Below is a brief narrative on how the occupy kano protest began, what happened during the protest, and what we are doing in sustaining it to monday when the grand of all protest will be staged across the country.
THE BACKGROUND:
Sequel to the various news paper reports that PPPRA have formally announced fuel price hike from N65 to N144 resulting from the devilish and satanic fuel subsidy removal policy of Nigeria's Jonathan led FG, and also the report that kano SG supported the policy, and perhaps the subsequent adjustment of the prices by all the metropolitan filling stations including NNPC mega stations to the said price, the student union govts of the 16th higher institutions of learning across the state resolved to mobilized students and people from civil society to protest against the policy.
PROTESTANTS PROFILE:
The protestants are mostly students including those from secondary schools, members of civil society, and even lecturers from BUK and other higher institutions of learning.
OUR RESOLVED:
We all agreed to demonstrate peacefully and also to continue to sensitize whoever join the protest to behave peacefully. We used microphone to do that.
THE PROTEST:
It started last monday 1st of Jan along BUK road but police men prevent us from moving along the street. We later decided to meet the following day - tuesday, at gidan murtala so that we can move to the govt house kano.
DAY 2 OF THE PROTEST:
We met at gidan murtala and started moving to KNSG government house but were stopped from advancing beyond silver jubilee round about by a significant number of police men and vigilante holding guns and tear gases blocking the road with their vehicles. As a result, we resolved to remain there till FG and the state govt reverses their satanic policy. We then called the place liberation square.
We remained at the liberation square chanting anti subsidy removal songs and delivering lectures aimed at sensitizing our fellow protestants on the need for a peaceful protest.
ATTACK ON THE PROTESTANTS:
While some of us were sleeping on the road, others were doing night prayers at about 1:35 pm, the security personnels started shooting tear gas at the protestants and the vigilante were busy beating people with the aim of disrupting our peaceful protest. In response, the protestants also threw back the tear shot to them by the police. The face off lasted till about 3:30pm with many people injured, students vehicles destroyed, and an un confirmed report of the death of one of the protestant (I wasn't able to confirm coz I had to run away too).
THE ASUU INTERVENTION:
The academic staff union of nigerian universities decided to re mobilize students and CSOs for another peaceful protest to the office of kano state commissioner of police to express their dissatisfaction over what happened at the liberation square, and also to ask the police to repair the damaged vehicles, and released the arrested protestants. They informed him of the need to investigate over a report of the death of one of the protestants as a result of the attack, and that unless subsidy is removed, they will continue with their protest.
In response, the police commissioner assured them that the commission will repair the damaged vehicle and will released the arrested protestants. An investigation will also be done.
GESTURE FROM THE PUBLIC:
A lot of people from the public have made voluntary donations by providing breads, pure water and fuel to the protestants.
NLC SECRETARIAT:
After seeing the police commissioner, we march to the NLC secretarial to attend the planning meeting of the grand of all protest come monday. At the meeting, ASUU, NLC, NAKSS, SUGs, CSOs, and several other NLC affiliates were in attendants. Several committees were set up ahead of monday protest, and a motion was tabled on the need of continuing with our protest each day up to monday. The house unanimously approved it and NLC secretarial was also agreed to be the occupy kano secretarial.
NEXT STEP:
We are meeting today after juma'at mosque by 3pm at the NLC secretarial for continuation of the protest. We hope to continue meeting at NLC for the protest up to monday.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
EARLY MARRIAGE AND THE STATE OF ADOLESCENT GIRLS IN KANO STATE
EARLY MARRIAGE AND THE STATE OF ADOLESCENT GIRLS IN KANO STATE, NIGERIA
Introduction:
Let me begin by briefly introducing ancient city of Kano to you because probably this is the first time some of you came in contact with the name. It is located in the north-western part of Nigeria, and perhaps it is one of the thirty six states that made up present contemporary federal political Nigeria. Going by the 2006 population census, Kano is adjudge to be the most populace state with about ten million inhabitants, majority of which are youth, and Hausa/Fulani people constitute the major tribes that made up the state. Socially and economically, the inhabitants of Kano mostly engaged in commercial activities which made it to be called “center of commerce”.
My decision to write on early marriage in Kano, is due to the fact that high proportion of adolescent girls are being married before their eighteenth years of age, with many of them being forced not only to accept their partners (husbands), but also to leave their various schools, which I see as an encroachment upon their fundamental human rights, and if this trend will be allowed to continue, majority of them will be married in the same way. It is the objective of this paper to draw upon my little knowledge and experience, as a young person from Kano, the dangers of early and forced marriage as it affects the lives of my peers in the state, so as to provide some action steps for policy makers and other relevant stake holders in order to stop the trend.
Definition of Key Terms:
For the purpose of this discussion, I intend to define the following key terms as follows:
Ø Early Marriage: Any marriage of adolescent girls that are below eighteenth years of age.
Ø Forced Marriage: Any marriage that is not in accordance with the consent of the parties involved. In other words, any marriage that did not take in to cognizance the right of the parties involved to choose their partners without any external pressure or influence.
Ø Adolescent Girls: Young Girls who fall within the age bracket of tenth to seventeenth years of age.
Early Marriage and Adolescent Girls in Kano
On a general note, it is important to note that Marriage is a social institution that is found in any society, and it is the institution that has the legitimate right to provide for the formal union of a man and a woman by which they became husband and wife. In fact, it is a moment of celebration because it signals a milestone in adult life. Though the way and manner through which the institution of marriage is established differ from one society to another, this is due to differences in terms of cultural, traditional and even religious ways of lives of their people. Perhaps, in spite of these differences, they share some responsibilities in terms of reproduction, socialization, and even economic activities. Though, there is generally no specific age at which a girl should be married, and while in some countries the age is increasing, in others particularly those of the developing world, the age is slow. As a result, various international human rights documents provided the norms to be applied in marriage particularly on issues of age, consent and equality within marriage. Such instruments include for example article 16 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) of 1948, which states that:
1) Men and women of full age… have the right to marry and found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and its dissolution.
2) Marriage shall be entered in to only with the free and full consent of the intending parties.
Other instruments such as Convention for the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and African charter on the rights of the child, also reiterated the same position. In fact, African charter prohibits child marriage and instead suggested that legislation should be done to make the minimum age for marriage to be eighteenth years of age.
At this juncture, let me share the experience of a lady who, while at her 16th years of age, got married recently to a man who is at his 40s, so that we can have a clear picture on what made most parents in Kano to give their daughters out for marriage at their younger age below eighteenth. When the man first contacted the lady, she rejected him, he then decided to inform her mother about his intention and what her daughter said to him, the mother assured him of her corporation and insists that she is a girl that is why she responded to him that way. When the mother talked to her daughter to accept the man, the lady turn the offer down and insists that her education is her only priority. The mother responded to her by saying that “…ba kya ganin ya na da halin da zai iya kula mun da ke, ko kin fiso in barki haka kiyi ta yawon gantali a gari akan gidan mijinki” – don’t you see that he is a business man and he can take a good care of you for me, or do you want me to allow you to be going round the street just like that instead of you being in your husband’s home. The lady still didn’t accept the offer and insists on the pursuance of her education, but the mother decided to go ahead with her plan.
Though, the mother of the lady is not living with her daughter’s father because they have since separated, but when he was informed about the issue, he encourage the mother of the lady to go ahead with the plan of getting their daughter married to the man, even though is not in accordance with her interest. After getting the marriage, she had to run back from her newly husband’s home but they still take her back and insists that she must stay or she should find another place to live, and her dream of getting admission in to a diploma program became a forgone issue. Also worthy to note, is the experience of a lady I knew who got married to an eighteenth year old boy when she was thirteenth, and she never attended any formal school and has a child, and was divorce when she was seventeenth. Ladies and Gentlemen, how do you expect this lady to survive after all she doesn’t have education not to even talk of having access to any income generating skills? Perhaps, this is a clear picture of the kind of roles most parents think they should be playing in giving their daughters out for marriage at their younger age, and the most unfortunate aspect of it, is that, most of them tend to see their daughters as burden which they can no longer bear and instead will decided to get them married not minding the risks associated with it. Some of them also believe that it will protect them against unwanted pregnancy outside marriage, HIV/AIDS, and other Sexually Transmitted Infections.
More over, some of the dangers associated with early marriage, based on my experience, include the possibility of contracting HIV/AIDS and other Sexually Transmitted Infections, because some of these girls have no knowledge of HIV at all and they are being married to the men who are older and more experienced than them. Ladies and Gentle men, it is also important to note that by marrying adolescent girls at their younger age, their bodies have not fully developed and there fore stand a chance of experiencing complication during pregnancy which can lead to maternal and child death. Other dangers include that of exclusion in virtually every sphere of activity, this is because some of these girls have limited educational attainment and doesn’t have economic empowerment skills to earn a living which is contributing to the current on going circle of poverty.
Perhaps, it is important at this juncture to note the contribution of some NGOs such as Advocacy Nigeria – a network of volunteer advocates of which I am one of them, who have been working in six states of northern Nigeria including Kano, purposely to change laws and policies in order to promote the provision of reproductive health services and increase public funds devoted to reproductive health. In doing so, we are working with state legislative arm, ministries of health, justice, and that of women and of youth to achieve our aim of ensuring that healthy mothers have healthy babies and raise healthy children. Also worthy to note, is Adolescent Health and Information Project (AHIP), who have been working to sensitize young adolescent girls and boys to understand their sexuality, and to also empower them with income generating activities in order to live a healthy life. In fact, I am a beneficiary of this training because I was trained as a peer health educator in AHIP, and many youth like me are still being trained.
Some action steps:
Below are some steps which I think can be useful in trying to reverse the trend:
Ø From the part of the policy makers, Family Life Education should be incorporated in to our school curriculum, and adolescent school attendance should be encouraged by lifting the payment of school fees.
Ø Policy makers and NGOs should strengthen their partnerships with the media in order to create more awareness holistically so as to reorient the entire society on the dangers of early marriage and also the importance of girl child education.
Ø We should also dedicate international days for women for a massive campaign to end early and forced marriage.
Ø They should also as a matter of urgency, concentrate more on economic empowerment trainings for those adolescent girls that were divorced out of marriage through vocational trainings, so that they can earn a living.
Ø And lastly, Policy makers should look at NGOs as partners in development not enemies of progress.
Finally, if our dream is to ensure a just and egalitarian society, a free and democratic society, a great and dynamic economy, a just and healthy life for women must be taken as a priority by both the policy makers and other relevant stake holders, because early and forced marriage is a threat to adolescent girls’ rights to existence and right to choose their partners as enshrined in most international human right documents.
NURA IRO MAAJI
A VOLUNTEER ADVOCATE WITH ADVOCACY NIGERIA.
http://www.nuramaaji.blogspot.com/
nuramaaji@gmail.com
+2648032601697
Introduction:
Let me begin by briefly introducing ancient city of Kano to you because probably this is the first time some of you came in contact with the name. It is located in the north-western part of Nigeria, and perhaps it is one of the thirty six states that made up present contemporary federal political Nigeria. Going by the 2006 population census, Kano is adjudge to be the most populace state with about ten million inhabitants, majority of which are youth, and Hausa/Fulani people constitute the major tribes that made up the state. Socially and economically, the inhabitants of Kano mostly engaged in commercial activities which made it to be called “center of commerce”.
My decision to write on early marriage in Kano, is due to the fact that high proportion of adolescent girls are being married before their eighteenth years of age, with many of them being forced not only to accept their partners (husbands), but also to leave their various schools, which I see as an encroachment upon their fundamental human rights, and if this trend will be allowed to continue, majority of them will be married in the same way. It is the objective of this paper to draw upon my little knowledge and experience, as a young person from Kano, the dangers of early and forced marriage as it affects the lives of my peers in the state, so as to provide some action steps for policy makers and other relevant stake holders in order to stop the trend.
Definition of Key Terms:
For the purpose of this discussion, I intend to define the following key terms as follows:
Ø Early Marriage: Any marriage of adolescent girls that are below eighteenth years of age.
Ø Forced Marriage: Any marriage that is not in accordance with the consent of the parties involved. In other words, any marriage that did not take in to cognizance the right of the parties involved to choose their partners without any external pressure or influence.
Ø Adolescent Girls: Young Girls who fall within the age bracket of tenth to seventeenth years of age.
Early Marriage and Adolescent Girls in Kano
On a general note, it is important to note that Marriage is a social institution that is found in any society, and it is the institution that has the legitimate right to provide for the formal union of a man and a woman by which they became husband and wife. In fact, it is a moment of celebration because it signals a milestone in adult life. Though the way and manner through which the institution of marriage is established differ from one society to another, this is due to differences in terms of cultural, traditional and even religious ways of lives of their people. Perhaps, in spite of these differences, they share some responsibilities in terms of reproduction, socialization, and even economic activities. Though, there is generally no specific age at which a girl should be married, and while in some countries the age is increasing, in others particularly those of the developing world, the age is slow. As a result, various international human rights documents provided the norms to be applied in marriage particularly on issues of age, consent and equality within marriage. Such instruments include for example article 16 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) of 1948, which states that:
1) Men and women of full age… have the right to marry and found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and its dissolution.
2) Marriage shall be entered in to only with the free and full consent of the intending parties.
Other instruments such as Convention for the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and African charter on the rights of the child, also reiterated the same position. In fact, African charter prohibits child marriage and instead suggested that legislation should be done to make the minimum age for marriage to be eighteenth years of age.
At this juncture, let me share the experience of a lady who, while at her 16th years of age, got married recently to a man who is at his 40s, so that we can have a clear picture on what made most parents in Kano to give their daughters out for marriage at their younger age below eighteenth. When the man first contacted the lady, she rejected him, he then decided to inform her mother about his intention and what her daughter said to him, the mother assured him of her corporation and insists that she is a girl that is why she responded to him that way. When the mother talked to her daughter to accept the man, the lady turn the offer down and insists that her education is her only priority. The mother responded to her by saying that “…ba kya ganin ya na da halin da zai iya kula mun da ke, ko kin fiso in barki haka kiyi ta yawon gantali a gari akan gidan mijinki” – don’t you see that he is a business man and he can take a good care of you for me, or do you want me to allow you to be going round the street just like that instead of you being in your husband’s home. The lady still didn’t accept the offer and insists on the pursuance of her education, but the mother decided to go ahead with her plan.
Though, the mother of the lady is not living with her daughter’s father because they have since separated, but when he was informed about the issue, he encourage the mother of the lady to go ahead with the plan of getting their daughter married to the man, even though is not in accordance with her interest. After getting the marriage, she had to run back from her newly husband’s home but they still take her back and insists that she must stay or she should find another place to live, and her dream of getting admission in to a diploma program became a forgone issue. Also worthy to note, is the experience of a lady I knew who got married to an eighteenth year old boy when she was thirteenth, and she never attended any formal school and has a child, and was divorce when she was seventeenth. Ladies and Gentlemen, how do you expect this lady to survive after all she doesn’t have education not to even talk of having access to any income generating skills? Perhaps, this is a clear picture of the kind of roles most parents think they should be playing in giving their daughters out for marriage at their younger age, and the most unfortunate aspect of it, is that, most of them tend to see their daughters as burden which they can no longer bear and instead will decided to get them married not minding the risks associated with it. Some of them also believe that it will protect them against unwanted pregnancy outside marriage, HIV/AIDS, and other Sexually Transmitted Infections.
More over, some of the dangers associated with early marriage, based on my experience, include the possibility of contracting HIV/AIDS and other Sexually Transmitted Infections, because some of these girls have no knowledge of HIV at all and they are being married to the men who are older and more experienced than them. Ladies and Gentle men, it is also important to note that by marrying adolescent girls at their younger age, their bodies have not fully developed and there fore stand a chance of experiencing complication during pregnancy which can lead to maternal and child death. Other dangers include that of exclusion in virtually every sphere of activity, this is because some of these girls have limited educational attainment and doesn’t have economic empowerment skills to earn a living which is contributing to the current on going circle of poverty.
Perhaps, it is important at this juncture to note the contribution of some NGOs such as Advocacy Nigeria – a network of volunteer advocates of which I am one of them, who have been working in six states of northern Nigeria including Kano, purposely to change laws and policies in order to promote the provision of reproductive health services and increase public funds devoted to reproductive health. In doing so, we are working with state legislative arm, ministries of health, justice, and that of women and of youth to achieve our aim of ensuring that healthy mothers have healthy babies and raise healthy children. Also worthy to note, is Adolescent Health and Information Project (AHIP), who have been working to sensitize young adolescent girls and boys to understand their sexuality, and to also empower them with income generating activities in order to live a healthy life. In fact, I am a beneficiary of this training because I was trained as a peer health educator in AHIP, and many youth like me are still being trained.
Some action steps:
Below are some steps which I think can be useful in trying to reverse the trend:
Ø From the part of the policy makers, Family Life Education should be incorporated in to our school curriculum, and adolescent school attendance should be encouraged by lifting the payment of school fees.
Ø Policy makers and NGOs should strengthen their partnerships with the media in order to create more awareness holistically so as to reorient the entire society on the dangers of early marriage and also the importance of girl child education.
Ø We should also dedicate international days for women for a massive campaign to end early and forced marriage.
Ø They should also as a matter of urgency, concentrate more on economic empowerment trainings for those adolescent girls that were divorced out of marriage through vocational trainings, so that they can earn a living.
Ø And lastly, Policy makers should look at NGOs as partners in development not enemies of progress.
Finally, if our dream is to ensure a just and egalitarian society, a free and democratic society, a great and dynamic economy, a just and healthy life for women must be taken as a priority by both the policy makers and other relevant stake holders, because early and forced marriage is a threat to adolescent girls’ rights to existence and right to choose their partners as enshrined in most international human right documents.
NURA IRO MAAJI
A VOLUNTEER ADVOCATE WITH ADVOCACY NIGERIA.
http://www.nuramaaji.blogspot.com/
nuramaaji@gmail.com
+2648032601697
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Yola: letter of death as Student gives HIV to 124 including Lecturers !
Yola: letter of death as Student gives HIV to 124 including Lecturers !
Outrage and amazement are some of the emotions currently on display in Yola, Adamawa State, after the startling revelation contained in a letter addressed to a radio station in the state capital, Radio Gotel, by a lady who claimed to be an undergraduate of the Federal University of Technology Yola (FUTY).The lady, in the letter which was sent to the producer of the programme, "Heart to Heart", said she contracted the Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV) from her student boyfriend and has, in revenge, willfully slept with some 124 students and lecturers at the school.The letter also contained the writer's threat to make public the names of those who have had sex with her "on the notice board." This has led to panic and spirited discussions among the male population in Yola, especially within the school community. The school's authorities, however, claim to be unaware of the letter, but promised to look into it.The letter reads, in part: "I have a well-documented report of all those guys and lecturers who crossed my path, since I got infected with this deadly disease in the campus. So far, I have had 124 students and lecturers; out of these, only six (6) used condoms".On a revenge missionContinuing, she said in the letter, "I owe nobody an apology and am still on a spreading till I spread it no more."The writer, who did not hide the trauma and disappointment she faced, explained in the letter that her first impulse upon the discovery of her HIV status was to take away her own life."I, however, did not confide my status to anyone until today (i.e the disclosure via the letter)," she said. "Since 2006, I promised myself that it's in the university I got it and here I will leave it. I have indeed lived to keep my promise."I was in year three when a student on his attachment in our school proposed for a relationship. He had all the qualities a woman would want in a man so I gave in. He told me all a girl would want to hear. In my innocence and naivety, I succumbed to his pressure to have sex with him. Consequently, I lost my virginity to him."After his placement, he reported for his final year and we still had contacts. I visited him on a number of occasions, I have even lost count the number of times I visited him. He was my first and only love and, therefore, hanged on every word he told me."My boyfriend later graduated and we lost contact until last month when his sister told me about his whereabouts. Before registration in the faculty of science, I went for medical test as is the requirement. I then opted for an HIV/AIDS test, which unfortunately turned out to be positive."It then dawned on me that I have traded the rest of my life for a university student who had deliberately and intentionally preyed on my innocence".
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Child Trafficking
CHILD TRAFFICKING
One of the most pressing issues of concern that is currently disturbing our contemporary globalize world, is the issue of child trafficking. Perhaps, In a study conducted by the United Nation’s Children Emergency Funds (UNICEF), it argued that about one million and three hundred thousand children are being trafficked annually, also in a separate survey conducted by the united state’s department in 2004, found out that an estimated six hundred to eight hundred thousand children are being trafficked yearly.
Further more, the first internationally agreed upon definition of child trafficking is embodied in united nation’s protocol to prevent, suppress, and furnish trafficking in persons, especially children, supplementing the UN convention against transnational organized crime (2000), as follows:
The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of persons by of the threat or use of force or other means of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payment or benefits top achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. The exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slave, servitude or the removal of organs.
In a different conception, though with the same meaning, child trafficking refers to any act or transaction where by a child is transferred by any person or group of persons to another for remuneration or any other consideration. This refers to the process that puts children in a situation of commercial exploitation as its practicable now in most countries of the world especially African countries. There are different of child trafficking which include child labor, child slavery, child prostitution and pornography, children used in armed conflict, children used for crime and also domestic child servant.
More over, if we take children in armed conflict for example, we will come to understand that it means the involvement of children as combatants or supporting workers in armed conflict, whether by government forces or rebel forces, whether recruited forcibly or voluntarily. Article 3(a) of the international labor convention 182 includes specifically the case of “forced or compulsory recruitment of children for used in armed conflict,” and Article 3(d) which covers “work which, by its nature or circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children” would include the broader case of children used in armed conflict, as such work can universally be seen as likely to harm the safety of the children. This is reinforced by article one of the optional protocol to the convention on the rights of the child on involvement of children in armed conflict, which requires states to take all feasible measures to ensure that members of their armed forces who have not attained eighteen years of age do not take a direct part in hostilities.
Besides, children who have voluntarily joined government forces that are presently involved in hostilities may not strictly be considered part of this category, but information about them has been included to give a broad picture of the situation.
In Nigeria for example, in 2003, the government passed the child rights Acts which comprehensibly deals with child trafficking. Mean while, it also ratified the UN protocol to prevent, suppress and furnish trafficking persons, especially women and children in 2001, and passed a national law on trafficking in 2003 entitled “Trafficking in persons (prohibition) law enforcement and administration Act 2003.” Though Nigeria is one of the countries in the world that passed such law on trafficking, more still needed to be done in terms of its enforcement because available are showing that hundreds of thousands of children are being trafficked yearly, with an estimation of one million, eight hundred thousand of them are vulnerable to trafficking, out of which 80% of them are girls below the age of eighteen years.
As a matter of urgency, all hands must be on deck for us to reverse the trend. However, we must acknowledge the efforts of international donor agencies and international non governmental organizations, and also our own domestic non governmental organizations, in their attempt towards reversing the menace of child trafficking. Governments the world over and most particularly Nigerian government, should as a matter of urgency deploy more resources, commitment and political will that adequately help in ending child trafficking. One key important thing that we have to understand is that, any society that failed to place the issues of children as their priority, that society will have no future at all.
LONG LIVE WORLD CHILDREN!!!
Ibrahim Mohammed Ma'aji
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Perspective on Sexual Health and Right
MY Perspective on Sexual Rights and Health
Let me start by sharing with you the real life experience of a female friend of mine who once married. She told me that her unforgettable day was the day her former husband approached her and requested to have sex with her, she declined because she said to him, she was not feeling fine. The husband did not agree with her and decided to tear the cloth she wore and forced her to sex. It was only in the morning she said, after he had finished satisfying himself, he realized she was not well after touching her body and found the body was hot. To that morning, she reported him to his parents but they said to her it’s a normal thing because that is how she can adapt herself as a NEWLY married woman.
Furthermore, Then she later decided to report him to her parents that she was no longer interested in the marriage and her parents after consulting with their son in-law’s parents decided to disengage the marriage. She was in tears when she was telling me the story, and she said to me she does not even want to see any of her former husband’s relatives, she also said to me that she is afraid of getting married to another man because she doesn’t want to experience the same thing which happened to her. After learning from her experience and the subsequent experiences learnt particularly among the participants of National Youth Consultation on Feminism held last year here in Abuja, Nigeria. I decided to stay back to critically and clinically look at the issues of sexual rights and health as it mostly affects the life of girls and women in our society (Nigeria).
Generally, I view rights as indispensable to human existence because they are what human beings requires or entitle to have in order for them to earn a live meaningfully. They include rights such as right to sustainable livelihood, quality basic services such as health, education and also right to be heard and also have identity. These rights are universal, in alienable and indivisible to all human born or alive irrespective of gender, religion, etc. I personally view these rights as indispensable because without them, human beings will live a life that I prefer to term as “empty life” with no purpose of being in existence as human being.
Moreover, my own understanding and at the same time conception of what sexual rights and health is, based on the above experiences, is having a satisfying and safe sex life that is free of violence, discrimination and without hindrance to relationships based on equality, respect and justice, and also have control over and decide freely and responsibly on matters related to your sexuality. These rights should include right to bodily integrity, choose to be sexually activity or not, to have sexual relations that are consensual, right not to be pressured into sexual activity, to get married to one’s own free will, and also rights to information, access to contraception, birth control, fertility regulation, abstinence by informed choices, and prevention and treatment of STI’s including HIV/AIDS.
Conclusively therefore, sexual rights and health are very indispensable to human existence born or alive. These rights should be re-emphasized and humans should be allowed to enjoy them, failure to do these will turn our society to be lawless or even anarchical and by extension morally unstable.
NURA IRO MA’AJI
PROGRAMME MANAGER
GENDER, DEMOCRACY AND GOVERNANCE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIETY FOR YOUTH AWARENESS AND HEALTH DEVELOPMENT, KANO, NIGERIA WITH SUPPORT FROM IWHC USA AND GPI NIGERIA
+2348025699001
nuramaaji2000@yahoo.co.uk
Being a paper presented at the 3rd african conference on “sexual rights and health” held in international conference centre, abuja, nigeria.
Let me start by sharing with you the real life experience of a female friend of mine who once married. She told me that her unforgettable day was the day her former husband approached her and requested to have sex with her, she declined because she said to him, she was not feeling fine. The husband did not agree with her and decided to tear the cloth she wore and forced her to sex. It was only in the morning she said, after he had finished satisfying himself, he realized she was not well after touching her body and found the body was hot. To that morning, she reported him to his parents but they said to her it’s a normal thing because that is how she can adapt herself as a NEWLY married woman.
Furthermore, Then she later decided to report him to her parents that she was no longer interested in the marriage and her parents after consulting with their son in-law’s parents decided to disengage the marriage. She was in tears when she was telling me the story, and she said to me she does not even want to see any of her former husband’s relatives, she also said to me that she is afraid of getting married to another man because she doesn’t want to experience the same thing which happened to her. After learning from her experience and the subsequent experiences learnt particularly among the participants of National Youth Consultation on Feminism held last year here in Abuja, Nigeria. I decided to stay back to critically and clinically look at the issues of sexual rights and health as it mostly affects the life of girls and women in our society (Nigeria).
Generally, I view rights as indispensable to human existence because they are what human beings requires or entitle to have in order for them to earn a live meaningfully. They include rights such as right to sustainable livelihood, quality basic services such as health, education and also right to be heard and also have identity. These rights are universal, in alienable and indivisible to all human born or alive irrespective of gender, religion, etc. I personally view these rights as indispensable because without them, human beings will live a life that I prefer to term as “empty life” with no purpose of being in existence as human being.
Moreover, my own understanding and at the same time conception of what sexual rights and health is, based on the above experiences, is having a satisfying and safe sex life that is free of violence, discrimination and without hindrance to relationships based on equality, respect and justice, and also have control over and decide freely and responsibly on matters related to your sexuality. These rights should include right to bodily integrity, choose to be sexually activity or not, to have sexual relations that are consensual, right not to be pressured into sexual activity, to get married to one’s own free will, and also rights to information, access to contraception, birth control, fertility regulation, abstinence by informed choices, and prevention and treatment of STI’s including HIV/AIDS.
Conclusively therefore, sexual rights and health are very indispensable to human existence born or alive. These rights should be re-emphasized and humans should be allowed to enjoy them, failure to do these will turn our society to be lawless or even anarchical and by extension morally unstable.
NURA IRO MA’AJI
PROGRAMME MANAGER
GENDER, DEMOCRACY AND GOVERNANCE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIETY FOR YOUTH AWARENESS AND HEALTH DEVELOPMENT, KANO, NIGERIA WITH SUPPORT FROM IWHC USA AND GPI NIGERIA
+2348025699001
nuramaaji2000@yahoo.co.uk
Being a paper presented at the 3rd african conference on “sexual rights and health” held in international conference centre, abuja, nigeria.
Perspective on Open Letter Turai Yar'aduwa
Dear Nura,
What sickens me most is that both Prof. Akunyili and Mrs Yar'adua don't seem to have an alternative source to corroborate their careless statement(s). They have not shown any factual cause to defend their careless assertions. I am disturbed that the highly respected Prof. will associate herself with such an unscientific way of determining data.
They should be more concern in addressing the problem irrespective of whether we are doing badly down below or not. No mother should die giving birth... it is absolutely unacceptable. Mrs Yaradua and Prof should face the very hard reality and make the issue as important as the so called RE-BRANDING of Dear Nigeria or what ever they choose to call it. How can they re -brand Nigeria when they cannot do a simple scientific and credible research on the issue of maternal health.
Yes Nigeria is at the bottom end, it is ranking second lowest after the Democratic Republic of Congo and yes the UNICEF says so, SAVE THE CHILDREN says so, Yes PATHFINDER says so, Yes WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION says so, Yes WORLD POPULATION LIST says so and so many other credible organisations are saying and will continue to say so. More over the Nigerian people see these deaths happening every day. I am not surprised Mrs Yar'adua is saying so because her daughters may never see a Nigerian hospital when they are having their babies.... lucky Nigerians they are!
Dear Nura lets ask them to give us their own version of a credible data assuming they have one!
Sincerely,
Sa'ida Sa’ad 08037876939
What sickens me most is that both Prof. Akunyili and Mrs Yar'adua don't seem to have an alternative source to corroborate their careless statement(s). They have not shown any factual cause to defend their careless assertions. I am disturbed that the highly respected Prof. will associate herself with such an unscientific way of determining data.
They should be more concern in addressing the problem irrespective of whether we are doing badly down below or not. No mother should die giving birth... it is absolutely unacceptable. Mrs Yaradua and Prof should face the very hard reality and make the issue as important as the so called RE-BRANDING of Dear Nigeria or what ever they choose to call it. How can they re -brand Nigeria when they cannot do a simple scientific and credible research on the issue of maternal health.
Yes Nigeria is at the bottom end, it is ranking second lowest after the Democratic Republic of Congo and yes the UNICEF says so, SAVE THE CHILDREN says so, Yes PATHFINDER says so, Yes WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION says so, Yes WORLD POPULATION LIST says so and so many other credible organisations are saying and will continue to say so. More over the Nigerian people see these deaths happening every day. I am not surprised Mrs Yar'adua is saying so because her daughters may never see a Nigerian hospital when they are having their babies.... lucky Nigerians they are!
Dear Nura lets ask them to give us their own version of a credible data assuming they have one!
Sincerely,
Sa'ida Sa’ad 08037876939
Thursday, February 19, 2009
LETTER TO TURAI YAR'ADUA
LETTER TO HER EXCELLENCY FIRST LADY HAJIYA TURAI YAR’ADUA
Your Excellency, I find it necessary to write this short letter to you, in response to the comment you made, as reported by Ruby Rabius of daily trust newspaper of January 18th 2009, concerning the 2009 report of United Nations International Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF), on the state of the world children, which estimated that out of 5.6 million babies born in Nigeria, one million of them die annually before the age of five years. The report also said Nigeria’s national mortality ratio is 800 per 100, 000 live births, resulting in 47, 000 maternal deaths annually, “and indicating that every woman who dies of maternal causes, at least, six newborns die and four babies are still born”. Your Excellency, you categorically argued that the report “is not factual and does not reflect the true situation in the country, and therefore could not be true in the face of numerous interventions by government and other partners to reduce the alarming rate”. Your Excellency, while every Nigerian enjoys the freedom to express his or her opinion on the report, ordinary Nigerians like me are not convinced by your argument and have some comments and suggestions to offer. While I agree with you that Federal government, your self as a first lady, a select few other state governments, and development partners, and in addition, other NGOs across Nigeria, are making efforts towards the reduction of maternal and infant mortality in the country, a lot still needs to be done because most of the government health programs ended up in the cities rather than reaching out to the people at the grass root. Your Excellency, UNICEF’s report should be seen as an opportunity to re double your effort to all part of the country.
Your Excellency, are you aware of the fact that, other studies conducted by other International Humanitarian organizations also support UNICEF’s position? For Example, in 2008, Save the Children, a US-based International organization also assert that one million under-5 children die annually in Nigeria. Your Excellency, with do you respect, if you said you will not accept UNICEF’s report, what about world development indicators that was released by world bank in 2008 which shows that poverty, as its directly linked to maternal and infant mortality, is widely spread in Nigeria, with about 70% of the population living on less than 1 dollar per day? With do you respect Your Excellency, If not of the likes of donor agencies, international NGOs, Individual philanthropists, and numerous other NGOs across Nigeria, the situation would have deteriorated more than what UNICEF reported, and by looking at some past happenings in the ministry of health which led to the resignation of the then minister of health Prof. Adenike Grange, is a clear manifestation of the kind of mismanagement and other corrupt practices that has been going on in the ministry. It is also even more unfortunate to say that the performance of 2008 budget was between 40 – 45%, which is not even up to 50%.
Your Excellency, as a Development worker, and a mother to us all, and at this stage of our national live, we cannot stay dwelling on whether to accept UNICEF’s report or not, the reality is, this things are real we cannot closed our eyes and say they are not. Let us engage UNICEF and many other donor agencies to continue to help change the situation, and we need to use a more holistic collaborative approach on the issue, and it has to be done in all the three tears of government. In doing so, all the three tears should collaborate with the donor agencies, International NGOs, domestic NGOs and various other community based organizations so as to reach people at the grass root. To our wealthy Individuals, I say, its time to look up to people like Bill Gate, who came all the way from USA to make his own contribution purposely to ensure the eradication of polio in Nigeria, and start changing lives. I thank you very much your Excellency for your time, and look forward for answers to my questions. May God continue to guide all of us.
Your Excellency, I find it necessary to write this short letter to you, in response to the comment you made, as reported by Ruby Rabius of daily trust newspaper of January 18th 2009, concerning the 2009 report of United Nations International Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF), on the state of the world children, which estimated that out of 5.6 million babies born in Nigeria, one million of them die annually before the age of five years. The report also said Nigeria’s national mortality ratio is 800 per 100, 000 live births, resulting in 47, 000 maternal deaths annually, “and indicating that every woman who dies of maternal causes, at least, six newborns die and four babies are still born”. Your Excellency, you categorically argued that the report “is not factual and does not reflect the true situation in the country, and therefore could not be true in the face of numerous interventions by government and other partners to reduce the alarming rate”. Your Excellency, while every Nigerian enjoys the freedom to express his or her opinion on the report, ordinary Nigerians like me are not convinced by your argument and have some comments and suggestions to offer. While I agree with you that Federal government, your self as a first lady, a select few other state governments, and development partners, and in addition, other NGOs across Nigeria, are making efforts towards the reduction of maternal and infant mortality in the country, a lot still needs to be done because most of the government health programs ended up in the cities rather than reaching out to the people at the grass root. Your Excellency, UNICEF’s report should be seen as an opportunity to re double your effort to all part of the country.
Your Excellency, are you aware of the fact that, other studies conducted by other International Humanitarian organizations also support UNICEF’s position? For Example, in 2008, Save the Children, a US-based International organization also assert that one million under-5 children die annually in Nigeria. Your Excellency, with do you respect, if you said you will not accept UNICEF’s report, what about world development indicators that was released by world bank in 2008 which shows that poverty, as its directly linked to maternal and infant mortality, is widely spread in Nigeria, with about 70% of the population living on less than 1 dollar per day? With do you respect Your Excellency, If not of the likes of donor agencies, international NGOs, Individual philanthropists, and numerous other NGOs across Nigeria, the situation would have deteriorated more than what UNICEF reported, and by looking at some past happenings in the ministry of health which led to the resignation of the then minister of health Prof. Adenike Grange, is a clear manifestation of the kind of mismanagement and other corrupt practices that has been going on in the ministry. It is also even more unfortunate to say that the performance of 2008 budget was between 40 – 45%, which is not even up to 50%.
Your Excellency, as a Development worker, and a mother to us all, and at this stage of our national live, we cannot stay dwelling on whether to accept UNICEF’s report or not, the reality is, this things are real we cannot closed our eyes and say they are not. Let us engage UNICEF and many other donor agencies to continue to help change the situation, and we need to use a more holistic collaborative approach on the issue, and it has to be done in all the three tears of government. In doing so, all the three tears should collaborate with the donor agencies, International NGOs, domestic NGOs and various other community based organizations so as to reach people at the grass root. To our wealthy Individuals, I say, its time to look up to people like Bill Gate, who came all the way from USA to make his own contribution purposely to ensure the eradication of polio in Nigeria, and start changing lives. I thank you very much your Excellency for your time, and look forward for answers to my questions. May God continue to guide all of us.
LONG LIVE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA
LONG LIVE WOMEN, YOUTH AND CHILDREN
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