Title: Nigeria in need of world attention, say church leaders
Date: May 12, 1998
Disciples News Service Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Contact: news@cm.disciples.org
98b-28
INDIANAPOLIS (DNS) -- During President Bill Clinton's historic spring visit to six African countries, he bypassed a nation that is in dire need of the world's attention, says leaders with two U.S. mainline churches.
Nigeria's history is checkered with civil unrest, government instability, and repeated human rights violations that continue even today. It's time the United States helps address those critical issues, according to human rights leaders of the Indianapolis-based Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and United Church of Christ, Cleveland.
Twenty Disciples and UCC leaders gathered here recently to discuss their churches' advocacy roles concerning Nigeria and develop action plans for their own communities. The meeting was sponsored by the denominations' Africa office, Common Global Ministries, the UCC Commission for Racial Justice, and the churches' global education and advocacy team.
Among the ideas offered for churches and community groups were letter-writing campaigns and awareness workshops, and meetings of world outreach committees with Nigeria advocates. Clergy also were encouraged to support local initiatives aimed at making change.
For years, successions of military takeovers have traumatized the west African nation. At the same time, promises of reform have remained unkept, said an Indianapolis leader of the Free Nigeria Movement.
Critics of the regime have paid for their criticism with incarceration, torture and death, said Mukhtar Dan'Iyan, secretary general of the Free Nigeria Movement. The 1995 deaths of writer and environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others are grim reminders of the price for freedom of speech in Nigeria, he said.
Current President General Sani Abacha, who took control of the country in a 1993 military coup, promised democratic reforms. Instead, the legal victor of Nigeria's first free election under Abacha's control has yet to take office. Abacha declared the 1993 elections invalid and established an interim government with him as provisional leader.
President-elect Moshood K. Abiola, who captured nearly 60 percent of the vote, has been in solitary confinement since 1994. Unidentified assailants in June 1996 assassinated his wife, Kudirat Abiola. The military regime is suspected of involvement with her murder.
Because of Nigeria's size and population, Abacha has enormous influence on the entire West African region. Nigeria is the power in that part of Africa, said the Rev. Daniel Hoffman. He is Africa executive for the Disciples' and UCC's Common Global Ministries Board.
The "giant of Africa" is the sixth largest oil producer in the world. Shell Oil processes 40 to 45 percent of the country's annual output. Mobil, Chevron and other multinational distributors refine the remainder. Nigerian oil, however, represents only 7 to 8 percent of U.S. oil imports.
Much of the proceeds from oil exports "goes directly into Abacha's pockets," said Dan'Iyan. The provisional head reportedly owns significant stock in American Trans Air. His money and political influence are everywhere, according to the Free Nigeria Movement leader. "Abacha stooges" are said to be heads of state in neighboring Benin, Niger and Sierra Leone.
Under Abacha's rule, Nigeria plays a strategic role in the political affairs of countries adjacent to it. Money from Nigeria even helped finance the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, said Hoffman. In the process, Nigerian dictators continued unchecked while the world's attention was focused on South Africa.
One way to diminish Abacha's influence and bring about the promised reforms is with an oil boycott, according to church leaders. Oil exports bring in 90 percent of the military government's revenue. Sanctions would cripple the regime.
Such a move would do little to affect the current fortunes of Nigeria residents. The government has already created an "artificial shortage" of oil and gasoline. As a result, "people think sanctions are already in place." Meanwhile the false shortage is being filled by outside contractors while government leaders create stockpiles from Nigeria's oil reserves.
Consultation participants called for U.S. church groups to enter the fray to demand democracy in Nigeria. Because neither the Disciples nor the UCC has partner churches in the country "we are freer to act than most groups," said Hoffman. "We're not encumbered by partner church structures."
Internal church structures, however, can be problematic. Nevertheless, faith groups must take a stand, according to Deborah Robinson, Washington, D.C. The former World Council of Churches executive now heads a consulting firm, International Possibilities Unlimited, which is engaged in advocacy for Nigeria.
Two other resource persons on hand during the consultation were Mike Fleshman, a human rights coordinator with the American Committee on Africa, a New York City-based lobbying group; and Emmanuel Ogebe, an exiled Nigerian human rights lawyer.
The Free Nigeria Movement is a global grassroots coalition begun in 1996. It has encouraged selective purchasing ordinances by city governments, economic boycotts of Coca Cola and Motorola, and demanded that multinational oil companies not "prop up the current regime" by divesting from Nigeria "until we get the democratically elected officials reinstated."
Economic sanctions are the only thing that help, said the group.
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