Nigerian News

Can Nigeria's police be reformed?

In the fifth and final part of a series of articles looking at policing in Nigeria, the BBC's Andrew Walker looks at the prediction for effective police improvement:

Everyone in Nigeria has experienced the failure of the police to carry out their duty to uphold the law - from the routine "dashing" money to officers at road checkpoints and failures to investigate crimes to horrifying tales of extortion and murder.

The litanies of crimes they commit fill pages of newspapers and reports from human rights organizations.

They put a microphone in front of people in a street, and they will say one thing: "It's not as bad as it used to be."

This BBC series has exposed first-hand how the police struggle against lack of skill, poor training and equipment.

How they arbitrarily arrest and imprison people and how "shockingly common" extra-judicial capital punishment’s are.

My Reflection:

I believe that we should help the police and security there in Nigeria by offering free training sessions to secure Nigeria.For those children to feel un-secure and un-safe is not healthy for a home environment. Kids are supposed to feel safe when they see a police men walking the streets but, it seems they flee and are scared. If we do not help them then this COULD POSSIBLY become a worldwide problem and come back and bite us. Also, I think that the U.S should be less greedy unless we are in the problem. I believe that Nigeria could be a happy, safe place to grow up if the U.S helps build it back together with it's beautiful surroundings.

Nigerian Culture! <3

Nigerian Culture

Nigeria's rich and varied cultural heritage draw’s from the mixture of its different ethnic groups with Arabic and western European cultural influences. Secret societies, such as Ekpo and Ekpe among the peoples of the southeast, were formerly used as a device of government.

Nigeria is one of the well-known countries for its famous painting’s and cultural pots. They describe ancestral paintings of animals, people and plants. They have a variety of colors from beige/tan to chocolate brown. Each color represents a different part in the environment. Some even paint with chalky mud found in the rich soil and river beds.

Music and dance are important to Nigerian culture
and each ethnic group has its own specialties. Regular instruments include various types of flutes, trumpets, musical bows, xylophones, and wooden clappers, as well as many varieties of drums. Music is used to celebrate rulers and to accompany public assemblies, weddings and funerals, festivals, and storytelling. Dance also has many varieties: it has Ishan stilt dancers in colorful costumes while they twist themselves in the air; while one Tiv dance, called ajo, features male dancers who work in pairs, and another involves teams of women who perform a dance called icough by composing songs about current events.

I love how Nigeria is so connected to its outdoor surrounding’s. I love the outdoors and I really wish that suburban areas, like Kansas and Missouri could be just as conservative of their environment.

The Walk

The Walk

I walk through the jungle with my back toward my town. I will not be returning, at least for a long time. I am on a hunt, to search for my family’s food. All I see and here are animals, plants and un-known and un-discovered areas. I am scared but, I know my duties. When I return my family will be proud, if I do not return, they will mourn. It is a decision I had to make.

As I walk I am worried about my little brother. He is suffering from an un-known disease that just reached my village. He is dying and my family is losing everything trying to save him. I hope while I am gone he doesn’t die.

I find this long, long road and follow it for a couple of days. As I walk I view sites I have never seen before in my small, dirty town. I see new animals, plants and people.

I stopped at an old women’s house one day t get a drink of water. She was nice and offered me a room in which I could stay and rest for a couple of days. I was tired, so I accepted the invite. Her food was delicious, with steamed green beans, some vegetable soup and some magnificent meat that melted away my taste buds. Her smile reminded me of my mother’s. She had a beautiful smile which she showed off almost every time she spoke.

After this I took a shower outside, the hot sun beating down on m e as the rushing, fresh, cold water dripped down my dark skin. I felt refreshed and replenished. I dressed into some new clothes and went to lie on some grass outside. My heart sank into my chest as I fell asleep in the sun.

The next morning as I woke up and went on my way, I said my thank you’s and my good bye’s. I killed different animals on a deep path covered in mud and walked on with them on my back. I finally reached the area toward my village. My parents ran out to greet me I dropped the kills and ran; as I ran my toes sank into the deep dark dirt, the sweat dripped down my face. I jumped into my parents arms and cried, as the tears fell I asked how my brother was, they smiled and said, “He is alive.”

Author's Favorite's

One of my favorite animals from this country is the commenly known; African Elephant!

This is a Mother African Elephant and her Baby. <3

After researching the African Elephant I have come to find that they are not aggresive, which to me is quiet surprising!

The major unit of elephant society is a stable, matriarchal family of cows and their calves. A typical family includes an average of 10 individuals, usually consisting of an older female, her dependent offspring, and her adult daughters with their immature offspring. Males are usually driven out of the family when they attain the age of breed, after which they remain solitary or temporarily congregate into bachelor herds. African elephant families are not territorial. In fact, they appear to have a social affinity for one another and can be found in larger groups of various sizes.

Here is an example of a "family" or "herd" of African Elephants! <3

I hope that you enjoyed learning a little bit about my favorite animal from Nigeria, Africa. I hopefully will post a new animal each week or so!

Geography on Nigeria!

Flag of Nigeria!

Location:
Western Africa bordering the Gulf of Guinea which is between Benin and Cameroon

Geographic coordinates:
10 00 N, 8 00 E

Map references:
Africa

Area:
total: 923,768 sq km land: 910,768 sq km water: 13,000 sq km

Area - comparative:
slightly more than twice the size of California


Land boundaries:
total: 4,047 km border to countries
Coastline:
853 km

Climate:
varies; rising tempature's in south, tropical in center, arid in north

Terrain:
Southern lowlands merge into central hills and plateaus; Mountains are in the southeast. Plains are in the north.

Nigeria has a GREAT variety of climate and natural resources. It has to offer great variety in rivers,and flat lands with animal and plant life. It offers relaxation and beautiful sight seeing.

Nigeria's Plant and Animal Life!

Some of the Most Common Animals in Africa (Nigeria):

Gorilla:

The gorilla is the largest primate, weighing as much as 275 kg (600 lb). Gorillas are forest associated animals. Most gorillas inhabit lowland tropical rainforests and highland rainforests. Goriallas are normally territorial and are very protectove when feeling threatened. The gorilla is found in two principal areas: equatorial West Africa and eastern Central Africa.Hunting and forest clearance for agriculture and timber are the main threats. African lowland and highland forests are rapidly being destroyed to make way for food production uses such as cropping and livestock grazing. In addition, gorillas are killed in return for crop-raiding. In Central Africa, logging and petroleum exploitations are becoming an increasingly high threat to the habitat of the gorilla. The internal trade in bushmeat, which occurs over much of the lowland gorillas' ranges, is now a threat. In recent years, human population pressures on the forest habitat of the Gorillas.

West African Manatee:

Manatees are large, cylindrically shaped mammals, with forelimbs shaped in to flippers, no free hindlimbs, and the rear of the body in the form of a flat, rounded, horizontal paddle. The flexible flippers are used for aiding motion over the bottom, scratching, and touching other manatees, and moving food into and cleaning the mouth. Its upper lip is a large bristly surface, which is deeply divided. It can move each side of the lips independently while feeding. The general coloration is gray. The West African Manatee is Endangered. It is endangered because of the result in boat recks, low water, and fishing.

Manatees are very peacful animals and won't put up a struggle unless feeling threatened.

The West African manatee weighs less than 500 kg! (1100 lb) Adults are generally 3 - 4 m (10 - 13') long. It live around coastal areas, lagoons and large rivers.

Wild Dog:

The wild dog weighs between 17 - 36 kg (37 - 79 lb). It is generally found in the plains and open woodland, although it has been found in a variety of other habitats from the Sahara Desert up into the lower forests of Mt. Kilimanjaro. For most of the year, wild dogs roam around over the plains and in the bush, usually not staying in the same place for more than a day. (Wow that is a lot of traaveling!) The Hunts take place in the morning and early evening. Prey is located by sight, approached silently, and then pursued at speeds of up to 41 mph for up to one hour. Pack members generally cooperate in hunting large mammals, but individuals sometimes hunt/chase hares, rodents, or other small animals. The daytime is spent sleeping, usually in the shade of a tree or near water, with members of the pack lying very close together. Once a year the pack occupies a den for 2 - 3 months, to host young. The den is usually an abandoned aardvark hole.

These are three of my favorite found to roam in and our of Nigeria, Africa. I hope that you all like these animals. If you have any other animals that you would like me to post I would surely do that!