Loomnie

1. Remember Responsibility to Protect? Discussed again by the Aid Watch blog.

2. From the Foreign Policy Passport blog, How Google and governments should manage Africa’s Internet boom.

3. What does the Human Terrain System have in common with Africa, BAe Systems and the Pentagon? The answer here.

4. While SEACOM was hitting East Africa, West Africa’s SAT 3 was running into trouble.

5. Documenting Africa’s Image, by Sci-Culturist

6. The Obama Doctrine and Africa, by Shlomo Ben-Ami

Akin writes about Human Terrain System:

In 2007 we learnt, the US military engaged anthropologists and sociologists in a programme called the Human Terrain System (HTS) for Iraq and Afghanistan in the two preceding years; this studies the complexities of human beings and their societies trying to appreciate how these communities work, how they make decisions, how they thrive and from a cynical if not sinister perspective how to infiltrate those communities in what is neatly called the battle of hearts and minds.

The connection between HTS, Africom and BAe Systems?

What makes this HTS curiously interesting is the Pentagon partly outsourced this activity to BAe Systems, the defence contractor and it really makes one wonder why engaging anthropologists and sociologists for a field study is not handled by some renowned academic faculty from the many world standard universities in the United States.

And:

The head of this facility is Colonel Dean Bland who says “We have no combat mission in Africa.” So we have nothing to fear only that people who have studied and understood what makes Africans tick and are privy to the secrets of our culture, our traditions, our languages and our communities can lay bare all this information to AFRICOM who can use the surge and embed lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan to infiltrate and assimilate without firing a gun shot.

Please visit his blog for the full post.

Last year I wrote this post about e-waste, toxins and cancer; today I read this editorial from the Daily Trust:

The World Customs Organization (WCO) recently expressed concern over the indiscriminate and incessant dumping of used electronic gadgets in Nigeria. The organization said that the gadgets emanated mostly from Europe and such products had been intercepted on several occasions at the Lagos seaport terminal.

The Secretary – General of the body, Mr. Kunio Mukuriya at a meeting of member-countries explained that a container load of the used gadgets was also intercepted in June, 2009 after a month – long vigil. The container, however, remained unclaimed. The organization had in collaboration with the Nigerian Customs Service seized about 30,000 tonnes and 1,500 pieces of hazardous waste in 57 interceptions. Nigeria is considered to be a major destination for used or second-hand appliances such as refrigerators, televisions screens; scrap metal and vehicle parts.

Nigeria, for a long time now, has been a dumping ground for all manner of used electronic gadgets. Unfortunately, even some Nigerians in Diaspora engage in this hazardous business. They see the trade as a business opportunity back home, which they exploit to the detriment of their fellow countrymen. This is an unhealthy practice, and the sooner the authorities put a stop to it, the better for the health of the country’s economy and the citizens. Nigerians, whether in or outside the country who trade in this illegal business should not in any way be considered patriotic citizens. Patriotism demands that we should be concerned with the possible ill effects our actions to our fellow citizens and desist from doing such acts. The negative effect of used electronic gadgets in Nigeria sometimes takes long to manifest especially where radioactive materials are involved.

The country has to look for ways to effectively manage electronic waste generally. The thing is that much of the used electronics can actually be imported legally into Nigeria. There should also be a way of making sure that some of the more dangerous ones do not end up in the country. And developing countries cannot do this alone.

Governments of developed countries that make regulations concerning the reduction of waste that go to landfills in their countries should consider that the waste, when exported as used items to developing countries, will end up in landfills and/or will be burnt anyway, releasing all kinds of toxin into the atmosphere. By reducing what go to their landfills they are increasing what go to the landfills of the countries that consume their waste. Also, regulations that stipulate that certain kinds of waste are not to be exported from the country have to be enforced…..

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• Illegal E-Waste Finds Its Way To Nigeria (mootbox.com)

From Vanguard:

Nigeria’s excess crude account has dropped from $20 billion (N3.004 trillion) at the beginning of the year to $11.2 billion (N1.646trn) in June. This implies that in the last six months, the various tiers of government in the federation have shared a total of $9bn (N1.323tr) from that account.

This use of the fund was to beef up revenue allocation to the three tiers of government following the dwindling revenue accruing to the federation account as a result of the global economic recession that has resulted in the fall of prices of crude oil- the major revenue source of the country.

And you would have probably been hearing stuffs like this (this time around, it is from the Nigerian Minister of State for Finance, Mr Remi Babalola):

“We are addressing the issue of funding through revenue diversification. Our plan is to diversify from oil and gas based economy to other untapped areas such as agriculture and natural resources. Agriculture, however, remains very high on our list as it currently employs 68 per cent of labour force, contributes 40 per cent of GDP and provides 88 per cent of non-oil earnings.”

…by Beauty, for NigeriansTalk.

Yea, it is a Miles Davis morning.

And with Coltrane

Guardian’s Richard Williams on Kind of Blue:

It is the most singular of sounds, yet among the most ubiquitous. It is the sound of isolation that has sold itself to millions. Lovers give each other Kind of Blue, even though its mood offers no consolation, let alone ecstasy. But those who give it want to share its richness of spirit, its awareness of the infinite, and its extraordinary quality of constantly revealing more to those who know it best.

The lasting influence:

The effect of the album spread far beyond its immediate environment. John Coltrane and Bill Evans, two key members of Davis’s sextet at the sessions, went on to form groups that took its discoveries in radically different directions. The young American composers who became known as the minimalists – La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich and Philip Glass – were inspired by its exploitation of pared-down resources, offering an alternative to the sterility of the post-Webern world, and in turn their influence would shape the work of the Welsh viola player and composer John Cale, founder member of the Velvet Underground – the most widely emulated group since the beatles – and Brian Eno. Eno’s artschool explorations led to his groundbreaking work with Roxy Music, David Bowie and Talking Heads, and to his invention of ambient and generative music. Pee Wee Ellis, James Brown’s musical director, had the structure of “So What”, Kind of Blue’s most famous track, in his head when he helped his employer create “Cold Sweat”, the vastly influential hit single that transformed soul music into funk.

Read Richard Williams’ article here.

1. The story of VW and Porsche, told by The Economist

2. The invisible hand is broken Or ’Adam Smith might say the current crisis is proof the market works’

3. Cotton producers press rich nations on cotton subsidies

4. Why did the price of meat drastically drop drastically yesterday at the Douala IV council, Bonaberi? Check it out here.

5. Love in 2D

6. Have time  this Saturday for some Amadou and Miriam Bagayoko?

7. Nigeria’s Q1 oil revenue cut by half: official.

From Der Spiegel:

Three young German architects are designing structures made completely out of living trees, including a pavilion for concerts in downtown Stuttgart. But designing the ultimate treehouse turns out to be trickier than one might expect.

How?

The basis of their work is always the same. First, the architects build a conventional support structure. Young, flexible trees are attached to the structure and bent into the desired shape. As the trees grow, they take on more and more of a load-bearing function. After a few years — and what Ludwig calls a “botanical certificate of fitness” inspection by a structural engineer — the support structure can be removed. At which point the roof and floors that have been inserted should be supported entirely by the trees

Remember Hernando De Soto’s assertion in The Mystery of Capital that success in capitalism is tied to the structure of property and property rights? Seems like someone in the Nigerian government has been reading the book.

In ThisDay of today:

The Federal Government yesterday said  the ongoing land reforms process is intended to launch the large majority of Nigerians into economic empowerment by providing them with access to land titles which can easily be traded for money.

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Works, Housing and Urban Development reform, Dr. Tukur Ingawa, speaking at the national workshop of the National Technical Development Forum on Land Administration:

“As operators in the field, you must be aware of the advantages of modernising the processes of land administration. The procedure for obtaining title to land must not be allowed to remain slow and irritatingly inefficient. The security of title documents and other defers that impede transactions in land must be given due considerations”

And

In his remarks, Chairman, Presidential Committee on Land Reform, Professor Akin Maboguje said the land reform agenda was borne out of very deep conviction by President Umaru Yar’Adua that a very critical and potent factor in alleviating the poverty of the large majority of Nigerians especially those living in the rural areas is to determine, validate and register the property right they own in their land assets.

In Vanguard of yesterday:

The reform is aimed at removing the hitherto slow, frustrating and cumbersome process of land administration and pay the way for modernisation processes of land administration in the country.

According to the current land laws – the Land Use Act of 1990 – land in the urban areas of each state is held by the state governor, in trust for the people; the right to land in non-urban areas is held by the local government authorities. The governor and the local government authority issue certificates of occupancy. From the reports and the terms of reference from the president it does’t seem like this is going to change….

Let’s wait and see the outcome/recommendations of the committee.