#PressRelease #DHQUpdate
UPDATE ON SITUATION IN KONSHISHA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF BENUE STATE
The attention of the Defence Headquarters is drawn to numerous publications in the media and other online blogs reporting massive killing and destruction of houses and other property by the military in Konshisha LGA of Benue State. The Defence Headquarters which has oversight responsibility for Operation WHIRL STROKE deployed to maintain peace in Benue, Nasarawa and Taraba States, has deemed it necessary to refute these spurious allegations and put the records straight.
There have been incessant cases of communal clashes in recent times between the people of Konshisha and Oju over boundary demarcation. As part of efforts to resolve the crisis, the Benue State Government held series of meetings with stakeholders from both local governments with a view to arriving at amicable solution to the problem. Appreciable progress has been made and a final date fixed for all stakeholders to meet in the disputed areas to fully demarcate the boundary so that peace could reign. Trouble however started on the eve of the final meeting during Easter holiday, with reports that fresh fighting has broken out in the area.
All along, 72 Special Forces Battalion has troops deployed on the Oju side of the boundary and troops of the Battalion were on their way to replenish their colleagues on 5 April 2021, when they were attacked by armed bandits at Bonta in Konshisha. The troops who were under command of a Captain were seized at a checkpoint mounted by the so called “Bonta Boys” and taken into Konshisha forest where they were all brutally murdered. Not satisfied with killing the soldiers, the bandits proceeded to burn all the eleven soldiers and their officer beyond recognition while their weapons and ammunition were carted away. Military reinforcements were dispatched to Bonta the following morning. Unfortunately, the reinforcement also came under attack from close to 500 armed youths who by this time had fully occupied Bonta. The sheer number of youths involved in the attacks suggests that the armed bandits cannot be from Bonta alone, but were joined by bandits from other parts of Konshisha LGA. The military repelled the attack after more than 4 hours of intense fighting during which military helicopter provided close air support to ground troops. Ten armed bandits were killed during the fight with the rifle of one of the Killed in action soldiers recovered from the bandits who fell casualty during the exchange of fire.
The Defence Headquarters wish to put it on record that apart from this initial 10 bandits, there are no other civilian casualties recorded in any part of Konshisha till date. We therefore challenge anybody from Konshisha to present to the public the 200, 70 or 30 dead bodies of innocent persons, male, female or children killed by troops in Konshisha. There was never a massacre as being touted by some mischief makers.
The remnants of the armed bandits that escaped from Bonta withdrew into neighbouring villages where they kept on attacking troops as they continued with the search operation through Bonta into other parts of Konshisha. Knowing the implications of killing troops in cold blood, most of the villagers fled their homes which were then occupied by armed bandits who kept firing at troops from the settlements as they advanced into Konshisha. Troops repelled the attacks and destroyed the houses and other buildings which the criminals used as hideout for the attacks. The use of abandoned settlements by armed bandits to attack troops is popular with insurgents. The aim is to draw military fire into the dwellings and then turn round to blame soldiers for the destruction. This is common guerilla tactics armed bandit designed to whip up public sentiment against security forces and this is what played out in Konshisha. This accounts for some of the burnt houses being reported in the press. Some of the phones of the dead soldiers were also tracked to some of the settlements. We should therefore blame the armed bandits for the destruction since they used these settlements as hideout for attacks. It will be wrong to blame soldiers who are in Konshisha on legitimate duties when some of them were murdered in cold blood. Some of the buildings being paraded today were actually burnt during earlier communal clashes between Konshisha and Oju, all of which the sponsors of the mayhem are now blaming on the military.
Finally, the Defence Headquarters wishes to state that soldiers deployed to Konshisha displayed commendable restraints by adhering to the rules of engagement in the face of unprovoked attacks and therefore deserve accolades. In addition to the return of all carted away weapons, the local leaders of Konshisha must bring the main actors responsible for the mayhem to security forces to face justice. They must also surrender all other weapons in their possession. The military will not tolerate the jungle justice attitude and dastardly acts leading to the gruesome murder of patriotic soldiers on legitimate duty to keep the peace. We look forward to working with the Benue State Government in its promise to support security forces in fishing out those fomenting trouble in Konshisha. Once again, there is no massacre in Konshisha and the stories making the rounds are fabricated by bandits and their sponsors to smear the military after murdering troops in cold blood.
ONYEMA NWACHUKWUBrigadier GeneralActing Director Defence Information9 April 2021
Saturday, April 10, 2021
Army update in Benue State
Friday, April 9, 2021
JAMB INFORMATION in pidgin
Sunday, December 27, 2020
Countries that spend the most times on social media
These are the countries that spend the most and least time on social media
- Emerging markets are continuing to spend the most time on social media, with the Philippines averaging 3 hours 50 minutes per day.
- In Japan, that figure falls to around three-quarters of an hour each day.
- Social media usage plateaued in Q1 2020 when compared with 2019 and 2018 figures, but later results will show if coronavirus has reversed this trend.
On average global internet users spent 2 hours and 22 minutes on social media per day, though trends differed widely by country. In many of the markets that Global Web Index surveyed, social media use had shrunk or plateaued in Q1 2020 when compared with 2019 and 2018 figures - the 2021 report will reveal if the coronavirus pandemic has reversed this trend.
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Emerging markets continue to spend the most time on social networks during a typical day. This could be driven by these markets generally having younger populations, with the 16 to 24-year-old segment driving growth globally. The Philippines spent the most time connected to social networks, devoting almost four hours a day to the digital social sphere. Nigerians typically spent almost three and a three quarters of an hour a day on social media sites, while Indians and Chinese clocked around 2.5 hours and 2 hours, respectively, per day.
Some of the more developed markets have shown signs of plateauing which could be driven by aging populations in these countries. During a typical day in Japan, people spend only three quarters of an hour staying connected on social networks. Germany posts only slightly higher numbers, with users going on social media for one hour and twenty minutes every day, while the UK and the U.S. both spent closer to two hours per day engaging with social media
Department that sells only second hand goods
This department store in Berlin sells only recycled and second-hand goods
- This new Berlin store sells only well-preserved second-hand goods.
- From furniture to fashions, everything in the store is pre-owned.
- By selecting only high-quality items, the city hopes to bring an end to throwaway culture.
- It's part of a city-wide drive to make Berlin a zero-waste city by 2030.
Berlin’s city government has just taken the unusual step of opening a department store. But this is no typical retail outlet – the store sells only high-quality recycled and upcycled items.
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It’s all part of the city’s efforts to reduce waste and protect the environment. The pop-up shop will be open on the third floor of the city’s Karstadt Hermannplatz department store, in the hip Kreuzberg district, for the next six months. If the pilot project works, more stores are planned.
Called B-Wa(h)renhaus, the store aims to attract people who might not consider shopping at the city’s many second-hand furniture and clothing shops.
Across the new store’s 650 square meters of selling space, nine vendors offer products ranging from recycled and upcycled furniture and clothing to refurbished electrical appliances and toys. For anyone who fancies a snack, there’s also an outlet selling dumplings that do good – they’re made from “excess but high-quality” ingredients.
On the floor above is a meeting space that will be used for a series of events to raise awareness of recycling and reuse, including promoting a scheme to allow shoppers to borrow cargo bikes to take their bargains home.
“Our motto is ‘new can be used’,” says Stefan Tidow, State Secretary for Environment and Climate Protection, who officially opened the store. “We want to make well-preserved used goods more easily accessible to even more people.”
Used shopping
B-Wa(h)renhaus forms part of the city’s Zero Waste policy, endorsed by Berlin’s senate. Tidow’s initial plan is to open four more "department stores of the future", selling good-quality second-hand goods at attractive prices.
In the long run, he wants to see similar stores in each of Berlin’s 12 boroughs to embed “used shopping” as part of the city’s lifestyle and help to end the throwaway culture once and for all.
Berlin wants to be a zero-waste city by 2030. European Commission data shows it already recycles 90% of glass and paper waste and 41% of plastics and metal. Bloomberg reports that the city has cut annual household waste per resident by 11 kilos since 2008.
Households separate their trash into five colour-coded bins for recycling and rubbish that cannot be recycled is burned in a waste-to-energy plant. The city’s recycling service says food waste used to produce biogas has to date replaced 2.5 million litres of diesel.
In their report on the circular economy, the World Economic Forum and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation call for international cooperation to reduce demand for raw materials by reusing and repurposing existing products to extend their productive lives.
“It can become the new normal to buy used goods,” Tidow says. “Used things have a future – those who give used things a second life avoid waste, save raw materials and protect the environment and the climate.”
Ways to help fight racism
4 ways to be an ally in the fight against racism
• Police brutality is just a surface manifestation of deeper systemic racism.
• This ingrained racism affects black Americans on the job market, in workplaces, at the polling booth, in urban environments and more.
• White people and non-black people of colour must undertake conscious action and education to combat the problem.
The killing of George Floyd in police custody resulted in massive protests across more than 140 US cities and 20 countries around the world. These protests have been focused on police brutality, but also led on issues of structural and systemic racism that exist in most countries today.
As these long-standing global issues have come to the forefront of today’s discussions, so have questions on how to be an ally in the movement against anti-black racism. The road to allyship may require unlearning the teachings that you once thought true; this ongoing journey means educating oneself on the topics at hand and taking initiative. Here are resources, and some historical context, for white people and non-black people of colour who wish to be an ally.
1. Understand that systemic racism goes beyond police brutality
An early example of police brutality against unarmed African-Americans in modern times was the 1991 beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles. A grainy video of his assault was replayed for days on national news networks. Nearly 30 years later, the killing of George Floyd was shared across television news and social media networks. The digital age has played a pivotal role in capturing unjust aggression by police, and amplified the message for millions through sharing, retweeting and trending hashtags. The death of George Floyd magnified the conversation around systemic racism, but understanding the core of the issue goes beyond police brutality.
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Systemic racism exists within the banking, education industries and even within business. It is ingrained in nearly every aspect of how people move through societies, and it disproportionately affects black people. African-Americans are underrepresented in leadership roles across business industries, have a difficult time accessing quality housing, are over-represented in the criminal justice system, and their experiences in healthcare stand in stark contrast to those of white and non-black citizens.
In the United States, unemployment has been exacerbated by the coronavirus, but has hit black Americans especially severely. Even when employed, a black worker earns just 62% of the amount a white worker is paid.
Variations of racism and injustice range from very clear discriminatory actions to the most surreptitious policies. Historical examples in the US include poll taxes and literacy tests, which required citizens to pay for their right to vote and excluded people who couldn't read. This tactic marginalized people from low-income communities.
Segregation in cities across America may have been outlawed, but it nevertheless remains in existence in practice. Just look at Chicago’s north-south divide, Detroit’s 8 Mile Road and extensive gentrification in major cities such as Oakland and San Francisco. Income differences between white and black people are so prevalent, it leads to less lending options for black Americans to buy a home or own a business, education inequalities for children and harder to find job opportunities. The cycle of systemic racism comes in many forms, making it even more difficult to break.
2. Speak up against racism in the workplace and support black colleagues
Unfortunately, black professionals are still underrepresented in the workforce despite gains in undergraduate degrees. (For example, in 2018, 31% of black people in the US attained a university degree or higher compared to just 16% in 1992.) This lack of visibility is particularly stark in senior leadership roles, where just 3.3% of roles are currently filled by black employees. If your organisation is lacking in diversity, there are several ways to tackle the issue with your colleagues and keep an organisation accountable:
• Encourage resource groups for your black, indigenous and people-of-colour employees (BIPOC) to connect on experiences and find ways to address racism.
• If your organisation doesn’t have a diversity and inclusion team, start working on ways to develop one. Companies that build on diversity and inclusion have a greater chance of outperforming and attracting top talent.
• Apply mentorship opportunities for BIPOC employees to ensure they have equal opportunities and access to promotion.
Beyond advancement barriers, black employees often face discrimination from their co-workers. In fact, a recent Glassdoor survey found that three out of five workers in the US had seen or experienced discrimination at work. While this can be overt, it often takes the form of micro-aggressions, and may not be covered in cultural sensitivity trainings. Speaking up about race issues is often the first step allies can take against systemic racism in the workplace.
As a non-black colleague, it's important to show your allyship and condone unjust actions against black people. However, there are better ways to support your black colleagues, starting off by just listening. By being there and hearing their experiences, you are already showing your support. As a company, it's vital to ensure safe places exist where employees feel able to speak about what is happening.
Another way to be an ally is by educating yourself to better understand your black colleagues' perspective. There are several books to help you learn about white privilege and how to start noticing systemic racism, while the National Museum of African American History and Culture has released an online programme that will help you learn about race through different exercises and videos.
3. Target racism in education
From experiencing a disproportionate number of suspensions to amassing more student debt, black students face more barriers than their white peers in education. It starts in school. More than 60 years ago, segregation between white and black children ended with the US Supreme Court case of Brown v Board of Education. But many schools remain segregated and unequal, due to the economic and social inequalities faced by African-American communities. Schools predominantly attended by people of colour are almost always underfunded. Though many previous laws in the Jim Crow era have been banned, conversations about segregation in today’s schools and education system are mostly non-existent.
Ensuring equitable education for black students requires action at all levels. To engage in addressing racism in education, there are many ways to learn and get involved:
• Very few books for children involve non-white main characters. As summer holidays begin, here are some books featuring black and people of colour characters for children.
• A podcast episode looking at Brown v Board of Education’s decision and the importance of having black teachers in schools.
• Schott Foundation for Public Education is a US-based resource offering information on racial injustice in the education system with a call of action to get involved in your communities.
• Code Switch listed podcasts, films and books about systemic racism, including inequality in schools, and how to have better, thoughtful conversations.
4. Petitions and political engagement
Today’s anti-black racism stems from systemic racism that has gone unaddressed for decades. These racist systems are far-reaching, and many will require sustained public efforts to fix them.
Protests, petitions and calls for action in the past few weeks have already changed business policies and governance in cities, states and countries around the world. The National Football League (NFL) previously mentioned they would charge fines to teams if players were to kneel during the national anthem, but since the George Floyd protests erupted, they have changed their stance and embraced the Black Lives Matter movement.
After the killing of an unarmed black woman in her home, the city of Louisville, Kentucky enacted the Breonna Taylor Law to ban no-knock warrants. These reforms are not restricted to the US either: Berlin became the first German state to pass a law barring public authorities, like the police, from stopping people based on race, gender or sexual orientation.
Political action from governments and other decision-makers will require continuous encouragement. That's why reaching out to your local and national political leaders can be another way to be an ally. Petitions are another way to show your support for anti-racism in your community. Change.org is a good place to start, if looking for national or international petitions. Since many regions and countries experience racism differently, it is also good to seek out local resources for the policies that may have the most impact in your community.
Alicia Garza, one of the founders of Black Lives Matter, was honoured by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader in 2020. The organisation she started has grown to include many local Black Lives Matter chapters around the world; finding one in your local area can give you insight in how best to get involved with your local organizers.
Social media also can be a great place to find out which policy changes activists in your area are petitioning for. Below are a few top accounts organizing against anti-black racism and police brutality that are good places to start:
• NAACP
There are many different ways for allies to get involved in the fight against racial injustice. The most effective thing an ally can do is get involved, stay involved, and continue educating others on the movement against anti-black racism.
Resources
It’s time for white people to step up for black colleagues – The Financial Times
How you can be an ally to the Black Lives Matter movement – Great Big Story
Toward a Racially Just Workplace – Harvard Business Review
Resources for non-black POC
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