Archivo etiqueta «Nigeria»
Por Ike Okonta, analista político y escritor radicado en Abuja, es actualmente miembro del Instituto de la Sociedad Abierta, en Nueva York. Traducido del inglés por Carlos Manzano (Project Syndicate, 01/02/12):
El Presidente de Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, que fue elegido hace sólo ocho meses, ya está inmerso en un mar de problemas. El 1 de enero, las celebraciones del Año Nuevo quedaron abruptamente interrumpidas cuando los nigerianos se enteraron, al despertar, de que se había suprimido la subvención estatal de la gasolina. Los pobres del país se apresuraron a salir a las calles, ya irritados porque su corrupto e … Seguir leyendo
By John Campbell, a senior fellow for Africa policy studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and a former U.S. ambassador to Nigeria. He is the author of Nigeria: Dancing on the Brink (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 26/01/12):
Boko Haram’s bloody weekend attacks in Nigeria’s most important Islamic city, Kano, following unrelated countrywide protests over the end of a decades-old fuel subsidy underscore the fact that business as usual is no longer good enough. Only genuine reform of Nigeria’s political economy can pull it back from the brink.
By partly reinstating the fuel subsidy, coupled with alleged payoffs to … Seguir leyendo
By Chika Unigwe, an Afro-Belgian writer of Nigerian origin (THE GUARDIAN, 22/01/12):
This week, still reeling from Friday’s bloody bombings on the northern city of Kano, Nigeria braces itself for more violence ahead. The bulk of the casualties in the attacks on churches belonged to the Igbo people, and this has already led to retaliatory attacks in parts of south-eastern Nigeria. An Igbo group, Ogbunigwe Ndigbo, gave all northern Muslims in the region two weeks to leave or face their wrath. In Lokpanta, where my mother is from, the Muslim Hausa community – which settled there … Seguir leyendo
By Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the author, most recently, of The Thing Around Your Neck, a collection of short stories (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 17/01/12):
On New Year’s Day, in my ancestral hometown of Abba in Anambra State in eastern Nigeria, my family and I woke up to unbelievable news: the price of petrol had doubled. Overnight, the government had removed what it called the subsidy on fuel, and almost immediately, transport fares exploded and food prices rose astronomically. It used to cost 4,000 naira — about $25 — to fill my petrol tank. Then it cost 10,000 … Seguir leyendo
By Jeffrey D. Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and author of The Price of Civilization (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 11/01/12):
Tensions are running high in the streets here, days after the removal of gasoline subsidies at the start of the year and two weeks after horrific Christmas Day bombings of several churches around the country by Islamist radicals.
Yet the government of President Goodluck Jonathan is steering through these hazards, giving Nigeria a chance to cast off the instability, poverty and corruption that have long plagued this country. And Nigeria’s powerful governors, for the moment, … Seguir leyendo
By Owoye Andrew Azazi, national security adviser to Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan (THE WASHINGTON TIMES, 04/01/12):
Terrorists from Nigeria have again turned the joyful celebrations of Christmas into a D-Day for premeditated mass murder. This year, extremists slaughtered worshippers in a church during Christmas services near the Nigerian capital and elsewhere in the country.
America is at risk for this type of violence. Two Christmases ago, a militant from my country – the infamous Underwear Bomber – tried to blow up an American jetliner over Detroit.
Nigeria welcomes the White House’s rapid Christmas Day declaration of support against the … Seguir leyendo
By Jean Herskovits, a professor of history at the State University of New York, Purchase, who has written on Nigerian politics since 1970 (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 03/01/12):
Goverments and newspapers around the world attributed the horrific Christmas Day bombings of churches in Nigeria to “Boko Haram” — a shadowy group that is routinely described as an extremist Islamist organization based in the northeast corner of Nigeria. Indeed, since the May inauguration of President Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian from the Niger Delta in the country’s south, Boko Haram has been blamed for virtually every outbreak of violence in Nigeria.… Seguir leyendo
Por Ike Okonta, escritor, analista político de Abuja e investigador miembro del Instituto Sociedad Abierta de Nueva York. Traducido del inglés por David Meléndez Tormen (Project Syndicate, 06/10/11):
Abuja, la bullente nueva capital de Nigeria, es una ciudad sitiada. En agosto, Boko Haram, una secta musulmana oscura y violenta surgida en el noreste del país hizo estallar una bomba en un edificio que alberga al personal de las Naciones Unidas en el centro de la ciudad, matando a 23 personas e hiriendo gravemente a 86. Fue el primer atentado suicida de Nigeria, y su audacia y ferocidad han sembrado … Seguir leyendo
By H. Odein Ajumogobia, minister of foreign affairs of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (THE WASHINGTON TIMES, 06/06/11):
My country has just completed three rounds of federal and state elections that have been regarded by most Nigerians and acknowledged by the international community as the most free and fair in our history.
This is a considerable accomplishment in a nation of some 150 million people who have experienced military rule and suffered a recurring history of doubtful elections in much of the 50 years since securing independence from Great Britain in 1960.
In May 2010, Goodluck Jonathan assumed full … Seguir leyendo
Por Ike Okonta, analista político y escritor radicado en Abuja. Actualmente es miembro del Open Society Institute de Nueva York. Traducido del inglés por Carlos Manzano (Project Syndicate, 01/06/11):
A los nigerianos les gusta el teatro político, en particular si es estridente, pintoresco y tiene un reparto con abundancia de personajes “buenos” y “malos”. Semejante melodrama ha abundado desde noviembre de 2009, cuando un enfermo Presidente Umaru Yar’Adua fue trasladado por vía aérea al extranjero para recibir tratamiento hasta justo después de las recién concluidas elecciones generales, las cuartas desde el fin del gobierno militar en 1999. Según los … Seguir leyendo
By Jeffrey D. Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 30/05/11):
Visiting Nigeria the week of President Goodluck Jonathan’s inauguration is a special privilege. This country of nearly 160 million people, about one in five of sub-Saharan Africa, is on to something historic. The people feel it. After a sometimes agonizing half-century since independence, Nigeria is on the verge of a takeoff.
In my conversations with President Jonathan — who took the oath of office on Sunday — and with government ministers, leading businesspeople and representatives of civil society groups, I felt a … Seguir leyendo
By John Campbell, a former U.S. ambassador to Nigeria, a senior fellow for Africa policy studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and author of Nigeria: Dancing on the Brink (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 03/05/11):
The just-concluded Nigerian elections are being hailed as the most credible since the restoration of civilian governance in 1999. International observers and governments have congratulated the Nigerian people on their conduct and Goodluck Jonathan on his presidential election. They have also expressed satisfaction that Nigeria is resuming its role as the beacon of democracy in Africa.
Not so fast.
The elections have polarized Nigeria … Seguir leyendo
By Dele Olojede, the publisher of the Nigerian newspaper NEXT and a former foreign editor of Newsday (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 22/04/11):
Last weekend, we trooped to the polls on street corners and under almond trees in this rough and ready city of 10 million to elect a new president. Everything seemed orderly and peaceful and oddly celebratory. This time, unusually, we even believed our votes would count.
The results that trickled in suggested that Goodluck Jonathan, who succeeded Umaru Yar’Adua upon his death in 2010, had been elected our president. And with that, we Nigerians quietly reached an … Seguir leyendo
Por Ike Okanta, analista político y escritor radicado en Abuja. Actualmente miembro del Open Society Institute. Traducido del inglés por Carlos Manzano (Project Syndicate, 13/04/11):
Las elecciones legislativas de Nigeria, a las que seguirán unos comicios presidenciales el 16 de abril, indican que el Partido Democrático Popular (PDP) gobernante ha perdido su dominio casi total de la política del país. De los cuatro principales partidos de oposición que presentaron candidatos para los 469 escaños parlamentarios disputados, el Congreso de Acción de Nigeria (CAN) obtuvo la mayor parte de los votos en el sudoeste del país y derribó a incondicionales … Seguir leyendo
By Chinua Achebe, a professor at Brown University and the author of Things Fall Apart (THE NEW YORK TIMES,16/01/11):
Africa has endured a tortured history of political instability and religious, racial and ethnic strife. In order to understand this bewildering, beautiful continent — and to grasp the complexity that is my home country, Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation — I think it is absolutely important that we examine the story of African people.
In my mind, there are two parts to the story of the African peoples … the rain beating us obviously goes back at least half a … Seguir leyendo