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          Nigerians Reconsider World Cup Viewing Centers After Attack

   by Heather Murdock

   Free TV channels in Nigeria don't show the World Cup.  But for about 25
   cents, fans across the country can enjoy the game at "viewing centers,"
   which are often as informal as a television set and a bunch of chairs.

   In northeastern Nigeria, where a five-year Islamist insurgency has
   killed thousands of people and crushed the economy, football is one of
   the few pleasures left.

   Beauty Zopti, a fan, lives in Bauchi, a northern state bordering Yobe,
   where the bomb hit fans during the Brazil-Mexico World Cup match
   Tuesday night.

   "I do go to viewing center to watch football.  But due to what is
   happening now, I think one should rethink," Zopti said. "Because
   definitely I'm thinking of watching it at home, because going to the
   viewing center has become something else with the recent bombing all
   over."

   At the end of May, 40 people were killed watching a football match at a
   viewing center in Adamawa state.  Two weeks earlier, in Plateau state,
   security forces stopped an attempted attack on a viewing center, but
   three people were still killed, including the bomber.
     ''No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks Tuesday, that
   killed 21 people in Damaturu, but Boko Haram insurgents are widely
   blamed.

   The insurgency appears to have escalated in recent months, with more
   than 2,000 people killed this year alone and hundreds of schoolgirls
   kidnapped. The girls have been held captive now for over two months.

   "Massacres have been occurring with regularity and some communities
   have actually been wiped out over the last six weeks.  So the evidence
   is clear that the insurgency is getting worse," noted Jibrin Ibrahim,
   the executive director of the Center for Democracy and Development in
   Abuja.

   According to the United Nations, roughly half a million people have
   fled their homes because of the violence.

   Boko Haram preaches its own harsh version of Islamic law that rejects
   all things Western, which, to them, includes football.   But TV ratings
   show nothing is more African than football, with at least 17.5 million
   people in Nigeria alone watching the Nigeria-Iran matchup Monday night.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/nigerians-reconsider-world-cup-viewin
   g-centers-after-attack/1939516.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/nigerians-reconsider-world-cup-viewing-centers-after-attack/1939516.html