In Nigeria love has been made illegal. On Valentine’s Day, the country’s National Assembly started holding public hearings on a bill that banned gay marriage and criminalized all aspects of homosexuality.

The Federal Republic of Nigeria has proposed a bill that bans a gay couple’s adoption of children, gay marriage and public displays of affection by same sex couples. Any person who serves as a witness to gay marriage is also subject to imprisonment.

The bill is almost sure to be passed. Archbishop Peter Akinola, head of Nigeria’s Anglican Church, has stated that homosexuality is “un-Biblical, unnatural and definitely un-African.” Besides the obvious human rights violations that Nigeria is proposing and the Anglican religious leader’s absolute lack of compassion and bigotry, there are other reasons why this bill is just ridiculous.

Nigeria is home of the Niger Delta, the largest wetland and third-largest drainage area in Africa. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has stated that oil is spilled into the environment at 2,300 cubic meters yearly with an estimated 300 individual oil spills annually. That’s just about the volume of an Olympic swimming pool. The World Bank has argued that the actual quantity of jettisoned oil is probably 10 times the officially claimed amount.

7,400 sq. km of rain forest has disappeared and tracts of mangrove forests have been destroyed. Gas flaring contributes greatly to climate change and Nigeria is currently worldwide number one flarer. It is comforting to know that gay marriage is at Nigeria’s political forefront, instead of the devastating environmental issues that threaten the entire planet.

In 2002, the Miss World Pageant had to be moved from Abuja, capital of Nigeria, to London after protests and rioting killed more than 100 men, women and children with more than 500 injured.

Sectarian violence between the Muslim north and Christian southeast is constantly wrought. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta [MEND] a miilitant rebel group seeking to localize control of Nigeria’s oil.

Guerillas have overpowered Shell’s private military guards and elite Nigerian armed forces. They have successfully shut down and delayed production as well as taken Shell’s operators hostage. In 2005, 10 Nigerian soldiers were killed by a MEND mortar shell. The group is well organised and has stated “our aim is to totally destroy the capacity of the Nigerian government to export oil.”

Again, at least Nigeria is making it’s stance on gay marriage clearly known. Other, more pressing issues, can stay on the back burner for now.

Columnist: Margeaux Corby - 03/08/07