People, Places and Events
GUINEA
Prime Minister's visit to Britain
The Prime Minister, Colonel Diara Traore, has returned home at the end of a mission to London, Belgrade and Bucharest.The Prime Minister led a delegation comprising the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Information. The aim of this visit was to explain clearly the new political, economic, social and cultural aims of the Military Committee for National Redress (CMRN) to everyone individuals, movements, government bodies that are friends of the people of Guinea - who would like to give real help and also to win their confidence in the new leadership.
Relations with Great Britain, which was one of the first countries to establish diplomatic relations with Guinea, were almost non-existent, because of the policies of the former regime in Guinea... During his meeting with his British counterpart, Mrs Margaret Thatcher, Col. Traore took the opportunity to define the aims and objectives of the recovery plan drawn up by the CMRN. Mrs Margarat Thatcher reaffirmed the readiness of her Government to help Guinea in its effort to rehabilitate the economy and other sectors. The Guinean delegation also held discussions with other British officials during which he defined the priority sectors in which the country wished for immediate British participation, particularly in the fields of education, professional training, agriculture, stockbreeding, urban development, transport and trade.
President's Ramadan message
In a Ramadan message, broadcast by Conakry radio President Conte has called on Guineans to be patient and to wait at least a year or two before judging the new government, the members of which were on probation. He said that any crticism should be constructive.In an interview with L'Homme Nouveau, a French Catholic newspaper, President Lansana Conte noted that the overall performance of the former administration was negative . . . He said in the field of agriculture, the people were forced to maintain so-called production levels and to accept compulsory requisitions of livestock under the guise of marketing and that this prompted the majority of the people at the borders and in inland towns to leave Guinea ... "As a result our agriculture which flourished before independence has greatly deteriorated during the past 26 years." In the field of industry apart from the mineral sector which somehow responded to the people's expectations, all the other projects were incapable of even paying back the loans granted to Guinea for their development. All our industrial enterprises operated at less than 20 per cent of their production capacity.
President Conte appealed to inter- national organisations to participate in Guinea's economic recovery effort. Confirming that officials of the former regime will be put on trial he said his administration was busy making some investigations precisely in order to avoid inflicting unde- served punishments on anyone.
Agricultural price increase
The Military Committee for National Redress (CMRN) have decided to increase prices of agricultural products. The official text, signed by the External Trade Minister, Capt. Mohamed Oumar Keba, said that the decree was the result of the will to fight for the economic emancipation of the Guinean producer.It had been a long time since there had been talk about the need for increasing the prices of agricultural products in Guinea. All the international financial organisations and all Guinea's friends had advised it, but the former regime had not cared about the continuing impoverishment of the people. Guinean producers and farmers would now receive what they deserved.
Compared with the prices paid by the defunct regime, the new prices showed the CMRN's desire to encourage the farmers to produce in terms of quantity and quality so that Guinea could achieve self-sufficiency in food as soon as possible and export enough products in order to be in a position operation. to import all the commodities and capital goods it needed, the statement concluded.
SIERRA LEONE
Release of prisoners
AFP has reported that 69 out of the 101 people held in connection with last November's disturbances near the border with Liberia had been released in Freetown. The other 32 had been charged with murder, robbery and other serious offences in connection with incidents in Pujehun district on the Liberian border.Meanwhile the Information and Broad- casting Minister had denied Amnesty International reports that 10 people had died in detention in Pujehun police station and Koidu, but admitted that two had died in Pujehun and three in Koidu since January and said it was not because of malnutrition.
BENIN
Exploitation of oilfields
The government is about to launch the second of the exploitation of the Seme oil field, facilitating the full exploitation of the reserves had already been confirmed. The oilfields in the northern and northeastern parts of the country can be extended and two new wells are going to be drilled. Some reserves of natural gas have been discovered in the oil fields.GHANA
Two new PNDC members
The PNDC (Provisional National Defence Council) has carried out the first series of its expansion programme by appointing two new members. They are Mr Justice J.S. Annan and Mrs Suzanna Alhassan. Mr Justice Annan has also been appointed chairman of the National Commission for Democracy.In his broadcast to the nation on March 6, the chairman of the PNDC, Flt-Lt. Jerry Rawlings, hinted at the need to broaden the composition of the PNDC. The appointments bring the total number of PNDC members back to the original seven.
New VALCO accord
A new agreement has been concluded with the Volta Aluminium Company (VALCO) providing for higher electricity payments and lower power consumption by the aluminium smelter at Tema.The deal was reached after negotiations lasting more than 13 months to change the master agreement for the VALCO However, the agreement cannot immediately restart operations at the 200,000 tonnes capacity smelter, which has been closed since last year because of drought which has reduced the level of the Akosombo dam below the minimum necessary to provide it with power. The earliest it could start up again, if the present good rains last, would be October. The main elements of the new deal are these:
Valco's "power ceiling" comes down from 370 mW to 315 mW, sufficient in normal years to run four rather than five potlines in the smelter. In part this reflects a downward revision of the hydrological assumptions, but the change also leaves the Volta River Authority (VRA) with an extra 13 percent of its capacity to sell to Ghanaian users or to export at prices three times as high as Valco's new power rate and nine times as high as the old one. In a good year that change could benefit VRA revenues by up to $25m.
The tolling fee - what the shareholders pay to have their alumina processed into aluminium in the smelter - goes up from 60 per cent to 68 per cent for the next three years, and will then be reviewed.
The base power rate will go up from 5.6 mills to 17 mills a kilowatt hour. The actual rate charged, however, will be altered by two factors. There is an escalation provision which links two-thirds of the power rate to the price of aluminium.
standard income tax will go up from 40 to 46 per cent. Interest withholding tax at 10 per cent and dividend withholding tax at 15 percent will apply, unless overridden by tax treaty provisions. However, the divid- end withholding tax will operate at the reduced rate of 5 percent on Valco's $121m of retained earnings.
The Government has accepted two seats on Valco's board. It was also offered 20 percent of the equity of Valco at book value. Since the book value is likely to decline for the next year or so, Ghana's reply was "not at present, thanks... but we'd like the option to be kept open".
Comment on impact of Dikko Affair
A commentary on radio Ghana has referred to developments following the kidnap attempt made on the former Nigerian Minister of Transport, Umaru Dikko and said what is happening between Nigeria and Britain over this kidnap attempt is bound to have a profound effect on future developments within the Commonwealth.Already a lot of angry words have been exchanged between Britain and Nigeria, but the present quarrel between these two Commonwealth countries is only one in the series of incidents that have bedevilled relations between Britain and Commonwealth Africa and it is likely to further harden attitudes in Africa. Africa is a region of the world that is currently battling against terrible odds and struggling for survival. Drought, bushfires and all kinds of natural disasters have taken their toll on the African economy. This is a time when every government in Africa wants peace of mind to plan a central attack on hunger, disease and other realities of life that have made survival a matter of struggle.
London has become the acknowledged headquarters for subversion of Africa by Africans. Any African who opposes his home government and is able to make it to London gets a ready welcome in Britain. Not only that, the necessary platform and facilities seem to be available to the dissi- dents to make verbal attacks on the rulers at home. The dissidents even threaten armed attacks on their home countries and boast openly of their determination to overthrow those who are ruling.
Umaru Dikko is on record as having threatened to use any means, including force, to overthrow the Nigerian Government. Joshua Nkomo, while in self-imposed exile in Britain was able to insult the person and Government of Mr Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe and get away with it. J.H. Mensah and his group of Ghanaian exiles use British facilities to threaten the government and people of Ghana with armed attacks.
Britain seems to be using the Umaru Dikko incident to bolster her attempt to check abuses of diplomatic privilege. But it may be argued that what is at stake is not the use of privilege by governments but rather the misuse of status of political asylum by the exiles to engage in activities detrimental to the interests of the home government.
Certainly, any abuse of diplomatic privilege must be condemned. But in many cases, it is Britain's refusal to extradite known criminals to face justice in their home countries which has led to the acts of seeming abuse of privilege.
Britain's attempt to change the Vienna Convention governing diplomatic privilege will get international support only if she will, at the same time, change the regulations governing the extradition of wanted criminals from Britain.
CAMEROON
Budget adopted
The 1984/85 budget has been adopted by the National Assembly. Priority has been given to education and national defence, which have received 61.476 billion CFA francs and 45.839 billion CFA francs respectively. Other allocations are as follows: Public health, 23.18 billion; services attached to the Presidency of the Republic, 21.162 billion; equipment 21.162 billion; finance 15.679 billion; territorial administration, 12.991 billion; agricultural, 11.746 billion. Others are Presidency of the Republic, 11.409 billion; youth and sports, 6.074 billion; justice, 6.324 billion; information and culture, 4.058 billion; higher education and scientific research, 3.933 billion; labour and social welfare, 1.735 billion; National Assembly, 2.877 billion; social affairs, 2.216 billion; and women's conditions, 175 million. Altogether, the 1984/85 budget amounts to 620 billion CFA francs.CHAD
Hissein Habre's contacts
Ndjamena radio has reported that Goshu Wolde, the Ethiopian Minister, had a three- hour meeting with the Chad Head of State. The Egyptian agency also reported that President Mubarak had received Hissein Habre in Cairo on 15 July and that the Presidents had met again privately for talks The following day, with delegations representing the two countries also meeting at the same time.Aid from European development fund
The European Fund has given the nation a grant-in-aid worth just over 3,000 million CFA francs. The grant is intended to help und the second phase of the irrigated crop cultivation scheme in Logone and Chair in the Far North province.The aim of the project is to irrigate some 1,600 ha of land which should grow about 8,500 t of cereals and vegetables over the next four years
Give peace a chance
In an interview with the Pan-African News Agency (PANA) the Nigerian Head of State, Maj-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari has appealed to Chadian leaders "to make sincere and honest efforts to give peace a chance". According to Maj-Gen. Buhari "it is only when Chadian leaders resolve genuinely and actively to seek peace through conciliation moves and the shunning of external intervention that peace can return to Chad".Justifying Nigeria's interest in the settle- ment of the Chadian crisis, the Nigerian Head of State revealed that he had "made representations to the OAU Chairman and talked to some of the parties to the conflict to attend the next peace meeting on Chad whenever it is convened by the OAU Chairman". General Buhari believes that the role of the Organisation of African Unity, or of any other African grouping, "must be to assist the Chadians to bring peace to their war-torn country by bringing the different factions together around a table", as Nigeria had done in the past.
Expressing his doubts as to the possibility of the OAU mounting another peace- keeping force, the Nigerian leader said that "if the OAU reimburses Nigeria the sum it is owed (55,000,000 naira about 72,000,000 dollars) as a result of the last peace-keeping effort, and makes adequate arrangements to maintain an African force on a peace-keeping mission, Nigeria may, as before, contribute troops to such a mission.
President Buhari argued that the Chadian conflict, now almost 20 years old, said. was "not a mathematical one, susceptible to an instant solution". President Habre's disenchantment towards the OAU, he said, was "probably due to the lack of noticeable progress towards a solution by all the interested parties, including the OAU."
NIGERIA
Aper Aku jailed 25 years
Mr Aper Aku, ex-Governor of Benue state has been sentenced to a total of 25 years imprisonment by the Lagos Zone of the Exchange Control and Anti-Sabotage Tribunal out of which he would serve 15 years.He is the second former chief executive to be jailed by the Foreign Exchange and Anti- Sabotage Tribunal after Chief Sam Mbakwe who had 10 years imprisonment from the tribunal last month.
Aper Aku was found guilty on two three- count charges of currency trafficking preferred against him before the Foreign Exchange Tribunal and acquitted on the third count.
He was also ordered to pay N204,000 and 10,000 pounds sterling to the purse of the Federal Military Government
Jailed journalists win award
Nduka Irabor and Tunde Thompson, two journalists jailed by the Decree 4 Tribunal, are the first winners of a Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) N2,500 award for courageous journalists.Mr Bola Adedoja, NUJ national presi- dent made this announcement at the premises of The Guardian which presenting a N1,000 cheque as the union's contribu- tion to the Thompson/Irabor solidarity fund.
He said the award, which is to become a yearly affair, presented every July 4, the date the journalists were jailed, would be made with two others to the best investiga- tive journalist which would attract N1,500 and to the best photo journalist which carries a N1,000 prize.
Detainees need medical treatment
The Lagos branch of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) after a meeting of its new executive council has appealed for detainees and prisoners to be given early access to medical treatment. The appeal was directed to both Minister of Internal Affairs, Brigadier M. Magoro and Inspector-General of Police, Mr EtimInyang. "We are of the view that any maltreat-ment of persons in the hands of law enforcement agents or denials of early access to medical treatment is detrimental to the image of the country," the association said.The medical body, apart from making suggestions, also declared that it stood ready "to help in any way possible, if called upon to do so."
Treatment of detainees
Political detainees in Enugu Prison are not to expect the best treatment because of the economic situation in the country.Also, Ordinary Prisoners should not grumble over any class treatment given to the detainees.
These views were expressed in an exclusive interview with National Concord by the State Controller of Prisons, Mr A.S.Omi.
He said that ordinary prisoners did not need to equate themselves with detained ex- governors or commissioners.
He said that there had not been any known grumbling among prisoners in the state, but added that, no matter the situation "we are up to the task."
Rise in oil production quota
Nigeria has won a slight but significant increase in her oil production quota, at the Ministerial Council of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Vienna, AustriaOPEC ministerial council authorised Nigeria to raise her oil quota which formerly stood at 1.3 billion barrels per day - to 1.4 million b/d in September, this year. The authorised increase represented half of Nigeria's request of an additional 300,000 b/d.
Military get pass mark from Buhari
Head of State, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari has awarded the present military administration a pass mark for the period it has been in office.Major-General Buhari was speaking at the sixth graduation ceremony of the Command and Staff College, Jaji, near Kaduna. He said he was "delighted to observe that most of our programmes have begun to yield fruits."
The administration's success, he also said, had been guided by the knowledge that only dynamic result-oriented policies and programmes could get the country out of the plague into which the ousted regime needlessly plunged it.
He said that the present administration remained irrevocably committed to the welfare of the people, especially members of the armed forces, the unfavourable economic situation notwithstanding.
Borders to remain closed
Maj-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari has said that the closure of the country's borders "is vital to the preservation of Nigeria's economic well-being", and that "they will therefore remain closed until suitable and satisfactory alternative arrangements are made to ensure that these vital interests are protected".General Buhari stated that "the borders were closed principally to consolidate the gains resulting from the currency exchange exercise". He considered that "the closure had very beneficial side-effects in that it has increased the availability in the market of essential commodities, and led to a reduction of their prices"
The Nigerian leader added that "one other benefit of the closure has been that it has reduced considerably the influx of aliens who not only place unacceptable pressures on the resources of Nigeria, but also create security problems".
With regard to the relationship between Nigeria and its neighbours, General Buhari revealed that "specific approval has been given for relief material for Chad", and that "consignments of petroleum products and other items purchased under regular trading arrangements have also been allowed through".
Launching of tree-planting campaign
This year's national tree planting exercise was also carried out in all the states of the Federation... General Buhari pointed out that the annual tree-planting ceremony demonstrated the determination of the Federal Military Government to avoid the drought caused by deforestation.He announced that the present Administration would launch a vigorous campaign to encourage people living in urban and rural areas to use gas, kerosene and coal for cooking.
IMF talks to continue
A top official of the Finance Ministry, Alhaji Abubakar Alhaji, has said that negotiations for a 3,000 million dollar loan from the IMF, started by the ousted civilian government, would continue.Nigeria, which is a member of the Fund, suspended talks with the IMF team on the loan in May. But the Finance Minister, Dr Onaolapo Soleye, who led a seven-man team to the US in May, stated that talks would resume at a date to be agreed upon by the two parties.
Relations with Cameroon
Chief of Staff, Supreme Military Headquarters, Brig. Tunde Idiagbon, has said in Lagos that the Government had set up a committee comprising ministers and top Government officials to look into the issue of border trading between Nigeria and its neighbours. Exchanging views with the Cameroonian Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Mohamman Lamini, who visited him, Brig. Idiagbon said that the report of the committee would help to minimise the problems of the people trading across the borders. He added that the report would lead to a new arrangement which would legitimise trading at the borders.On the illegal transportation of essential commodities to Cameroon, Brig. Idiagbon said that as "a big brother", Nigeria was ready to help its neighbours but that the Government would not tolerate a situation in which things meant for its people were diverted elsewhere. Brig. Idiagbon told the ambassador that if the two countries appreciated each other's internal problems and respected each other's laws, there would be no problem between them.
The Chief of Staff called for exchange of visits between students and organisations of Nigeria and those of Cameroon, pointing out that this would further strengthen the bond of friendship between the two countries.
On some of the problems facing diplomats in Nigeria as a result of the border closure, Brig. Idiagbon promised that the Government would look into them.
Earlier, the Ambassador, who is also the doyen of the diplomatic corps in Nigeria, had appealed to the Chief of Staff to look into the border closure as it affected members of the diplomatic corps and trading between Nigeria and Cameroon. He pointed to the efforts of the present limorian
Minister's advice to the Press
The Minister of Information, Social Development, Youth, Sports and Culture, Group Capt. Samson Emeke Omeruah, has said that the press should respond positively to leadership expectations at this period of the nation's economic recession. Group Capt. Omeruah made the remark in Lagos while commissioning a new printing machine of the Punch Group of news- papers. He remarked that it was unfortunate that the press had not seemed to take full recognisance of such leadership expec- tations. The Minister noted that the diversity of ownership, interest and leadership of newspapers had diverted the print media from reflecting on issues of grave national concern.Group Capt. Omeruah said it was sad that some newspapers failed to accord the due respect to issues of national interest and national security, and operated as though they were above the law. Group Capt. Omeruah stated that it was not only the machine that made a good newspaper, but the professional quality and high standard of responsibility displayed in the paper's editorial content.
To court on a stretcher
The Exchange Control (Anti-Sabotage) Tribunal, Lagos Zone, has revoked the bail granted to Mrs Ukpa Ewewewa Akinloye. Ukpa, wife of the wanted Chief Adisa Akinloye, former chairman of the banned National Party of Nigeria (NPN) is now to be remanded in police custody, from where she would be taken to the appropriate hospital, where specialists would attend to her.Ukpa, who was brought to the tribunal on a stretcher, with the help of seven people, including some policemen, was attended by a nurse throughout the proceeding.
Her appearance followed an earlier order by the tribunal that regardless of her state of health she must be produced in court.
Encouragement of food production
The Minister of National Planning, Chief Michael Adigun has said in Lagos that the Federal Military Government was deter- mined to boost local production of basic food items to enable it to phase out the importation of essential commodities.Speaking at a meeting of the Nigerian-American Chambers of Commerce, Chief Adigun said that small-scale farmers were being encouraged to group themselves into co-operative societies to have easier access to credit facilities.
The Minister also said that the Government was aware of the shortcomings of the present arrangements for the distribution of essential commodities, adding "there is no other way visible than to ration available food to reach all Nigerians."
