that country and the inability of our leaders to have been convinced about this truth beyond all doubt is an international display of our leaders’ ignorance in leadership. How can we hope to combat crime in the society when the few that can barely afford to be in school are not even allowed to learn something else beside common crime? How do we ever hope to make our nation inhabitable when we have refused to let our youths be who they are? How can the police and the judiciary pass judgment of condemnation on students who have been forced out of their classes into the streets and into crime by the very people who are spearheading their condemnation? How can any leader but an impostor fail to see that these incessant strike actions in our schools are the sharpest tools in carving out a state of crime?
It takes only a myopic leader or an enemy of the state who is in power not to see that the culmination of these mistreatment of our youths in different schools across the country will produce only one thing: rebellion against the authority. The generational consequence of abandoning our educational system by our government is war and its aftermath. No country in the western world or in other parts of the world can contain the rage of its students if what happens in Nigeria repeats itself there.
The most laughable step that most of our leaders have taken towards saving themselves from the consequences of their deliberate decisions against our home schools is the idea of sending their children abroad to study in the best schools in the world and wasting our national resources on the host countries through their children while those at home pay for education they do not receive and are expected to be happy about it
This step by our leaders shows that Nigeria has never been a country to them but only a ripe plantation where only the strong gets to reap all. The result of this plot will yield a far painful fruits for those leaders involved in tearing our national resources to shreds. The call today goes to all leaders in our country who are responsible for what happens in our educational system: remember that education is the greatest weapon against poverty, crime and chaos. Get the necessary authorities involved in settling these ever-increasing disputes between the government and the Nigerian teachers in order to bring our youths out from the wrong places and back into their classrooms. The problem is not with the teachers but with the government not leading rightly.
We can’t afford, as a nation, to make fun of our teachers or our educational system-it’s about the only way to get us out of this self-dug pit of lawlessness in a lawful country. We have had several foreign workers in our oil sector and other sectors for decades because we have refused to train our own people. No leader, no candidate is worth electing who does not put our educational system at the forefront of his/her priority list. No leader who has been in office before is worth re-electing who did not achieve uninterrupted education in his/her area of governance. We as a country have suffered through years with the consequences of constantly interrupted power supply, we may not live as a country to tell the story of the results of neglecting our educational system. Its generational interpretation will be a dissolved Nigeria.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
We are happy to announce that Anchor Baby has just been awarded the “Award of Merit” at the Los Angeles Cinema Festival of Hollywood U.S.A
Shortly after it was officially accepted to screen at the ‘Fans of Film’ film festival in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, Anchor Baby has added another feat to its gallery as it wins an “Award of Merit” at the Los Angeles Cinema Festival of Hollywood U.S.A.
Along side twelve other movies, Anchor Baby was given the award of merit in the narrative features category. Movies awarded in the Narrative features category include“Aloha Daze†Directed by Dante Parducci, “The Russian Cowboy†Directed by Mark Laty, “Anime Fan Tom†Directed by Hiroko(Mari) Hagino (Yamaoka), “The Man In The Maze†Directed by Miteshkumar Patel, “House Swap†Directed by Mark Ezra, “Moment of Truth: The Andy Meyers Story†Directed by Steven Crowley, “Next Door†Directed by Andy Sawyer.
Others are “Case 219†Directed by James Bruce, “From Grace†Directed by Paul Kampf, “Signals†Directed by Carlos Etzio Roman, “The Middle of The Middle†Directed by Daniel White, “Almost Invisible†Directed by David Allingham.
Set to hit the Nigerian Cinemas soon ‘Anchor Baby’ has about 40 actors with speaking roles and almost 60 extras. The frontline actors in the film are Omoni Oboli, Sam Sarpong, Terri Oliver, Colin Paradine, Michael Scratch, Mark Cassius, Rachael Ancheril, Cyrus Faird, Santiago Lopera, and Chris Patterson.
Anchor Baby tells the story of a married illegal immigrant couple living in the US who have been ordered to quit the country, they agree to leave; but only after Joyce who is 5months pregnant delivers her baby inside the US. This will guarantee automatic citizenship for their child. Ignoring the deportation order, the couple goes into hiding. Paul was later caught and deported while Joyce stayed back to struggle on her own to achieve their dream. Anchor Baby has Caucasian, Hispanic, Asian and African characters playing major parts.
Anchor Baby has been selected to screen at the Africa International film festival in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Watch the PhotoGallery
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
This may hardly read as your typical captivating news story, never mind one of the century’s most inspiring special reports. Yet it mirrors the dreams and disappointments, promise and enterprise of an extra-ordinary league of citizens slugging it out daily against daunting odds in the nation’s East of the Niger, thus arousing speculations that they may be the next best thing to happen to Nigeria since the 1970’s oil boom. OLATUNJI OLOLADE, Assistant Editor, writes
A smirk. Then a toothy smile was all it took Aloysius Nkama to describe his ascent from grass to grace. Yet easy as it was to the eye, 36-year old’s smile was full of ache. It recounted years spent tweaking tiny bolts on a production line for the motorcycles that whirr across the nation’s streets as you are reading this write-up right now. He probably tightened a crucial component or two in the laptop computer this story was written on at some point – particularly when he had to juggle jobs at the motorcycle assembly plant with a short spell in a computer factory in Zhejiang, East of China.
Suicidal as it was, he had to “hustle two jobs in order to make ends meet.” However, two years down the line, Nkama experienced an epiphany of sort. He met Ifesinachi Okon , a fellow Nigerian, at a party organised by a mutual female acquaintance. “Okon was full of very great plans. That night, he told me that he was in town to meet some Chinese business partners. He said he was planning to establish a motorcycle and drilling machine assembly plant in Nigeria. He made me understand that I was wasting my life toiling for about 20 pence per hour in a Grade C Chinese factory. According to him, given the needed support, we will shock the world,” disclosed Nkama.
After that night, Nkama toiled for two months and 17 days before he called it quits at the motorcycle assembly plant. He relocated to Shenzen, in Southern China, where he went into a business contract for the exportation of break pads and linings to Nigeria with a local technician with the assistance of his female acquaintance.
“He was looking for someone he could trust to go into exportation business with. And I happened to contact him at a very good time,” said Nkama adding that he imported brake pads and linings for six years before he discovered how easy they were to make. Hence his decision to venture into manufacturing of brake pads and linings after studying machinery and processes in use by his supplier firms in China. His product line “will be called Nkama-Best Brake Pads and Linings” and he is currently closing “very profitable contracts in dealership with local marketers in his native Nnewi, and Onitsha in Anambra and Lagos.
But rather than stop his importation of brake pads and linings, Nkama will simply add his new brand to existing lines that he currently imports from China because, “although it would be great to focus on my own product line, full time, the local business environment does not support such radical business decision.”
Chukwuebuka Ukpabio, 28, however, would rather not waste precious time importing or marketing “the work of another man’s brain. Me, as you see me here so…na learn I dey learn. I dey serve with my uncle and when I finish, I go travel go Taiwan go bring the Chinko (Chinese) wey go come follow me build my own factory for hia (here). Na correct motorcycle me I wan dey make.”
Ukpabio, who claimed that he used to dream of working with the Anambra Motor Company (ANAMMCO), is currently an apprentice in a local motorcycle spare parts factory with branches in Enugu and Lagos. But he intends to start his own factory as soon as he completes his apprenticeship in July next year. According to him, he intends to establish a unique product line that would become the toast of the African continent. More importantly, Ukpabio intends to dwarf the many feats of Innocent Chukwuma, Managing Director (M.D), Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company Limited (IVM) and Cletus Ibeto, founder, Ibeto Group. That has to be some tall dream. Is it?
The next best thing
Chukwuma’s Nnewi-based IVM recently placed the nation’s manufacturing sector in the front burner of national discuss since the discovery of oil courtesy his foray into vehicle manufacturing. An, industrialist of note with investments in various sectors of the economy, the Innoson Group Chairman ventured from selling, and later importing, automotive replacement parts and motorcycles into local production of the products with plants in Nnewi.
Recently, he collaborated with Chinese manufacturers to establish a huge auto plant in Nnewi and in apparent realisation of his technological dreams, a member of the Group, Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company Limited (IVM) currently produces a wide range of commercial and utility vehicles for the Nigerian market and some countries in West Africa. Aside the engine, chassis and some basic components, most of the parts of IVM products are sourced locally and the vehicles built in Nnewi.
For instance, the body components were fabricated and stamped by Innoson, while a substantial level of the local content was sourced from among the many automotive parts companies in Nnewi.
And in apparent support of the manufacturing initiative, President Goodluck Jonathan recently commissioned IVM in a colourful ceremony that was remarkable for the nation’s manufacturing sector – automotive industry to be precise – because it was the first time in the history of the industry that an auto plant is built by a single local private investor.
Then, there is Cletus Ibeto, who started out as a spare parts importer, after spending some time as an apprentice in the motor parts business, a gradual step taken by many eastern traders. In March 1988, he stopped direct importation of lead acid automotive battery and plastic motor accessories after completing his factory in Nnewi. By 1995, The Ibeto Group had become one of the largest auto spare parts manufacturing outfits in the country and still occupies an enviable position till date.
Nnewi, in the beginning…
With a population of over 190,000 people, Nnewi, located about 50 kilometres Southeast of Onitsha, is identified with a long history of trade.
However, the economic development of the town started in the 1960s but became pronounced through trading activities in Nkwo-market place in 1970 after the Nigerian civil war. The growth of Nkwo-market is attributable to specialisation impact on trade in different aspects of auto pare parts. This developed into a gathering of similar trading merchants at Nkwo-market place. The basic effects of such congregation manifested in a vibrant culture of information-sharing, learning and rise of support institutions such as different banks on the one side, and network building on the other.
Trade networking is a predominant feature of the Nnewi cluster and it has been the mainstay of Nnewi entrepreneurs for decades which has seen the area controlling a huge portion of trade in transportation and automotive spare parts in the country noted Ogomma Callistus-Ifejianwa, 44, a doctoral degree hopeful at the prestigious European Tufts University. According to her, in the last 80 years, starting with importation from Europe and later from East Asia, Igbo traders of Nnewi origin had accumulated considerable experience and succeeded in forging linkages with partners in Asia.
Nnewinomics
A close analysis of an Nnewi trader, however, shows that management skills are acquired through both formal education and an endowment of talent and tradition.
True; The Nation findings revealed that very close family ties had been an important source of credit, and a novice starts out as an apprentice trader, learns the ropes, and is started out with some capital. Outsiders are kept out completely and the new apprentice is soon exposed to international partners. In the manufacturing stage, there is evidence of shared facilities, and informal provision of capital through family ties continues, while manufacturing subcontracting has begun to thrive. This is not surprising for two reasons adduced by local technicians and entrepreneurs.
First, independent scientific and technological infrastructure such as foundry, forge shops and testing facilities that promote subcontracting, are largely absent. Second and as a result of the first reason, most factories were established to be self-sufficient in terms of core production, the provision of ancillary facilities, and basic utilities, since investment and plant design. Greater subcontracting may evolve over time when production processes begin to demand greater specialisation, and as the market demands higher quality products.
In each branch of motor spare parts began an evolutionary process in network development; ranging from formation of social grouping, trading norms, trading rules to cooperation. Control system was developed based on sanctions in the distribution system in order to maintain positive competition as well as competitive position in every branch of motor spare parts.
However, until the 1980s, motor spare parts sold in the country generally came either from the “original” manufacturer (Peugeot, Mercedes, etc.) or were counterfeit copies made in Taiwan. However, early in that decade, a number of factories sprang up in the eastern region of Nigeria, particularly in the town of Nnewi, whose large Nkwo market for used and new motor spare parts had grown into one of the largest in the country, with offshoots in many other towns and cities across Nigeria. By 2004, there were more than 17 modern, large and medium-sized factories in Nnewi, using imported technology and producing a wide variety of spare parts for automobiles, trucks, and motorcycles.
Together with engineering firms and machine shops, a number of aluminium foundries, and 68 smaller, less formal factories also producing spare parts, these businesses employed some 8000 to 9000 persons. Some of these factories exported to neighbouring countries in West Africa, the Middle East and even Europe. One advertised in the Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire phone directory.
The manufacturing boom attracted attention both within and outside Nigeria and contacts between Nnewi traders and their Chinese counterparts in Taiwan proved the major catalyst to industrialisation. Spare parts for the Nnewi market network were imported primarily from Europe at first, but by the 1960s, Asian distributors began to frequent the Nkwo market, offering to produce copies of the European “original” brand name parts.
The first Asian firms were Japanese, but they were rapidly supplanted by Chinese traders from Taiwan. Over time, Nnewi motor parts traders arranged to have their own brand name products made in Taiwan. During the 1970s, many Nigerian traders travelled to Asia to meet with their suppliers, and were thus exposed to the industrial dynamism of the Asian newly industrialised countries, as well as the many small and medium firms still operating in Taiwan. Nnewi traders used their contacts with the Chinese in Nigeria to locate distributors and producers in Asia, with whom they could trade, and later, from whom they could purchase machinery and technical assistance.
Without those contacts, the transition to manufacturing might not have happened. The contacts between the Nnewi manufacturers and the Chinese traders and the manufacturers in Taiwan and elsewhere primarily enabled the diffusion of information and technical knowledge as reflective in the case of Nkama.
The Nation
The networks of contacts established during years of trade eased the Nnewi entrepreneurs’ task of gathering information about production. One manufacturer who had imported many lines of spare parts made in Taiwan, solicited bids for machinery from a number of Chinese firms in Taiwan with whom he had grown familiar. In other cases, the Nnewi entrepreneurs asked for recommendations from their Chinese networks for technical advisers to install the factories and train local people. Some companies, such as a producer of melded plastic components, sent groups of workers to Shenzhen and elsewhere in Asia for on-the-job training in Chinese factories.
Others used their contacts with trading companies to identify Chinese manufacturers who were ready to sell used equipment, such as Madubuchi Emenike, a 48-year-old widower and oil filter manufacturer who purchased the entire plant of his Singapore supplier.
Auto spare parts do not receive much protection from the Nigerian government, unlike textile manufacturers who have operated under a nearly complete ban on imports. The average tariff on auto parts was reduced to approximately five percent in the trade liberalization of the country’s Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) in the early 1990s. Even with local manufacturing firms close by, the Nkwo market in Nnewi continued to host visits from Asian traders who offered to copy “original” spare parts in their home factories, increasingly located in China’s special economic zones.
Branded counterfeit parts or those that are close copies but made in China, sell at very competitive prices. For example, in 2006, spark plugs made in China, counterfeit copies of those made by Toyota or the American firm Motorcraft, sold at N55 compared with N220 for the original.
Chinese branded parts intended to compete with the original manufacturer were also sold at prices less than half the original: China’s “Super Filter” sold for N200, while the original “Bolus” or “Dorian” oil filter sold for N550. Local manufacturers have accused these Asian exporters of “dumping” when they are able to consistently offer products at prices lower than the Nigerians can match.
The Nnewi cluster of automobile parts manufacturers in Nigeria has also exhibited the capacity to undertake technology adaptations, to design new products and processes and to bring them quickly to market as reflective in the IVM initiative. Most of them have the design capability to modify products and adapt the production process to the local market. They are a typical example of how firms located in an informal cluster with virtually no infrastructure have been able to grow, to export informally and upgrade, grouping together and setting up common utilities.
However, the major cost concept that was acknowledged by the traders in their journey towards self-determination was the “transaction costs.” Reducing the costs of information about the market, contract negotiations and enforcement with the distributors has been found to be very effective through an efficient distributive network system.
Comfort Maduebuka, 50, a financial consultant and importer of automotive spare parts, pointed out that the success in this form of marketing strategy motivated the traders to venture into actual production in Nnewi.
On the other hand, Idrisu Dingwa, an economist and SME financial consultant, argued that the Nnewi cluster development “is a case of gains from externalities. The factors responsible for efficient performance or best practices by one entrepreneur can spread easily in a cluster of specialised and similar entrepreneurs.”
Dingwa could not be too far from the truth as further findings revealed that SMEs in the Nnewi cluster built and still operate albeit informally, a learning network geared to improve their productivity through sharing of tools, pooling of financial resources to augment cost of transporting raw materials, and information. Manufacturers in the cluster also collaborate in sharing common services germane to their businesses and production efforts as it has been discovered to reduce transaction costs.
The usual headaches
In Nnewi, every manufacturer generates his own electricity, water supply and employs as well as pays security, constructs the road that leads into or adjoins the one leading to his factory. Asides the power supply crisis and policy-related headaches, Nkama, like fellow manufacturers, is disturbed about the persistent state of insecurity in the region. According to him, frequent reports of kidnap and violence targeted at business and political rivals neither attract fresh off-shore and local investments, nor are they encouraging to operators of existing industries.
Nkama recalled a gruesome experience of March 17, 2007, when two Chinese and a Nigerian taking part in the construction of IVM assembly plant were kidnapped at the site in Nnewi.
To exploit a goldmine
Incentives should be made in order to motivate the growth of SME clusters in Nnewi and other parts of the country suggested Callistus-Ifejianwa. According to her, opening new market opportunities and dismantling the various trade barriers that affects SMEs development negatively is also imperative in amassing the gains of the current wave of globalisation of the world economy.
“In this context, policies should be directed on overall production efficiency of the SMEs. This will in turn lower costs at the same time increase the purchasing power of the consumers, when the prices are reduced. Besides reducing costs, increasing the efficiency will also position the SMEs in the nation’s various clusters to compete effectively in an open economy. The efficiency gained in local market will project them as well towards an export oriented production system and possibly help to integrate them effectively into the global economy,” she said.
On the other hand, Dingwa advocated the institution of policies geared to support of technical education and training in the South-East region and across the federation. In this context, besides providing technical training for middle level manpower in the nation’s productive sectors, a vibrant training scheme should be instituted and expanded to cover the grassroots level. This will help to strengthen the effectiveness of the lower skilled workers in the region, he said.
Practical as the suggestions may seem, the institution and sustenance of such measures requires enormous funding as it requires adequate research funding, implementation of technical agreements, outsourcing, purchase of needed equipment and capacity building. These requires the intervention of international multilateral finance institutions and industrial development organisation such as the United Nations International Development Organisation (UNIDO) in funding and supporting the development of core industry that will stimulate SMEs upgrading through value chain in the region.
Furthermore, incentives that tend to stimulate foreign direct investment in Nigeria need to be pursued. Such incentives include the stability of macroeconomic variables and none-discrimination in investment opportunities. And in order to restore confidence in Nigerian economic transactions, effective legal institution is important because contract relations can only be maintained and opportunistic behaviours can as well be reduced when the laws governing economic transactions are effective and stable said Obaseyi Akinbusola, 34, a lawyer.
And that is as hearty as the recommendations get. To ambitious manufacturers like Nkama, their dreams are of more simple dispositions: That the “Government endeavours to provide among other necessities, stable electricity supply, good road networks, soft loans and a dependable security network”. It needn’t hurt to provide all that, should it?
findings revealed that most of the traders who established factories between 1983 and 1996 for instance, continued to maintain their trading business and distribution networks in Nigeria, and simply added their new brands to existing lines that they continued to import from Taiwan and elsewhere in Asia.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
LAST week we brought you the beginning of a three part series of the brewing and simmering disagreements in the Nigerian and Ghanaian Movie Industries. The war erupted when the Ghanian government enacted laws to the effect that any foreigner seeking to shoot a movie or work in Ghana must pay a fine of a hundred thousand dollars and film producers a sum of two hundred and fifty dollars. Following the enactment of that law, five Nigerian producers working in Ghana at the time were arrested by the Ghanaian Police and made to pay the agreed sums before finishing their films. A couple of other producers who were about to start work had to escape the country. The actions which was a climax of soured relations that had been gradually building to the boiling point, finally exploded as Nigerian movie practitioners reacted.
We started off with Dr. Victor Olatoye’s interview on the issue and in this follow up we tried to trace the root of the problem. It seemed the acrimony stemmed from the fact that some producers in Ghana had felt that Nigeria was in complete dominance of the movie Industry in Africa. With even Ghanaian movies being tagged as movies from Nollywood. The said Ghanaian producers went ahead to Christian their industry Ghallywood and on the 12th of January the Ghallygold was set up to honour hard working actors, producers, director, writers, technical crew and all involved in the Ghanaian movie industry was officially launched at the Coconut Grove Regency Hotel in Accra. The absence of Nollywood Actors and practitioners was very evident at the glamorous event as invitations were not extended to them. This was a move that rankled with Nollywood insiders as they felt slighted being that they had built up Ghanaian actors some who had won awards and been honored at events organized in Nigeria. Because of this Nigerian actors and some producers decided to start boycotting Ghanaian actors up to the point where some of them like Mike Majid who had become a force de’ majuere’ in Nollywood started receiving death threats and had to flee the country.
We also lent that some Ghanaian actors felt piqued that there Nigerian counterparts were being paid better than they were while others felt that Nollywood Producers were not professional enough.
The combination of all these factors led to a pressure group from the Ghana Actors Guild agitating that the government should do something about the encroachment of Nollywood into Ghana. Which led to the laws being enacted. Right now the situation is so bad that even the name (Ghallywood) which has wood might likely be changed so that it will not have any semblance to Nollywood. “What is the difference between Ghallywood and Nollywood? Why do we always want to be like someone else? We should learn to be original. What is this Ghally Ghally thing about? And must there always be a WOOD somewhere?†says Ghanaian movie producer Yaw Oppong. A list of Nollywood actor Emeka Enyiocha who had been off the scene for a while because of what has been termed the take over of Ghana said.
Emeka Enyiocha “I think the Ghanaians have made a big mistake. What is there population and how many films can they produce in a year. This whole problem is a problem of greed. Somebody somewhere thinks that Nigerians are making too much money so they want to cash in. they think that by starting their own industry they will become as big as Nollywood overnight. What they are forgetting is that it took years for Nollywood to get to where it is and there is no magic they can do to become as big. it is like Nollywood thinking that it can become Hollywood overnight. Asides from that I have heard that some of their major actors like Van Vicker, and Nadia are kicking against the move because this is where they get paid the big money. No producer in Ghana can pay them what Nigerian producers are paying them. It is a game of lets sit down and watch. Let’s just hope that the Nigerian Producers who dumped Nigerian artistes in favor Ghanaian artistes have learnt their lessons because what is not yours is not yours. Nigeria has always been better than Ghana anyway.â€
Chidi Nwokoabia “This is an eye opener. I have heard that the Actors Guild of Nigeria is planning to issue a statement and retaliate the humiliation we have suffered. If they do that then they would have reinforced the perception of immaturity which had been there all the while. The actors in Ghana have not done anything wrong neither has the government, anywhere in the world that you go to work you must obtain permission and pay certain dues. This is done to protect the territorial, intellectual and artistic rights of the practitioners in those industries. These are the things that were not done in Nollywood from the beginning because our government always felt that our Industry was for loafers and drop outs. Okay, now it has caught up with us and everybody is shouting. What we should do is thank the Ghanaian who I think are better organized for the lessons they have thought us and go back and quietly reorganize ourselves.â€
When we contacted the President of the actors guild of Nigerian Segun Arinze on the official position of the Guild he told us that all the guild heads would meet on Thursday and come out with a position and a statement on the matter. For now no concrete position has been taken by both the guilds and the government agencies entrusted with running the movie Industry in Nigeria.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
A Zimbabwean man has been killed by a pride of lions while having a shower in a safari camp near the Zambezi River, a conservationist group has said.
It happened last Friday afternoon, but details of the attack in the Mana Pools National Park are still emerging.
Johnny Rodrigues of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force blamed a spate of wild animal killings on poaching.
“Usually you hardly hear of anything like this, but these animals are being traumatised,” he told BBC News.
Peter Evershed was on a fishing trip in the remote Mana Pools area with three people, including his brother-in-law, when he was attacked.
“These fishing camps don’t have security fences, but that’s why people go there – and you go there at your own risk because it’s a wildlife area and they’re trying to keep it as natural as possible,” Mr Rodrigues said.
Eight villagers were attacked by lions earlier in the year – but 200km to 300km (125 to 185 miles) further down the river, he said.
Last month, a South African tourist was killed by an elephant who attacked him as he approached a houseboat on Lake Kariba.
“There’s been a lot of snaring and shooting of animals in the area so it’s upset the animals,” he said.
‘Hogwash’
He dismissed reports that lions were being lured into camps with meat by tour operators
“You’re going into a wildlife area, you should be aware that it is risky but no hunter or anybody entices lions to come near the camps – that’s a lot of hogwash.”
Zimbabwe’s wildlife has been severely affected by the country’s economic decline over the last decade as people turn to poaching and illegal hunting for food.
“When there is no food, people resort to snaring the wildlife,” Mr Rodrigues said.
The coalition government that came to power 20 months ago with the promise of turning around the economy has not eased the situation, nor has tourism picked up, he said.
“We don’t have the tourists – if we had the tourists it would actually work.”
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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