We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
NIGERIANS ARE VOTING to elect a new president today in a knife-edge contest hit by Boko Haram violence and new technology problems.
Boko Haram, the militant group whose insurgency had forced a six-week delay in voting, appeared to follow through on their warning to disrupt the process by attacking a number of polling stations in the northeastern state of Gombe, leaving at least seven dead.
“We could hear the gunmen shouting, ‘Didn’t we warn you about staying away from (the) election?’” one official said after the shootings in Birin Bolawa and Birin Fulani.
Today, Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan and Junior Minister Seán Sherlock announced Ireland is dispatching 87 tonnes of emergency supplies to help families displaced by the Boko Haram violence.
Thousands of blankets, tents, cooking kits, jerry cans and other urgent supplies are being sent to northern Cameroon, where the refugees have fled to.
The airlift, worth around €900,000 will be send this weekend from the UN humanitarian response depot in Accra, Ghana, where Irish Aid pre-positions supplies for use in global emergencies.
“I am gravely concerned about the serious security situation in north-eastern Nigeria and that large parts of the Nigerian border with Cameroon, Niger and Chad have fallen under Boko Haram’s control,” commented Minister Flanagan. “Their attacks have driven people from their homes and it is estimated that 1.5 million people have been displaced internally within Nigeria and that over 150,000 people have fled to the neighbouring countries of Cameroon, Niger and Chad.”
As the brutal actions of this group continue to spread beyond its borders into neighbouring countries, Boko Haram now represents a threat to the peace and security of the whole region. This is a particularly difficult time, given today’s elections in Nigeria.
In many areas in Nigeria, the late arrival of officials and materials delayed the accreditation process in the morning ahead of the start of voting proper from 12.30 GMT.
New handheld technology to read biometric voter identity cards is being used for the first time, which the country’s electoral commission hopes will cut voter fraud that has blighted previous elections.
An apparent card reader malfunction forced President Goodluck Jonathan and his wife Patience to leave their poll station while the problem was resolved after hanging around in the scorching heat in his home town of Otuoke.
AJE News / Twitter1:30pm in Nigeria and voting proper due to start. Here are some fast facts. And our coverage: http://t.co/0tXOl6kTLT pic.twitter.com/WzosTVFBiG
— Al Jazeera Breaking News (@AJENews) March 28, 2015
Fourteen candidates are contesting the presidential poll, while 2,537 hopefuls from 28 parties are vying for 469 seats in the National Assembly at the same time.
- With reporting from AFP.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Nigeria is a wealthy, oil-rich country. Why are we sending any aid there?
It’s obviously not filtering through to the ground. Be compassionate, would you like to be a groundling in Nigeria?
Because the oil is being gravely exploited by foreign corporations and the locals are not receiving any of it. They’re just left with the environmental devastation as these fat cats have no social responsibility
I’d rather send aid there than have them all arriving here claiming asylum.
Is the aid we give really ever getting to the people in need?
No they put in their pockets
So let them die where’s your compassion
The aid isn’t going to Nigeria. It is going to the tens of thousands who have fled Boko Haram fighters in Nigeria to Cameroon and Niger. These people have fled for their lives and now shelter in some of the poorest places in the continent. The aid is destined for North East Cameroon. Those who have fled have done so after seeing so many others kidnapped and killed, including girls and boys. They now take refuge in remote places with limited shelter and food.
Nigeria is a vast, vast landmass as well. That’s how the like of Boko Haram have survived, they only number about 10,000 in a country of millions and yet they can wreak havoc. Greed and corruption are also rife as well as abject poverty and displaced people. The country is a mess, with large ungovernable regions controlled by religious fanatics and warlords. I’d leave if I was from there.
#Tom because Mr Flanagan is worried about the people being made homeless?
We never invaded Nigeria. We never stole their resources. We never enslaved their people.
Why are we sending money to them, most of which will end up in the hands of warlords and corrupt officials.
We have homeless Irish families, elderly people dying of loneliness, a drug problem that is becoming more mainstream, crime spiraling out of control, gardai stations closing down, rural communities being neglected, a myriad of other pressing concerns.
Fup the politicians, and fup the globalist liberals. When is this revolution supposed to begin?
Spot on Eric, get real Todd. Nigeria is a massive country of over 100 million people (most populated country in Africa) and we are a small country of around 4 million. We have no historical or political ties with Nigeria and, geographically, are half a world away. While i do sympathise with the displaced people there are far more larger, richer and geographically closer countries who are in a much better position to help. I think we have done more than our bit for Nigeria over the last 20 years by accepting around 50,000 asylum seekers from there, hardly any of which were genuine refugees fleeing persecution. Many of these people are ingrained in our society now and, while I don’t want to generalise, a large percentage are the most criminal, corrupt and downright arrogant SOBs you could ever have the misfortune to meet. As Eric said, we need to look after our own people first.
Is “while I don’t want to generalise” the new “I’m not racist, but…”?
So we shouldn’t help poor people? The poorest of the poor. Give over. Ireland never invaded anywhere, doesn’t mean we can’t help.
No Trea, not in the least. I kind of half expected somebody to pick me up on this but it was the only way I thought I could say it without sounding offensive. If there’s a better way, I’d be glad to hear it.
Without giving anything away I have had a lot of dealings with Nigerians in a previous job and, harsh though this might sound, I can honestly say I ever met one I liked. To be fair, the vast majority were males but (and I’m not generalising here) ever one of them had a major chip on their shoulder. Their attitude towards my female colleagues was obnoxious to say the least. I’ve also had dealings with people from other African countries such as Somalia and Congo and had no problems. So Trea, I’m not a racist, it was a lazy conclusion on your part.
Dziadek – What about helping the suffering in our own country first? What about letting the former empires help the countries they destroyed?
lol….Dziadek caring about poor people yet he’d begrudge his fellow countrymen water.
You are calling a hundred million people obnoxious and I’m the one whose lazy? By far any dealings I had with Nigerians around and about dublin were fine; no more different than any with irish people.
I can’t stand the mé féin attitude displayed by commenters on here. It’s like browsing the Fox News channel comment section most of the time! Stick your heads outside of your little irish bubble sometime and try to get your head around the idea that what happens in places like Nigeria does affect us. And we should do something to help those in the most horrendous situations home or abroad.
Yeah Ireland was an active part of the British empire before the 1920s. We need to except our own imperialist past.
@Trea Lynch: answer me this if you don’t mind. Is it the land or the people that make a place a successful country?
Why does a cold place like Iceland with no trees and winter most of the year have one of the highest standards of living in the world?
Why is Nigeria one of the least attractive places to live in, does the corruption, crime, and sheer incompetence in managing all its bountiful natural resources just rise up from the ground or float in the air with no agency from its people?
What will happen to our country as their numbers increase here? I mean will our standard of living remain the same or become more like Iceland’s or Nigeria’s?
To be honest David I’m more worried about the number of the likes of you increasing.
Good man Trea if you cant answer the question you can always make it personal.
Corruption is rife. GREED that cripples what could be one of the wealthiest and prosperous countrys. Its not just oil. Its gold ,diamonds and also one of the only known locations for rare metal that is used in all computer technology..
Coltan is the rare metal..
We send food so they can give less to their people and buy more guns…..same old same old.
We should just send guns, they could shoot their own food then.
Most likely it’s corrupt and as usual the poor suffer
Outrageous supporting this corrupt country. Of the 87 tonnes only a small fraction will actually get to the poor people. The notorious scammers will see to that. :-/
Yes I can see those corrupt government officials rubbing their hands together at the prospect of all those blankets and tents! They can wait to be rolling in jerry cans!
Didn’t think there would’ve been a need to explain this to you Trea but it seems your sarcasm has blinded you. It’s NOT the 87 tonnes of supplies that people are referring to but the COST of the supplies to the Irish tax payer when these funds could/should be directed towards helping our own people. There you go, simple enough for you?
What need you, being come to sense,
But fumble in a greasy till
And add the halfpence to the pence
And prayer to shivering prayer, until
You have dried the marrow from the bone;
Goodluck is as bent as a horse shoe…
Before we begin to speak about corruption we should remember that it is in the financial interests of our totally corrupt banking system to create and support a completely corrupt elite in most African countries. inexcusable is that hard working taxpayers should have to shoulder this responsibility and burden , especially after having bailed out most of these criminal banks in the past decade. I lived in Africa. It is very sad what is happening there.
To put this in some perspective :
Read a report some time ago in the German Spiegel that European nations, through the help of multinational corporations, extract far more wealth from Africa in the form of cheap minerals, high interest rates on bank loans, etc, etc, than it gives back in aid.
Have you heard of the 5:50:500 ratio?
Each year NGOs have contributed at least $5 billion to the Developing World.
Each year Governments have contributed at least $50 billion to the Developing World.
Each year the Developing World loses an average of $500 billion as a result of the unjust international economic system.
(OECD & IMF based figures – from research by Bertrand Borg & Colm Regan)
“So in short for every $55 billion transferred to the Developing World by the Developed World, $500 billion is transferred in the opposite direction”
Should they not be called a terrorist group rather than a militant group
Ah here, if they’re stuck for a few replacement Nigerians then sure Ireland could send them over LOADS.
Savages
A great bunch of lads
They do not have a military in Nigeria because Goodluck was afraid of a military coo and that is why these Boko Haram militants exists…
I am Mr. William, a private money lender. I give out loans with an interest rate of 3% per annual and within the amount of $1000.00 to $500,000,000.00 as the loan offer. 100% Project Funding with secured and unsecured loans are available. We are guaranteed in giving out financial services to our numerous clients all over the world. With our flexible lending packages, loans can be processed and funds transferred to the borrower within the shortest time possible. We operate under clear and understandable terms and we offer loans of all kinds to interested clients, firms, companies, and all kinds of business organizations, private individuals and real estate investors. Just complete the form below and get back to us as we expect your swift and immediate response. EMAIL : williamloans12@gmail.com
Attention!!!
Do you have a bad credit?
Do you need money to pay bills?
Do you need to start up a new business?
Do you have unfinished project at hand due to bad financing?
Do you need money to invest in some area of specialization which will profit you? and you don’t know what to do.
We offer the following loans below,
personal loans[secure and unsecured]
business loans[secure and unsecured]
combination loans
students loans
consolidation loans and so many others.
1. Full Names:……………………….
2. Contact Address:…………………..
3. Loan Amount Needed:………………..
4. Duration of the Loan……………….
5. Direct Telephone Number:……………..
Email williamloans12@gmail.com
Best Regards,
Mr William,
have your say