Breivik: Massacre that tore Norway’s serene environment

PAUL ARHEWE WITH AGENCY REPORTS 29/07/2011

The ambience in Norway; a tranquil and peaceful European country, was turned into a lugubrious one since last week Friday when Anders Behring Brevik ran amok.

The good looking murderer, first, explode a car bomb into a government building in Oslo killing eight people and injuring 26 others near the Prime Minister’s offices and other several government buildings. That bomb attack was a divertion for security forces to the real mayhem that was to come. Brevik, 23-year-old man, subsequently travelled to the island of Utoya where Norwegian Labour Party youth camp was been hosted and attacked participants using different weapons for 47 minutes to kill 68 people and injuring 66, mostly teenagers.

Two minutes after police landed, Breivik surrendered without resistance. Even more serious was the realization that despite his’s active political extremism, none of Norway’s intelligence services had taken notice of him. He was arrested on Utoya and is currently in police custody. Following his apprehension, Breivik was characterised by officials as being a right-wing extremist. The acting police chief, Sveinung Sponheim, said the suspect’s Internet postings “suggest that he has some political traits directed toward the right, and anti-Muslim views, but if that was a motivation for the actual act remains to be seen.”

Inauspicious time for introduction of Islamic banking

 

PAUL ARHEWE 22/07/2011 03:45:00

Again, the intention of Central Bank of Nigeria to introduce the much talked about Islamic banking, into our financial system have showed how sensitive issues with the coating of religion attract public interest in this clime.

From the interpretations given by the Governor of Central Bank, Mallam Lamido Sanusi, Islamic Banking system has some merits that would surely benefit our society to reduce inflation. Maybe there is a truism in this, especially the inherent mercantilist and capitalist bourgeois financial system we have where profit amassment is a prime criterion for measuring success.

Two factors are responsible for the manner in which some Nigerians, especially those from the Christian folks are reacting to its introduction.

First, the introduction of Islamic banking amid the high rate of terror onslaughts in some parts of the country from the Islamic sect, Boko Haram, makes the timing wrong. In the last few years we have all been witnesses to some fanatical religious clashes in parts of northern Nigeria where many families have lost their loved ones, properties and are rendered homeless.

Many churches and mosques were burnt down, even before the emergence of the dreadful sect. The deadly onslaughts from the Al-Qaeda- like sect have heightened the level of extremism and fanaticism in the country. Moreover, the fashion in which Boko Haram executes its mayhems, with the claim that it is protecting the Islamic faith would really becloud any good associated with the Islamic banking system for the country. The situation is made worse with the recent report that Boko Haram has started attacking some commercial banks in parts of northern Nigeria.

Time for BRF to call his boys to order

PAUL ARHEWE

It is baffling that it is only in countries like ours that policies are implemented without recourse to setting up standby measures to alleviate the suffering of those to be affected in the adopted action-plan.

On many occasions, one sees market shanties destroyed, roadside traders chased around, houses demolished, in cosmopolitan cities in the name of modernising and attaining a mega metropolitan status. The poor and hapless downtrodden in society are most times affected by some of these government policies. What complicates issues is when no alternative is readily provided before implementing those action plans. A scenario I witnessed at Leventis bus stop in Marina, Lagos state last week makes me to ponder, and I asked myself “Why are the already traumatised people in our society sometimes at the receiving end of government’s browbeating in the name of policy implementation?”

Last week, on my way to office, I saw some men and women scampering recklessly into the ever-busy CMS express road with their wares in their hands. Wondering what must have prompted this dangerous action, I curiously walked closer and saw officials of the Central Business District (CBD) of Lagos state and LASTMA running after traders confiscating their wares. Some of those whose wares were seized gazed, looking miserable, most of them shedding tears. One could see the anxiety and hapless situation these young men are relegated to; as if the whole world has suddenly crumbled on them.

Laws to restrict heavy-duty trucks please!

Paul Arhewe
07/07/2011

According to statistics recently released by the World Health Organisation (WHO) Nigeria is named as the 191 out of 192 countries in the world with unsafe roads. The death rate from road traffic accidents for our country is pegged at 162 per 100,000 populations. The above statistics reflects the many deadly accidents witnessed in Nigeria, especially in densely populated states like Lagos.

What makes the situation intolerable is that if laws are enacted to restrict heavy-duty trucks like trailers and tankers from plying busy roads during day time, many of these deadly accidents could be prevented. The rate at which these long vehicles fall and cause accidents when they are on motion is on the high side, especially as the rainy season has left majority of expressways covered with flood. The many potholes in our roads, some as deep as those trenches dug by combatant troops during the civil war, have made matter worse; causing accidents in a rapid sequence.

Jean Ping: A defender of AU’s original combat spirit

 By PAUL ARHEWE

He has an appearance that resembles people from the Asian race, but his not too light complexion, that shows he is a half-caste, indicates that African blood runs in his veins. These attributes reflect the parental bloodline of the current Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union, Jean Ping. Ping is the son of a Chinese trader, Cheng Zhiping of Wenzhou descent and his mother is a Gabonese.

He was born in Omboue, Etimbwe Department, Ogooue-Maritime Province in November 24, 1942. Ping began his diplomatic career in 1972 when he was appointed at UNESCO in its Sector for External Relations and Cooperation as an international civil servant. In 1978, he became advisor to the Gabonese embassy in France, and he subsequently became Gabon’s Permanent Delegate to UNESCO, in which position he served until 1984. He became Director of the Civil Cabinet of the President of Gabon, Omar Bongo, in 1984, serving in that position until 1990 He extended his career by taking ministerial portfolio in February 26, 1990 when he was appointed as Minister of Information, Posts and Telecommunications, Tourism and Recreation, and Reform of the Parastatal Sector, in charge of relations with Parliament, as well as Gabonese Government Spokesman. He served in that position for two months before becoming Minister of Mines, Energy, and Hydraulic Resources on April 29, 1990.