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IMF, World Bank Must End Colonial Rule, Says ActionAid
IMF, World Bank Must End Colonial Rule, Says ActionAid
By: Michael Mike
ActionAid has said the time is up for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to stop perpetuating a colonial rule on the world.
The call was made at the weekend as the two global financial institutions conclude their Spring meetings in Washington DC this week.
ActionAid, in the statement said for the last 80 years the IMF and World Bank have been in existence, not much has changed as global South countries have been pushed further into debt and are reeling from the impacts of IMF-imposed austerity measures.
In its 2023 report Fifty Years of Failure, ActionAid found that despite following the IMF’s advice for decades, many African countries are in debt distress or facing a high risk of debt distress. Austerity measures have blocked the recruitment of teachers, doctors and nurses, even in countries with severe shortages, and has squeezed public sector salaries at a time of a rising cost of living.
Global Lead on Economic Justice and Public Services at ActionAid International, Roos Saalbrink, said:“Countries in the global South have since the structural adjustment progammes been in perpetual austerity, eroding public health and education. At a time of unprecedented climate crisis and debt crisis in the global South, the Bretton Woods Institutions continue to oil the wheels of colonial exploitation and extraction. At the same time global South governments have very little say in the policies coming from these institutions at the centre of the international financial architecture. 80 years is enough.”
The statement said ActionAid is also concerned about a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ which has ensured that the IMF managing director has for 80 years been European and the World Bank president a US national.
Country Director of ActionAid USA, Niranjali Amerasinghe, said: “Kristalina Georgieva’s appointment is a continuation of the colonial era ‘gentleman’s agreement’, where rich western powers have the most say. It is unacceptable that 80 years later we are still having to call this out. The IMF must change its leadership selection process, its decision-making model, and the harmful practices that keep developing countries in a cycle of crisis.
“As the climate crisis wreaks havoc, global South countries are so deep in debt that they cannot adapt to these impacts. We are calling for debt cancellation and tax justice to help these countries free up the finances needed to build resilience to climate impacts.
“We need to see an overhaul of the international financial architecture with a proper debt workout mechanism, a UN tax convention, to ensure global South governments have a say over policies impacting them disproportionately.”
ActionAid is a global federation working with more than 41 million people living in more than 71 of the world’s poorest countries, the organisation wants to see a just, fair, and sustainable world, in which everybody enjoys the right to a life of dignity, and freedom from poverty and oppression. We work to achieve social justice and gender equality and to eradicate poverty.
IMF, World Bank Must End Colonial Rule, Says ActionAid
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Social media reckless leaks of U.S. ISR flights over Lake Chad force ISWAP fighters to relocate
Social media reckless leaks of U.S. ISR flights over Lake Chad force ISWAP fighters to relocate
By: Zagazola Makama
Reckless disclosure of sensitive intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) operations by social media users has compromised ongoing counter-terrorism efforts in the Lake Chad region, forcing Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) fighters to relocate from monitored locations, reliable security sources told Zagazola Makama.
The social media handler had posted that the United States Air Force ISR aircraft, which has flown missions over the Lake Chad basin for three consecutive days, again returned on Saturday to conduct surveillance on ISWAP’s “Mantiqah Krinwa” in northern Borno. The aircraft, as with previous sorties, was tracked taking off from Accra, Ghana.
The operational gains, however, were undermined when a social media handler, identified as Brant Philip on Twitter (X), published the real-time flight paths and details of the ISR operations that were expected to remain covert.
The sources said that although ISWAP fighters were not recently concentrated in Krinwa, the ISR media leaks had unsettled the group, prompting a tactical movement from Dogon Chikun to Bulabulin in an apparent attempt to avoid potential air interdiction in identified locations.
“Once the details of the ISR mission were posted online, the terrorists became aware of the surveillance and began repositioning. These kinds of leaks directly endanger operations and personnel,” a security source said.
Another source noted that online exposure of such highly sensitive military activity compromises not only Nigerian security efforts but also partner operations.
“People on social media must understand that sharing operational intelligence, especially in real time, is not content, it is sabotage. Terrorists monitor these platforms too,” the source added.
Social media users, bloggers and open-source enthusiasts must exercise restraint and avoid amplifying sensitive information that could compromise missions, or empower terrorist networks.
Social media reckless leaks of U.S. ISR flights over Lake Chad force ISWAP fighters to relocate
Nine killed in katsina-ala multiple crash as nurtw officials arrested over road blockade
By: Zagazola Makama
The death toll from Friday’s multiple motor accident in Katsina-Ala, Benue State, has risen to nine, while four injured victims are currently receiving treatment in hospital, officials have confirmed.
The crash, which occurred on the Katsina-Ala axis, involved several vehicles after an alleged deliberate obstruction of the expressway by two members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW).
Sources told Zagazola Makama that the two drivers – Stephen Kahungur, of Gbor community, who drove a Toyota car with registration number Benue MKD 569 TJ, and Saater Vihiga, of Ammafu Village, who drove a Toyota Carina with registration number Benue AX 896 MKD – were arrested for allegedly blocking the highway and causing the fatal chain collision.
Also arrested was the Chairman of the NURTW Katsina-Ala branch, Aja Vanger, who was said to have mobilised the suspects to block the road.
The three suspects are currently in custody.
Authorities say investigation into the circumstances surrounding the obstruction and the fatal crash is ongoing.
Nine killed in katsina-ala multiple crash as nurtw officials arrested over road blockade
Police Scorpion squad arrests two notorious kidnappers, recovers three vehicles in zamfara
By: Zagazola Makama
Operatives of the Scorpion Squad have arrested two notorious kidnappers and armed robbers in Zamfara State and recovered three suspected stolen vehicles.
The operation, coordinated by ACP Victor O. Godfrey, was carried out on Nov. 25 following what security sources described as actionable digital reconstructive intelligence.
The suspects, Dalhatu Bashiru (aka Yellow), 38, and Chidiebere Nwadigo Emmanuel, 34, both ex-convicts, were apprehended for their alleged involvement in multiple kidnapping and car-snatching operations across several states.
Recovered from the suspects were: A black Toyota Corolla, Reg. No. JUX 578 AA, A grey Toyota Corolla, Reg. No. JUX 890 AA, an ash-coloured Toyota Camry (Pencil Light), Reg. No. APR 459 AE
According to sources, the suspects confessed to participating in several high-profile criminal operations, including the Jan. 18, 2024 abduction of Mr. Segun Akinwumi O. near Rita Lori Hotel, Garki, Abuja.
In that incident, the victim was kidnapped from his residence and taken toward Kano. While en route, the gang allegedly dispossessed him of his ATM cards in Kaduna, where ₦500,000 was transferred from his bank account.
Luck ran out for the gang after they were intercepted at a filling station in Kaduna. Three members escaped, but Chidiebere, Dalhatu (Yellow), and another suspect, now at large were identified. Their accomplice, Chinanza Philip Okoye Michael, was arrested, the victim rescued unhurt, and his vehicle recovered.
Investigations further revealed that the arrested suspects had previously been apprehended in November 2023 for similar offences and arraigned at the High Court, Kwali, but allegedly returned to crime while on court bail.
Police operatives also recovered three Beretta pistols from the suspects.
Security authorities said the suspects confessed to snatching over 20 exotic SUVs within Abuja.
Efforts are ongoing to apprehend the remaining fleeing suspect.
Police Scorpion squad arrests two notorious kidnappers, recovers three vehicles in zamfara
Social media reckless leaks of U.S. ISR flights over Lake Chad force ISWAP fighters to relocate
Nine killed in katsina-ala multiple crash as nurtw officials arrested over road blockade
Police arrest own inspector, brother over alleged attack and forceful seizure of corpse in Benue
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