No Where Else to Go: Stop Forced Evictions in Nigeria

Celebrating Nigeria’s 51^st Independence anniversary on October 1, 2011 may not bring beaming festive smiles and cheers to the millions of Nigerians that have had their homes and business locations bulldozed and rendered homeless by government agents.

More than two million people have been forcibly evicted from their homes in different parts of Nigeria since 2000. Most were already marginalized and many had lived for years without access to clean water, sanitation, adequate health care or education. In 2006, Nigeria was named one of the three worst violators of housing rights by the Geneva-based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions.

On World Habitat Day 2009, Amnesty International called for the end to forced evictions in Nigeria. A forced eviction is the removal of people against their will from the homes or land they occupy without legal protections and other safeguards.

Forced evictions are continuing throughout the country. Since 2003, an estimated 800,000 people have been removed from their homes in the capital city of Abuja. Between May and July 2008 forced evictions took place on an almost weekly basis in Lagos, with some communities facing their third forced eviction.

In April 2005, bulldozers demolished houses, churches, and medical clinics in the community of Makoko, Lagos. About 3,000 people lost their homes. They said that they had not been given prior notice, were not consulted on the planned evictions, and were not given adequate alternative housing. Some of them, including children, were beaten and injured by law enforcement officials, and others had all their belongings destroyed.

In Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers state and the most populous city in the Niger Delta, wide scale demolitions were carried out along the city’s waterfronts, despite earlier state government promises that no evictions would take place.

The Rivers State government claims the demolition of the waterfronts is necessary to implement an “urban renewal”. However the plan that was the basis for the urban renewal was developed without adequate consultation with the communities affected and the plan was not made publicly available. Most residents were opposed to the demolitions, which they knew would ensue. Thousands of people were eventually forcibly evicted from their homes.

In one community, these preparatory stages for demolition were accompanied by excessive use of force by the Nigerian security forces. At least 12 people were shot and seriously injured in Bundu waterfront community on 12 October 2009 when armed security forces opened fire on a crowd of people peacefully protesting against the proposed demolition of their homes. It has been two years now, yet no serious investigation has been initiated by the Nigerian authorities.

Months prior to the assault on the Bundu waterfront community, government agents demolished structures at the Njemanze waterfront community, so that the land could be passed on to a corporation to construct an entertainment plaza. It was estimated that in the Njemanze community 13,800 to 19,000 people were forcibly evicted from their homes. These people including children, women and the elderly were left homeless and vulnerable to other human rights violations. Apparently the State government has not shown any empathy or provided justice for the uprooted inhabitants of these communities that have nowhere else to go.

Eyes on Nigeria: Amnesty International acts to stop harmful gas flaring in Nigeria

The level of political violence foreshadowing the general election in Nigeria this month has once again focused the world’s attention on Nigeria. That focus got even sharper following the botched National Assembly election for Senators and Representative on April 2, 2011, which was canceled midway because of what was said to be logistical problems and late arrival of election materials to many states and polling stations.  For Amnesty International, the focus never really went away as concerns about extrajudicial executions, forced evictions, death penalty and the environmental and human conditions in the Niger Delta area have been raised repeatedly by the organization and other human rights organizations.

Reflecting on its 50 years of human rights activism, which was observed in March 2011, its US section, Amnesty International, USA launched a pioneering campaign project using satellite and geo-spatial technologies to expose and fight rights abuses around the world.

The focus on Nigeria through a program Eyes on Nigeria (http://www.eyesonnigeria.org)  is aimed at visualizing and exposing human rights abuses and situations in which human rights are at risk throughout Nigeria, including active monitoring of harmful gas flaring in the Niger Delta region of the country.

For many years, residents of the Niger Delta have complained that gas flares seriously damage their quality of life and pose a risk to their health, yet to Amnesty’s knowledge, neither the government nor the oil companies have focused attention on specific studies to look at health and flaring.

Given the human rights implications on this wanton human and environmental degradation, Amnesty International hopes others will join the organization in calling on the government and the gas and petroleum related corporations in the region to shut down the estimated 75 unchecked gas flares, which for decades have been a cause for concern regarding the health of the population and the environment in the Niger Delta.

Dr. Scott Edwards, the director of the Science for Human Rights program at Amnesty International, USA confirmed, “The Eyes on Nigeria project is a comprehensive view of the most pressing human rights issues facing the people of Nigeria”. And he hopes that people around the world will be inspired by what they learn through this new project to act in concert with the Nigerian people in demanding basic human dignity.

The Eyes on Nigeria project locates and maps each gas flare occurring in the region and estimates the impact on surrounding communities of the high temperatures, fumes and elevated sound levels caused by the flares. Also mapped are evidence of forced eviction, excessive use of force, police brutality, death penalty distribution among various states, communal conflicts and conflicts in the Niger Delta. Satellite images can be peeled back with a cursor to make a ‘before’ and ‘after’ comparison. (http://www.eyesonnigeria.org).

It should be noted that Nigeria has prohibited gas flaring since 1984, (unless a ministerial consent has been issued) according to Amnesty International groundbreaking 2009 report, Petroleum, Pollution and Poverty in the Niger Delta. The problem persists though. When oil is pumped out of the ground, the gas produced is separated and in Nigeria most of it is burnt as waste in massive flares. This practice has been going on for almost five decades and has been long acknowledged as negatively impacting human health and damaging the environment.

Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with more than 3 million supporters, activists and volunteers in more than 150 countries campaigning for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.

Dry and Dark In Cote d’Ivoire: Ratcheting Up the Hostilities

As the world watches, the hostilities resulting from the November 2010 elections in Cote d’Ivoire keeps escalating and moving into the vast civilian population far beyond the group loyal to Laurent Gbagbo, who has refused to concede the election and the New Forces loyal to Alassane Ouattara, the presumed winner.

Recently security forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo shot dead at least six women among a large group of women holding a peaceful march in support of Alassane Outtara in Abidjan. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12646355)

As if the various atrocities against the citizens of Cote d’Ivoire who dared to be out in the street exercising their fundamental liberties was not enough, the government loyalists since February 28 cut off power and water supplies to the central, northern and western areas of the country; plunging a major part of the country into darkness and water-starvation. While majority of the affected areas are loyal to Mr. Ouattara, areas loyal to Mr. Gbagbo are also affected. Ultimately, the citizens of Cote d’Ivoire, men, women and children are being punished over control of political power.

The power and water shutdown is having immediate and devastating consequences among the populace, triggering what could be an uncontrollable humanitarian crisis. According to information and eyewitness accounts gathered by Amnesty International, the affected areas are said to be suffering from poor sanitation and disrupted medical services,

The Ivorian electricity company denied any responsibility for the power cuts, which began on 28 February, instead stated that officials loyal to outgoing President Laurent Gbagbo had made the cuts "for national security reasons".

Gaetan Mootoo, the Amnesty International West Africa Researcher has warned that the whole sanitary system in these areas is being affected and is stopping medical personnel from carrying out their work which could lead to the spread of diseases.
A senior doctor in the town of Man in the west of the country, told Amnesty International: "It's nearly impossible to carry out surgery as we only have one electric generator, we are running short of fuel. This will have dramatic consequences for people needing urgent care. This is particularly true for pregnant women needing emergency obstetric care including caesarean sections."

While the political issues are sorted out, the world must not sit idly by as a devastating medical crisis blows up in an already difficult environment. The already sick and injured cannot wait for the political crisis to be resolved and power turned on to get the medical services they urgently deserve. The rest of the population should not be deprived of sanitation or subjected to the outbreak of cholera and other diseases as portable water is being withheld from the citizenry.

President Laurent Gbagbo and his loyalists must restore power and water supply immediately. Keeping the people in the dark and dry would not resolve the political conflict. Those perpetrating this cruelty must be held accountable.

The right to safe water and sanitation is recognized by international law. Amnesty International insists that the government is obliged to ensure continuous access to water and ensure that the right to health and right to adequate housing is not jeopardized by power cuts.

Segobriga: A well preserved Roman City that thrived in the heart of Spain

Just imagine a fully functioning and well developed city, that seem to have everything a nice city would crave; theater, houses of worship, instructional halls and fori, craft centers, sewers, race tracks, gymnasium, amphitheater sitting over five thousand spectators, mansions, regular homes, swimming pool and bath houses, high city walls and imposing city gates etc. Then, all of a sudden, the residents of the city pack up and leave, forever! If you imagined this, you would be picturing Segobriga, a roman city in the heart of Spain., then part of the Roman Empire.

Segobriga is in the current Cuenca Province of the Catilla La Mancha region of Spain, just an hour south east of Madrid. It is one of the few most complete, well preserved cities built purposedly as a Roman city when the Romans defeated the Carthaginians in the first Punic war and went ahead to colonize the Celt-Iberian people in the peninsular and began the Romanization of the area. The city thrived for centuries but was believed to have been abandoned when the Moors and the Moslems invaded and occupied Spain. However, while Segobriga fell into ruins, the structures all stand strong today that virtually every facet of the city is vivid and tangible today, presenting a compelling picture of what life was like in the area over 2000 years ago.

The city, which was deliberately and strategically built on the highest point of the sloping landscape looks majestic on approach. One obvious cultural practice noticed right away is how the entrance to the city, outside the city wall was lined with graves. For some cultural reasons the people buried their dead outside the city walls, not sure if it had a religious component to it as some current cultures bury their dead as a protective force around their town. The graves, though hollow now, still retain the stonewalls with which they were constructed. Both individual, pair and family graves all lined up the entrance to the city. There were also further well developed cemetaries (necropolis) that lie a few yards away from the road entrance, with several graves numbering in the hundreds. Further away from those were another set of cemetaries and basilica that were built by the Visigoths when they defeated the Romans and became the main power brokers in the city for 200 more years before it got abandoned when the Moslems invaded.

The Theater

Once inside the city walls, every direction you looked had a familiar structure which you can easily walked up to for closer detail inspection and could actually recreate the event the structure was built for. In the gladatorial arena (the amphitheater), I walked into the area the gladiators waited their turn beofre a fight or performance, a room the size of half a standard room today and wondered what may have been on their mind as they prepared for a life or death battle. Just not too far from their waiting area were holding areas for the wild animals that performed or fought in the arena. Surprisingly the circular arena itself is as big and wide as today´s baseball field, with the surrounding concrete bleachers running as high around the arena as today´s sitting arrangement in a baseball diamond.

Amphitheater: I just wrestled a lion and won

Across the street from the gladiator´s amphitheater was a very imposing theater, complete with a large stage, orchestra pit and a stack of audience area that again ascended in the order we are familiar with today. The backwall doubled as the city wall because of its height, as the entire city was surrounded by 1300 meter wall with several gates, This theater was built in the first century and was where what would be classic tragedies as well as comedies were performed. Remarkably, class distinctions were very sharp then as even the sitting arrangements were marked by social standing and in fact the theater sitting arrangements were concretely marked off to separate the classes.

Watching a play in the theater

Perhaps the politcal and social behive of activities of the city was at the forum, which was a very large rectangular space with huge columns lining its side. It must have been the seat of power and where the major decisions concerning the city and its political life was conducted. It lies on the eastern side of the city and was constructed in the Augustan times as part of the urbanization program of the city..

What would be today´s city swimming pool was the baths in Segobriga. These were located between the the Theater and the street that runs close to the city wall, and not too far from the Amphitheater. It perhaps was for hygenic purpose as well as served a social and business networking function in the community. The changing rooms were like today´s locker rooms in most gyms, with individual stone etched row of niches where bathers could lay their clothes and possessions while lounging in a dry circular sauna in the center. The varied temperatured baths lay to the north of the room.. The sewer system and latrines were not too far from the baths, as you could still see the tunnel with stone-slab covering, as it snakes down the slope and away from the city where the waste is emptied.

The Bath and Sauna Locke

The historical influence of Segobriga as a Roman municipality and regional and administrative power in hispano-roman Iberia was well documented in the museum that is built on the grounds of the city. Objects and important carvings from the city are preserved in the museum to prevent them from further deterioration.

Unfortuanately but understandably, the public is not allowed to photograph any of those objects or the intricately exquisite sculptures that bring to life some of the movers and shakers of the Segobrigan society. Fittingly though, the ancient citizens of this city did not build right on the ruins of the city they abandoned for what ever reasons, but moved down the road about a mile to establish a current city named Saelices. I picture SEgobriga rivalling any modern city in beauty and organization but also recognize that life for the ordinary citizens must have been full of drudgery to maintained all that, and also maintained their place in a very stratified society.

Teruel: The home of Mudejar Architecture

Due south from Zaragoza was another Aragon province called Teruel with its seat located in the city of Teruel as well. This town was founded in 1176 by Sancho Sanchez Munoz and Blasco Garces Marcila and later became a cosmopolitan center with significant Jewish and Muslim population amoung its Christian inhabitants. Teruel is not a typical tourist hotspot but no one could resist its local history and culture and its place as the epicenter of the Mudejar architecture in Spain. This was the medieval period when the Christian rulers commissioned Muslim architectural pieces, which is distinct from the Mosarabic influence when Christians lived under Muslim rule.

One of the numrous Mudejar style towers

The city lies almost a thousand meters above sea level with a rough and sometimes harsh climatic conditions. That got turned into an asset as Teruel became famous for its naturally cured ham, called Jamon Serrano. They also uniquely have abundance of dinosaur remains in the province, which even prompted a dinosaur theme park that is unmistakeable as you drive into the city.

With the mudejar architectural influence, many of the buildings and towers were wonders to behold in their intricacy and bright ornamental detailing. Some of the towers are now attached to museums or cathedrals while others stand alone as the buildings they were connected to had fallen out of use or even destroyed in the several battles that took place in Teruel in the Spanish civil war years.

A significant symbol of the city is the bull. The main plaza of the city is adorned with a monument that depicts a tall column on top of which is mounted a small statue of the bull, locally referred to as El Torico or the little bull. In fact the city center is now commonly called Plaza El Torico. Teruel also boasts of high quality pottery which you can purchase in the numerous gift shops around the central plaza.

El Torico

Touring San Pedro, one of the many mudejar influenced churches, whcih was built in the 16th century, it was moving to see the mausoleum housing the mummified bodies of Isabel Segura (a wealthy lady) and Diego de Marcilla, a poor guy who battled at Crusades to earn some money with the intention to return to get married with Isabel but the happy ending tragically never materialized. Envision Romeo and Juliet. The lovers of Teruel or Los Amantes de Teruel is a significant lure that is now part of the legend of this city that is at once not widely known but also nurtures its distinct history and attributes in Spanish life and culture.

My one day tour of the city was well worth it, especailly freely gallivanting all over town, checking out cathedrals, museums, chatting with students of a college of Arts and Craft right in the city center and an irony of all ironies, having lunch in a Chinese restaurant also in the downtown area. But that was after gorging myself with the Teruel local pasteries from centuries old recipes..

Aljaferia: Evolution from an old Moslem Palace to a new Aragon Regional Parliament

A feature of Zaragoza, the regional capital of the Aragon Autonomous Community (Region), is what could appropriately be referred to as its center of excellence and the epitome of the Taifa Moslem Architecture. The Aljaferia palace was constructed in the 11th century as the residence of the Moslem rulers of Zaragoza at the height of their power and the influence of Taifa Kingdoms in Spain. On my birthday in 2010, I decided to tour its grounds and walked the steps that the kings, queens and people who occupied this edifice for over a thousand years and the modern legislators and peopleof Aragon had/have walked, played, slept, debated and made great decisions in.

Welcome to Aljaferia Palace in Zaragoza

The grandeur of the palace conveys the architectural prowess as well as the intellectual pre-eminence that flourished in the era of liberal and enlightened moslem independent kingdoms in Spain. All these changed hands during the reconquest era when christian kings started recapturing cities and regions from the Moslem rulers. In 1118, Zaragoza was recaptured by King Alfonso I of Aragon, and Aljaferia became the king´s court and residence and from then on became the residence of the Christian Kings. The changes then also resulted in a good mix of what became Mudejar Architectural style.

While the basic structure remained the same, over the centuries, there had been some modifications and a few additions to meet the needs of the use at the time, including when it was briefly used as a military base. In fact a wing of it ultimately became slightly reconfigured to fit in the current Parliamentary chambers of the Aragon legislature.

Walking down the hallway

As ancient as Aljaferia palace is, it is right in the middle of the city with modern apartments sitting right across the street from which residents could look into the grounds of the palace, while a highway passes a few feet away from one side of the building, and residential parking lots sit on the other side. The front entrance had coffeeshops lining the streets across the road, presenting the palace as an oddity sitting in a modern chaotic residential and business city center.

The imposing structure left no one in doubt of its fortified defensive purpose, which was further buttressed by the semi-circular turrets and various watch .towers jutting out from the bulding. The immediate grounds was a huge moat encircling the entire infrastructure.

A model of the edifice

However the interior portions were a contrast to its stoic military outlook. The internal residential quarters boast of the best in luxurious living for any era. It has spacious rooms and halls with the most decorative arches, brick and tile works, as well as swimming pools, fountains, ornamental decorations in every nook and crevice, porticoes, courtyards for artistic and intellectual debating engagements, and down to a basement area that had various tunnels and channels running like a labyrinth of a totally different world from the upper chambers, with a gaping deep well, dug down to the river that flows several meters below the building so that water supply would neither be interrupted nor fetched from outside the grounds of the enclosed edifice.


One of the courtyards


The program literature confirms that äll of the artisitic achievements correspond to the work carried out during the second half of the 11th century under the command of Abu-Ya´far Ab-mad ibn Hud al-Muqtadir, and they serve to highlight the cultural imporatnce and the rich virtuosity of his court. Furthermore, the Aljaferia is thought to be one of the greatests pinnacles of Hispano-Moslem art, and its artistic contributions were later copied at the Reales Alcazares in Seville and of the Alhambra in Granada¨.

Obviously when the Christian kings took over the palace when Zaragoza was reconquired and reconverted to Christianity, the palace was not spared the rechristening stamp. So, during the medieval periods between the 12th and 14th centuries there was a lot of expansion and restructuring of the palace, especially in the upper floors that christianized the look and added chapels, paintings and sculptures reflecting the new power structure.

Front yard

In recognition of the Aljaferia Palace structure and its place in Aragonese life, in 1987 it became the host structure for the Regional Assembly of Aragon, The Aragonese Parliament, which represents over 1,300,000 people living in Aragon´s expanseive region made up of three provinces, Zaragoza, Huesca and Teruel.

The Regional Assembly of Aragon is described as a single chamber assembly, made up of delegates elected every four years by universal, free, equal, direct and secret vote. There are currently 67 delegates in the Parlianement broken down to 14 from Teruel, 18 from Huesca and 35 from Zaragoza.

Tour completed, October 2010

It is indeed a privilege being in the halls, rooms, courtyards, basement and grounds of this magnificient structure. Who would have thought that centiuries later, I would be admiring such a wonderful piece of architecture conceived and built over a thoudand years before I was conceived. Remarkably, it looked like it was just completed a year ago.

Monasterio de Piedra: Majestic Waterfalls by Nuevalos and the Monastry of the Rocks

The big surprise that awaits you as you travel from Madrid to Zaragoza is the grand concentration of amazing waterfalls near Nuevalos within Aragon region in a place where a 12th century monastry known as Monasterio de Piedra or Monastry of the Rocks was built. The Monastry was founded by the Cisterian monks in 1194 in a location that is most peaceful and conducive for the contemplative lonesome life even by today´s standards.

The Piedra river which flows nearly, cascades at various points into extremely wide stadium sized cauldron of limestone canyons in splendid splashes of incandescent waterfalls. Some cascade in huge volumes down steep 100 feet drops while others cascade the surface of terraced rock outcrops along the mountain-sized Canyons. The contrast between the rugged canyons and the extremely lushy greenery of various plants and foliages gives it a paradisic and serene quality.

Over the years, caves and tunnels have been borne through some of the rocks and the managers of the park have gingerly created walkways for visitors to get up close within breathing distance of waterfalls that are over 70 feet above the ground whitewater levels. It gets more eery as you wander around the cavernous structure while hearing the rivulets and streams of water travel down the surface of the rocks that embowels you.

As you drive into the surface lot that houses the ancient monastry buildings that has now been converted to hotel rooms for staying guests, restraurants, gift shops and cafes, you get guided down a path by foot, that starts descending down a quarter mile to the flat bottoms of the hills, which spreads out into a behive of aquatic culture. It contains several whitewater rivers surging by while others are steady clear springs flowing gentlying down what seems like a circuitious route, while further down, some of the water are cordonned into fish farms and other aquatic animal nusery. From the base, any direction you look up, would shines mirrors of waterfalls streaming down the mountains and gently caressing your face with vapors of the freshly sented waters of this peaceful world away from all worlds.

The extremely natural beauty of the environment was definitely the attraction that brought the monks to the site. The monastry construction was said to have been done in three architectural stages which are clearly observable. There was the Gothic stage in the 13th century, the Renaissance Gothic stage in the 16th Centruy and the Classical-Baroque stage in the 18th Centruy.

While the reisdence of the monks now serves as a hotel, for visitors to the park complex, the cloister of the monastry especially the chapter house seemed like the worker-beehive of the monastic live. It is a complex built in the 12th century that has areas with centuries old equipment for wine making, bakery, which was the first location chocolate was made in Spain and the old world, sheds for horse carriages, prayer chapels, and even burial chambers in a basement structure in the main church-hall. It was remarkable that some bottles of wine made when the monastry was still in active use are preserved and displayed for visitors like me to view centuries later. Even the food they had on their menu list where also on display.

Monasterio de Piedra was indeed a complete city all by itself. It was run superbably even with hours it took to nearby towns by horse drawn carriages posted by the stable area. It did not seem that they lacked anything and indeed led a truly monastic and contented life totally surrounded by nature and peace. It was a great diversion on the way to Zaragoza the capital city of Aragon Region and today´s 5th largest city in Spain.