WBEZ | Nigeria

Poorly trained pilots and lack of oversight make air traveler riskier in developing world

Fri, 08 Jun 2012 11:16:00 -0500

The commercial airline whose plane crashed in Nigeria earlier this week, killing 153 people on board and more on the ground, is defending its actions leading up to the crash, saying
its chief engineer was aboard the doomed flight.

Francis Ogboro, an executive who oversees Dana Air, told journalists on Wednesday that the company's employees wouldn't have embarked on a "suicide mission" by flying an unsafe plane. Ogboro also said the plane showed no faults or problems Sunday morning before it crashed in a densely populated neighborhood in Lagos, Nigeria's largest city.

Popular anger has risen in the country against the airline since the crash. The company, owned by a wealthy Indian family living in Nigeria, has been grounded by the federal government as it
investigates the crash.

This is not the first deadly crash to befall the west African nation. Bill Voss, president and CEO of the Flight Safety Foundation says Nigeria had actually "improved its flight safety record in recent years," but demand for airline travel has grown rapidly and at times, training and safety standards haven't necessarily been able to keep pace. According to Voss, the African region has nearly 20 times the number of plane crashes as North America.

Friday on Worldview, Bill Voss sheds some light on the challenges developing nations face as they try to improve safety standards.

Nigerian refugee fights for a life and his marriage in the U.S.

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:34:00 -0600

Eugene Peba is an immigrant here in Chicago. A member of Nigeria's Ogoni tribe, he fled persecution in his home country for the U.S. seven years ago. Now, Eugene works in Chicago and is married to an American -- and he's also facing a protracted legal battle to stay in this country on asylum grounds. His story reveals the byzantine, high-stakes world that many foreigners who come to this country face.

Students from Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism recently met Eugene as part of their reporting work for the website Immigrant Connect. Led by their professor, Jack Doppelt, they reported Eugene's story.

Eugene, Jack and Northwestern student Karen Chen join Worldview to explain why Eugene is fighting to stay in the United States.

To read the original article on Eugene Peba, written by Northwestern students on Immigrant Connect, click here.

Watch this video of Eugene's story:

Fuel subsidy cuts spark protests in an already volatile Nigeria

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:23:00 -0600

On Monday, the Nigerian government announced it would end two decades of fuel subsidies. The actions prompted a nationwide strike in a country already rocked by deadly religious tensions in the north.

Now, the country’s top oil union - which represents 20,000 oil and gas workers - is threatening to completely shut down oil production if President Goodluck Jonathan doesn’t reverse his decision.

Clement Adibe, a professor of political science at DePaul University, provides analysis. He’s originally from the Niger Delta.

Worldview 1.12.12

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:31:00 -0600

There were high expectations last July when South Sudan, the world’s newest country, gained independence. But tensions between rival ethnic groups have exploded in recent months and hundreds have died as a result. Chicagoan Kenneth Elisapana, who is originally from South Sudan, explains what's behind the recent violence. Also, protests recently erupted in Nigeria when the government announced cuts to fuel subsidies. DePaul University’s Clement Adibe says the move, while unpopular, was necessary to fight corruption in the oil economy. And, on Global Activism, Worldview talks with Katherine Darnstadt and Laura Bowe of Architecture for Humanity. The organization brings architects, designers, engineers and people in construction together to help provide solutions to communities in need.

In Nigeria, groups help 'discordant couples'

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 16:57:00 -0500

Coping with news that you’re HIV positive is a traumatic process. It’s even harder if your partner walks out on you.

In Nigeria, women are especially vulnerable. There are, however, a growing number support groups counseling so-called “discordant couples” on how to live positively. Richard Lough reports from Lagos. (Some names have been changed to protect sources.)

This story originally aired on the World Vision Report. We got it from the Public Radio Exchange.

Northwestern professor reflects on Nigeria's potential and political failures

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 16:18:00 -0500

Nigerian-born Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, known as the Underwear Bomber, pleaded guilty Wednesday to eight charges including conspiracy to commit terrorism for his attempted 2009 Christmas Day bombing of an airplane over Detroit.

In a recent conference in Lagos, experts addressed Nigeria's disaffected youth and what drives some of them to violence, in addition to tackling issues like corruption, failed infrastructure and economic inequities. The gathering also honored Northwestern University professor Richard Joseph for his landmark book Democracy and Prebendal Politics in Nigeria: The Fall of the Second Republic. The work documented how political leaders squandered an opportunity to positively transform the country. Jerome caught up with Joseph to talk about where Africa’s most populous nation is heading.

Worldview for 10.14.11

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 15:47:00 -0500

Last month in Lagos, statesmen, political scientists, lawyers and civil society groups gathered at a conference to examine the current state of Nigerian politics and to honor Northwestern University professor Richard Joseph for his landmark book Democracy and Prebendal Politics in Nigeria: The Fall of the Second Republic. Jerome caught up with Joseph to talk about where Africa’s most populous nation is heading. And, we learn about a growing number of support groups in Nigeria for HIV-positive adults whose partners abandoned them. Also, in August 1972, the dictator Idi Amin announced that all Asians had 90 days to leave Uganda. We hear from Ugandan Asians who remember the traumatic exodus.

Two universities combine forces to reduce maternal mortality

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 17:04:00 -0500

Nigeria has one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the world. And, though the U.S. is highly developed, it trails behind 49 other countries, including Kuwait, Bulgaria and South Korea.

Today we hear about a partnership between Dr. Oladosu Ojengbede, director of the Centre for Population and Reproductive Health at the University College Hospital in Ibadan, Nigeria, and Dr. Melissa Gilliam, director of Family Planning at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Chicago. Introduced by filmmaker Dawn Sinclair Shapiro, the two doctors are forging a partnership between their universities to explore how the U.S. and Nigeria can learn from each other and improve their respective strategies on maternal healthcare.

Film ‘The Edge of Joy’ reveals urgency of maternal mortality in Nigeria

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 15:36:00 -0500

We live in a day and age where very few women should die in childbirth. In spite of spending more on health care than any other country, some 40 countries usually do better than the U.S. on maternal mortality rankings. One oil-rich African nation does a lot worse: Nigeria. They have the second worst rate in the world.

The new documentary film The Edge of Joy looks at maternal mortality in Nigeria and how, every day, its medical workers race against time with little technology to save women. We talk about the film with Chicago-based filmmaker Dawn Sinclair Shapiro.

Facets Multimedia will screen The Edge of Joy Monday, July 25, at 7PM.

Global Activism: Chicago doctor plans to build a hospital in his hometown in Nigeria

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 15:57:00 -0500

Every Thursday on Global Activism we hear about an individual who's decided to work to make the world a better place.

Nigeria-born Dr. Godwin Onyema came to the U.S. in 1974. For more than 30 years, he’s dreamed of providing quality medical care for the community he left behind in Nigeria's Anambra state. Godwin’s drive to make this hospital a reality began with his own early experience in medical school and his father’s emphasis on education. A few years ago, with the help of his son Afem, he started The GEANCO Foundation. The two share their plan to build a state-of-the-art hospital in Anambra.

Chicago Public Media (WBEZ) has not independently investigated any persons or organizations that appear on the Global Activism series and does not endorse any such person or organization.