The Nation Newspaper

Category: Insight

  • Good, bad, ugly face of outsourcing

    Good, bad, ugly face of outsourcing

    There is a bourgeoning trade in outsourcing, with many businesses built around it. But there are fears that this otherwise booming industry is shockingly harmful to Nigeria’s fragile economy, reports Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf

    LIKE most new concepts, the term ‘outsourcing’ literally crept into our lexicon recently and has since become a new fad, or if you may, a corporate culture of some sort.

    Outsourcing demystified

    Outsourcing is the process by which companies and organisations contract out all or some aspects of their services to third parties.

    Several related terms have emerged to refer to various aspects of the complex relationship between economic organisations or networks, such as nearshoring, crowdsourcing, multisourcing and strategic outsourcing.

    Shedding more light, Mr. Ade Awonaike, an executive member of the Outsourcing Professionals Association of Nigeria (AOPN), which is the umbrella body of outsourcing practitioners, said contracting is a totally deferent phenomenon from management practice of outsourcing.

    A strong proponent of outsourcing, Awonaike said: “In outsourcing, your engagement with an organisation is not fixed, even though the outsourcing company engages you fully as their staff, they will attach you to a client and when you are with a client and the client needs to downsize, you will not lose your job, the client will only have to send you back to your outsourcing company, who is your employer and with whom as an outsourcing staff, you enjoy all the benefits that the staff enjoy.”

    Outsourcing Professionals Association of Nigeria was registered in 2009 and is the only duly recognised association of outsourcers in Nigeria and is affiliated to the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP), which is a US-based organisation.

    Reasons for outsourcing

    Companies outsource to avoid certain types of costs. They outsource the non-core activities. Among the reasons companies elect to outsource include the avoidance of regulations, high taxes, high energy costs, and costs associated with defined benefits in labour-union contracts and taxes for government-mandated benefits.

    Perceived or actual gross margin in the short-run incentivises a company to outsource. With reduced short-run costs, executive management sees the opportunity for short-run profits, while the income growth of the consumer base is strained. This motivates companies to outsource for lower labour costs. However, the company may or may not incur unexpected costs to train these overseas workers. Lower regulatory costs are an addition to companies saving money when outsourcing.

    Businesses increasingly outsourced to suppliers outside their own country are sometimes referred to as offshoring or offshore outsourcing.

    Experience abroad

    On comparative costs, a U.S. employer typically incurs higher defined benefit costs associated with taxes to account for social security, medicare, safety protection (OSHA regulations) and FICA taxes etc. than in other countries.

    Benefits of outsourcing

    Outsourcing can offer greater budget flexibility and control. Outsourcing lets organisations pay for only the services they need, when they need them. It also reduces the need to hire and train specialised staff, brings in fresh engineering expertise, and reduces capital and operating expenses.

    According to Wikipedia, outsourcing became a globalised phenomenon following the growth of groups of people using online technologies to use outsourcing as a way to build a viable service delivery business that can be run from virtually anywhere in the world.

    Expatiating, Wikipedia noted that; “The preferential contract rates that can be obtained by temporarily employing experts in specific areas to deliver elements of a project purely online means that there is a growing number of small businesses that operate entirely online using offshore contractors to deliver the work before repackaging it to deliver to the end user.”

    One common area where this business model thrives is in providing website creation, analysis and marketing services. All elements can be done remotely and delivered digitally, and service providers can leverage the scale and economy of outsourcing to deliver high-value services at reduced end-customer prices.

    Awonaike also shares the same sentiments. According to him, there are enormous benefits to be derived from outsourcing, whether in terms of saving running costs, downtime, among others.

    Mr. David Onu, an ICT expert, is on the same page with Awonaike.

    To him, outsourcing has the potential to generate over 500,000 jobs in Nigeria within a very short time if fully embraced by public and private companies.

    Outsourcing, Onu recalled, “Generated over 20milllion jobs in India in just a few years and could also solve the problem of unemployment in Nigeria if the country bought into it.”

    Expatiating, he said: “outsourcing has been discovered as the fastest way to create demand-driven jobs in the emerging economies all over the world.”

    He said most Nigerian public and private companies would have their annual revenues increased if they contract out some of their non-core functions, like complaint centre, to outsourcing companies.

    Onu, who is the CEO of an Abuja based IT/outsourcing company, Interranetworks, said most companies do not maintain a point of interaction with their customers, adding that this often makes them not to retain their customers for a long time.

    He said his company which was set up just two years ago, already had a staff strength of over 200, adding that many are likely to join before the end of the year.

    “Outsourcing industry has been discovered as the fastest way to create jobs in the world, especially where unemployment is the problem. In India alone this industry generated over 20million jobs in just few years. In Nigeria, conservatively, it could generate over 500,000 jobs within a very short time if fully embraced by all—the government and the private sector.

    “Everyday, consumers complain about one thing or the other from their service providers without getting appropriate redress. This often makes many consumers to either sue or leave their service providers in protest. This is because most companies do not bother to set up a point of interaction between them and their customers. But what they don’t know is that instead of losing customers they can simply outsource this non-core duty to an outside company and the relationship between them and their customers would be maintained through this call centre interaction,” the Interranetworks CEO said.

    Adverse effect on the economy

    According to analysts, outsourcing which is more a global phenomenon is manifesting all its ugliness in Nigeria, and is worsening the already precarious unemployment challenge in the country.

    In the view of Mr. Stanley Okeke, a legal practitioner, “When companies offshore products and services, those jobs may leave the home country for foreign countries at the expense of the wealth-producing sectors, just as outsourcing may increase the risk of leakage and reduce confidentiality, as well as introduce additional privacy and security concerns.”

    Besides, he said, companies may make short-run profits from cheaper overseas labour and currency mainly in wealth-consuming sectors at the long-run expense of an economy’s wealth-producing sectors, thus straining the home country’s tax base, income growth, and increasing the debt burden.

    Investigation by The Nation revealed that not much was known about how Nigerian workers in the employ of outsourcing firms were treated until the recent unprovoked controversial sacking of 3000 workers in the Call Centre Service of Airtel Nigeria recently.

    The Nation findings showed that the arbitrary termination of employment of workers recruited to man the Call Centres by Spanco Channel BPO and Tech Mahindra, two Indian firms, gave useful insight on the quality of existing labour relations in many organisations in the country.

    That most of these companies engage in sharp labour practices that they dare not contemplate in their home countries, brings to the fore their disdain for Nigeria.

    It was learnt that Airtel initially disowned the disengaged workers, claiming that they were ‘agency employees’ with expired contracts.

    This, according to analysts, goes a long way to demonstrate how poorly workers recruited under such an arrangement, who labour daily to offer services to the establishment, are treated.

    Media reports are awash with harrowing tales of other telecoms operators, and several international organisations also make use of such firms and their conditions of services are equally deplorable.

    “The rate at which blue chip companies are outsourcing some critical parts of their services to agencies who subject their workforce to harrowing experiences all in the pretext that there is high unemployment calls for serious investigations,” stressed Okereke.

    Many of these outsourcing firms, he emphasised, “In the name of cutting corners to make huge profits, employ several backhand means, turning Nigeria into labour camps. These companies are posting high turn-over annually, and thus have now developed preference for casual workforce.”

    Reports abound of how job recruitment firms hire qualified Nigerians on behalf of multi-national firms operating in the country and outsource them to agencies working for these multi-nationals under manipulative contracts that neither guarantee the prospective employee job security nor the promised lucrative pay-package.

    Unregulated industry

    According to available information, there is no statistics about the actual population of firms involved in outsourcing.

    For instance, the issuance of licences to 298 outsourcing firms in the last one year alone, there is a need for greater scrutiny of these firms’ activities.

    Curiously, the federal government has maintained a studied silence over the issue of irregularity involving these outsourcing firms.

    The Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Nwogu, had reportedly said that the government is determined to ensure that the rights of the Nigerian workers are protected but it is not clear how he wants this to be achieved, thus fuelling fears that the government is at a quandary as to how to resolve the situation.

    According to a recent report by the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), for every full-time oil worker in Nigeria there are four casual workers. This should be unacceptable to any nation. Similar development is also unfolding in other sectors of the economy.

    For example, almost all the banks today make use of poorly paid contract staff in most of their operations. Just recently, Shell Petroleum Development Corporation (SPDC) divested, selling off its oil blocs, flow stations, well heads as well as assets to other oil companies without regard to the workers that man these equipment.

    Saddening too are reports of accidents in factories owned by the Chinese and Indians in Nigeria, where workers disfigured by machines are simply fired with no benefits.

    While we appreciate the role played by the organised labour and the National Assembly, as well as Lagos State lawmakers in facilitating the reinstatement of the Airtel Call Centre workers, we believe that the entire practice of outsourcing should be properly looked into to ensure that workers engaged through the process do not lose value or suffer arbitrarily.

    Equally welcomed is the promise by the Ministry of Labour and Productivity that a Technical Committee would be set up on the regulation of outsourcing and their labour-related issues in the telecommunications sector.

    Also, there is need for the National Assembly to enact employment legislation that would protect employees’ rights at such work places. There is a growing understanding that the current labour laws do not significantly protect employees from abuse by their employers in Nigeria, and foreign firms have exploited the loopholes to ‘maltreat’ Nigerian labourers. A situation where workers are easily dispensed of at the flimsiest of excuses dampens productivity with its attendant reduction of potential national output.

    That Nigerian workers who offer same services or shoulder even more responsibilities in most foreign firms in the country receive lower wages than their expatriate colleagues is antithetical to national development.

    Besides, government should match words with action and implement the local content law across all sectors of the economy to ensure that Nigerian job-seekers are not displaced by foreign expatriates, who often are not better skilled.

    Even as we support the ongoing efforts of the federal government to provide jobs for the teeming Nigerian youths, we believe that the efforts, which include attracting foreign investors into the country, would not yield the expected fruits if the citizens are short changed through unfair labour practices.

    Thus, we call for an urgent review of relevant laws relating to expatriate quota, hiring and firing, workers’ welfare, remuneration and working conditions.

    Above all, foreign firms operating in Nigeria should be compelled to avoid labour practices that cannot be permitted in their home countries. International best practices should equally be extended to Nigeria’s labour sector.

    Differing views

    Opinions are divided as to whether outsourcing is risky or not.

    A cross-section of experts, including human resource managers who spoke on the vexed issue of identity crisis involving outsourcing, noted that there is no reason why people should panic or express any worry over outsourcing because it delivers more benefits than expected.

    Firing the first salvo, Mr. Lawal Mobolaji, a member of the Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria, argued matter-of-factly: “I will not agree with that because outsourcing really is meant for non-core staff of an organisation. Ask people that work in the HR department about the categories of workers outsourced. They are factory workers, drivers, cleaners etc. those are the people that are non-core to you. And mainly in Nigeria these categories of people are usually hired on contract basis but we are promoting it as a management practice.”

    Continuing, he said: “We have quite a large number of staff in the bank today who are bank tellers. So you see a bank teller that is a graduate, you see a bank teller that has a master degree doing bank tellering and by the way what is bank tellering? It is something an OND or a school certificate holder can do if well trained. So we are telling you that you don’t need to employ graduates to handle those kinds of jobs, graduates should be more challenged with other things. Most banks are realising this right now and they are outsourcing their tellering functions.”

  • Lessons from Rwanda

    Lessons from Rwanda

    Smarting from the 1994 genocide that killed millions and attracted worldwide outcry, Rwanda is rebuilding and has so much to teach Nigeria, reports Sunday Oguntola, who visited the capital city of Kigali, recently.

    The eerie feeling is so unmistakable. It is palpable right from the expansive entrance. Visitors from around the globe have always felt much the same with each trip. This Wednesday afternoon, they walked quietly into the facility, pondering over the incident that preceded its erection.

    Everyone was engrossed, struggling hard to take in the ugly incident. Welcome to the Kigali Genocide Memorial Park where over 250,000 Rwandans were given a mass burial following the 1994 genocide that consumed over two million Tutsis.

    The park, located at the heart of Kigali Business District, represents, in so many ways, the grass-to-grace story of Rwanda. Opened in 1999, the centre finally took off in 2004 to stand as a memorial for the dark years of the East African nation and pass on a strong message to generations unborn never to allow such tragedy to repeat itself.

    While many Rwandans are reluctant to discuss details of the genocide, the memorial stands as a constant reminder, chronicling the history of the nation and how colonial powers planted the seed of ethnicity that eventually led to the 1994 genocide saga. The children section is arguably the most chilling with records of kids massacred during the incident.

    Echoes of genocide

    Rwandans are embarrassed, even scandalised, by the incident. This explains why they are reluctant to recall the details. Kantengwa Francoise, whose father was killed during the three-month madness, stated that it was an episode that happened to their utter shame. “We wished it never happened,” she began. “We often wonder how we ever got there. It makes us ashamed that we treated ourselves as animals, leading to needless deaths.” At the height of the killings, she was smuggled through Congo Brazzaville to Belgium where she remained until 2000.

    Sam Karara, a clearing and forwarding agent, said the incident was most regrettable and nerve-wrecking. But painful as it was, he is indisposed to recalling the chilling experience. “There is absolutely no need to go back there. It is better forgotten. Some things are just what they are. It (genocide) was an experience we should forget and move on,” he said.

    Like him, most Rwandans are in a hurry to move beyond the incident. But hard as they try, the record is always there for everyone to see. An incident that accounted for the death of millions with mass burials in different parts of the country cannot just be wished away. That is what the memorial park sees to.

    The brutal killings continue to reverberate throughout the world. They were more chilling considering how many kids were massacred. David Mugiranza was a buoyant 10-year-old whose dream was to be a doctor. He was butchered to death in his native village. His recorded last word was “The UN Army will come for us.” The United Nations army never came until death came knocking.

    A grenade was thrown into the building where Irene Umutomi, 6, and her parents were killed. Shortly before her death, she was reported to have said: “A militia man came up to kill me. I was astonished because he was a friend. He was working for my father and was always coming every day to eat. I asked why he wanted to kill me but he hit me with a big stick.”

    According to the park guide, who simply identified himself as Dennis, “people had no other work or preoccupation for the three months other than killing”. When the dust settled, millions of Tutsis had been wiped out. The nooks and crannies of Rwanda were simply reeking of blood. Million others became refugees, making the country one of the biggest contributors to the refugee crisis in those years.

    Never again

    Video records at the memorial park showed many awful and inhuman methods of extermination adopted by Hutu extremists during the genocide. But despite the monumental harvest of deaths and devastations, Rwanda is rising again. The nation is rebuilding massively to the envy of the international community. It is shedding the toga of genocide and media stereotype of a war-torn nation.

    This is all evident from the Kigali International Airport. Visitors are welcomed to a sweet aroma oozing from the well-kept facility. Though small by every standard of an international airport, services at the airport are most satisfying and stress-free. Officials went out of their way to leave a lasting impression of a lovely country in the hearts of travellers. At a time when national carriers are giving way to private investors, Rwand Air is a shining example of a national business that works. The airline is expanding its continental and international flights, winning incredible traffic to the country.

    Rwand Air recently added the Boeing 737-700NG to its expanding fleet. There are plans to also add bigger airplanes, an indication that business is looking up for the fledging national carrier. The story of Rwand Air is a constant feature in the former war-torn nation. Industries and companies are springing up, especially from the Middle East, bringing millions of dollars to the import-driven economy.

    Away with tribalism and ethnicity

    The 1994 genocide was caused by well-oiled machinery that thrived on tribal sentiments and resentment. This had been the bane of Rwanda, an otherwise homogenous nation. This deep-seated tribalism is one challenge Rwanda has been addressing right from the root.

    To make administration of the country convenient, the Belgian colonialists introduced a deadly system of divide-and-rule that pitched Rwandans against one another. The seed of discords was consolidated in 1932 when the colonial authorities introduced a national identity card based on ethnic standings. The classification was as artificial as callous. Rwandans had always been one and the same people. They all speak Kinyarwanda, proving there was no distinction among them.

    But all these changed when the colonialists created tribal divisions among an otherwise homogenous people. Those who owned up to 10 cows were marked as Tutsis while those with less than 10 cows were classified as Hutu.

    This social stratification deepened in 1932 when the first population counting indirectly recorded the Tutsis as constituting just 15 percent as against the 84 percent allocated to the Hutus. The Twa were just a meagre 1percent, according to the exercise.

    This created the seed of tribal suspicion and acrimony that led to the genocide after years of bitter bickering. To redress such deep-seated tribal sentiments and allegiance, the government has embarked on massive reorientation to take a stand against organised killing of any form throughout Rwanda.

    Every Rwandan has bought into the message that genocide or organised killings must never be recorded again in the nation of a thousand hills, as the country is widely known. It is a message that resonates and strikes the right chord in an average Rwandan. “We are all resolute no such killings will take place in any part of Rwanda again,” Karara stated.

    It is a resolution that is backed with appropriate actions and policies. In Rwanda of today, ethnic discrimination and racial imbalances have been totally eradicated. It is a direction charted by the government through stringent legislations. The government has criminalised genocide ideology, which can include intimidation, defamatory speeches, genocide denial and mocking of victims. It is a law in principle and practice.

    For example, it is highly punishable to refer to anybody as Tutsi or Hutu. Such comments are condemned as tribal and deadly. “If you are reported and found to have made such ethnic remarks, you are in serious troubles,” Patrick Nkubana stated.

    That is obliterating all tribal sentiments among Rwandans. Increasingly, they are seeing one another as one and relating as such. There is a collective resolve to get rid of every toga of tribalism among Rwandans.

    Perhaps the most commendable measure taken against tribalism in Rwanda is the expulsion of the place of origin slot from the constitution. It is the equivalent of the state of origin classification highly entrenched in Nigeria.

    “Rwandans are not Tutsi, Hutu or Twa. We are simply Rwandans. We are not interested in the province or district where anyone of us originates from. What matters is that we are Rwandans,” Sam Kwizera, a journalist, maintained.

    He is on the same page with many Rwandans. It has become not only illegal but also punishable to demand the origin of any Rwandan prior to employment, enrolment or enjoyment of any social infrastructure. For them, the Federal Character or Quota System holds no waters. They just consider themselves as Rwandans.

    This orientation has helped to reintegrate survivors of the deadly genocide into the mainstream society. Refugees are returning in droves almost every day without fear of molestation or discrimination. Perpetrators of genocide and hate sponsors are being prosecuted to deafening applause from the populace.

    To reassure Rwandans of his commitment to preventing future occurrence of the genocide President Paul Kagame visits the memorial every year to commemorate the event. He delivers inspiring speeches and puts up the burning flame as a mark of respect to the memories of the departed.

    All of these measures are reinvigorating confidence in the country. “We are on our way to the top again,” Kwizera stressed. This nationalistic spirit is uniting the people and lifting the nation out of the doldrums. Though industrialisation is far from impressive, infrastructural upgrade is moving at a remarkable pace. This is attracting firms and encouraging trading.

    Infrastructural upgrade

    With well-tarred and maintained road networks, the city of Kigali is a beauty to behold. Traffic move freely, saving manpower and labour hours. At nights, street lights enable vehicles to drive without headlamps. The 1.1 million residents of Kigali move around at night without fear or hindrance. This allows businesses to run round the clock and provide services to expanding clients.

    The power situation is almost impeccable. For over a week, the reporter observed only an incidence of outage that lasted for less than an hour. Businesses operate without generators, drastically reducing production costs. More cottage industries are opening up and are run by the many fresh graduates in the country.

    While Nigeria is vacillating on pre-paid metres, Rwandans have been enjoying the facility for years. Electricity consumers are on pay-as-you-use basis, eliminating corruption and other sharp practices prevalent in Nigeria’s power sector.

    Owing to constant power supply, the hospitality sector is simply soaring with hotels and other recreation centres opening up the city. Nearly every corner in Kigali has at least a hotel, though many are not of international standard.

    Fortified and secured

    Tourists and visitors are flocking to the East African nation, especially during summer. Memorial parks and monuments are heavily managed to attract international tourists. But all of these would have been counter-productive had security remained a mirage. Taught a hard lesson during the genocide and the preceding years, the Rwanda government has tightened security around the country to prevent internal and external aggression.

    Strategic locations in the hilly capital city are manned by soldiers strictly preoccupied by providing security as against harassing unarmed citizens. They stand day and night with arms to assure citizens of their impenetrable security dragnets. The citizenry enjoy a robust relationship with the operatives, even exchanging pleasantries with them at the slightest opportunity.

    Community policing advocated by a section of Nigerians has become entrenched in Rwanda. Members of the local vigilance groups are easily seen at nights with only sticks as their weapons. They traverse every community, making sure every insecurity threat is nipped in the bud. This arrangement has reduced armed robberies to near zero. Rwandans boast no armed robber can survive a five-minute operation in any part of Kigali without being caught. This allows them to sleep with their eyes closed, completely unafraid.

    Dealing with corruption

    In Rwanda, corruption is never treated with kid’s gloves. Penultimate weekend, President Kagame pardoned several former cabinet members who were sacked for corrupt practice. Most public office holders sit up and avoid corruption charges like a plague.

    The Transparency International ranked Rwanda as the eighth cleanest out of 47 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and 66th cleanest out of 178 in the world in 2010. Rwandans have a simple process of lodging corruption charges against office holders. A simple complaint, written or verbal, to the powerful Ombudsman, will not only elicit comprehensive investigations but most likely prosecution in the country.

    In terms of cleanliness, Kigali scores a big mark. From the Kigali International airport, one is welcomed by a fresh, reinvigorating, clean air difficult to find in many urban cities. From Kicukiro to Gikondo and other parts of the city, it is cleanliness all the way. It is hard to find dirt and wastes on the road. Drainages are free of blockages, partly because nylon packages are not allowed in Rwanda.

    All of these strides are attributable to the strong leadership offered by Kagame. The president, a former Rwandan Patriotic Force (RPF) leader, was re-elected for another seven-year term in 2010. He won by a landslide, a huge testimony to his wide popularity and acceptance by Rwandans.

    Many of them who spoke with the reporter described the President in glowing terms. “We love him with our lives,” Karara stressed. They said his ability to steer the nation away from tribal killings to rapid development stands him out as a leader par excellence. The giant stride Rwanda is taking confirms they are not far from the truth.

    Though a tiny country with just over 12 million people with only tea and coffee as export products, Rwanda indeed has so much to teach big brother Nigeria.

  • Behind the ‘Chinese walls’

    Behind the ‘Chinese walls’

    Against the backdrop of President Goodluck Jonathan’s recent visit to China, Gboyega Alaka takes a look at the growing number of Chinese living in Nigeria and attempts to unravel the attraction of the world’s most populous people to Africa’s most populous nation.

    The first impression you get every time you attempt to strike a conversation or any form of interaction with a Chinese on a Lagos street is fear, and suspicion. And it does not really matter whether it’s in the Computer Village, the Chinese Village or in the comfort of their offices. Next, is a quick attempt at a get-away from the dark-skinned stranger, whose mission they very surely cannot trust. In most cases, they retreat into their shells and quicken their pace to match up with their Chinese brothers (they usually walk the streets in groups). And if by any stroke of luck you manage to surmount this hurdle and get them to give some calculated response, the next hurdle is the language barrier; this is as tall as the real Chinese Wall!

    Communication breakdown

    The language barrier is a bigger barrier that can make mincemeat of any success in the adventure. A good number of these Asians can hardly string a simple sentence of English together. At the Chinese Village in Ketu, Lagos, they make use of their Nigerian sales assistants and staff, who have managed to strike a conversational chord with them, to get along in transacting their businesses. This extends even to the formal sectors, where they have continued to grow in strength. The Chinese have huge interests in companies like StarTimes, CCECC, a construction firm, Tecno, Huawei, both technology and telecommunications firms, WAHUM, to mention a few. A ‘no speak English’ or ‘No sabi English’ response from them, therefore, usually marks a frustrating and disappointing ‘end of discussion.’

    The question is: since they can’t speak English, why do they continue to troop into Africa’s most populous country? Unlike what many may believe, China is not in any known economic distress. It is in fact the world’s leading economy at the moment.

    A cursory check shows that the number of oriental Asians, particularly the Chinese, has been on the increase, especially since the beginning of the new democracy. While an inability to speak English does not necessarily cast a question mark on their literacy status, it nevertheless raises a big question mark on their readiness to integrate.

    The tie that binds

    Interestingly, Nigeria and the People’s Republic of China first established diplomatic relations on February 10, 1971; but it wasn’t until the last two decades that the relationship grew, primarily because of international isolation and Western condemnation of the then Nigerian military regime. While it has also been said that the Chinese government’s foray into Nigeria is driven by an insatiable thirst for her oil (China has acquired a considerable chunk of Nigeria’s oil wells), her support to Nigeria in the area of economy, infrastructural development and military are prominent. Bilateral trade between both countries reached $3 billion in 2006, up from $384 million in 1998, culminating in two state visits by its former president, Hu Jintao. Both nations also signed a memorandum of understanding on establishing a strategic partnership, whilst China on its part has supported Nigeria’s bid for a seat in the U.N. Security Council. More recently, China also pledged to invest $267 million to help build the Lagos Lekki Free-trade Zone. According to the Heritage Foundation (China Global Investment Tracker Interactive, January 2012), China’s net investment in Nigeria reached $15.42 billion by 2012.

    With such huge investment, it is little wonder that her people have seemingly discovered a haven in Nigeria. In developing a solid relationship with one of Africa’s top three economies, it might be said that China is also opening up overseas market for its very buoyant production sector. But the relationship has not come without its sore points, as China has been accused of flooding the Nigerian market with cheap goods, especially textiles. Combined with the importation of second hand clothes from Europe, China’s action is said to be responsible for the closure of 65 textile mills and the laying-off of over 150,000 textile workers across the country.

    Aside their incursion into the formal sectors, such as construction, rail development, energy and telecommunications, the Chinese continue to be very visible even in retail trade and hospitality business, especially with their trade mark China-Towns and Chinese Villages and numerous hotels and restaurants.

    According to Shaohua, 25, who runs a clothing store in Chinese Village and also goes by the local name ‘Tunji’, “Chinese people like to go out of their country to do business and make money.” In his smattering English, he explains that his people are driven by an inherent mercantile nature. Shaohua, with a rich sense of humour, was the first Chinese to open up to being spoken to. Ostensibly, he was also in a good mood, as he was chatting and laughing with a couple of Nigerian sales-girls, who were equally having fun taunting him. Without any prodding, he volunteered in between dabbing at his bloodied nose, ‘Catarrh e too much for Nigeria.’ He has a wife and a kid back home in China, and has only been in Nigeria for two years. Of business, he says, “It is sometimes good, and sometimes bad.” On this wet afternoon, business seemed visibly low, as few people were seen moving from one shop to the other. He disclosed that the turnout of customers to the village can be very low every time it rains. He revealed proudly that he has also learnt to eat and enjoy Nigerian foods, such as potato, pepper-soup, fried rice and chicken, and corn. Well, he’s a bit familiar with corn, since it is also grown back home in China, and rice as well. Of Nigerian women, Shaohua thinks ‘they’re good.’ This, of course, he said after some furtive glances at the reporter.

    He was asked if he lives among Nigerians and if he patronised public transport? “Me enter bus go Oshodi,” was his gleeful response, choosing to begin with the latter question. He, however, said he does not live in town and cannot because of “thief plenty for Nigeria.” According to him, owning an apartment in town is too risky, as his house could be looted while he is at work. And so, he lives within the enclave of the Chinese Village and he is happy.

    The reason for the fear and suspicion is understood. According to one of the salesgirls, the rampant stories of kidnapping and robbery are some other reasons why the Chinese are afraid and prefer to keep to themselves. From Tony, a high school student, who has come to spend his holiday with his father, to the tall and seemingly recluse ‘Smokey Robbinson,’ who is just content with dragging at his cigarette, to Mr Li, who gladly declared himself a half-Chinese-half-Nigerian, and Gohl – a skinny young lad who is glad to announce that he has been to Abuja; it eventually turned out to be an adventure. There is also Sam and Wei, a pleasant Nigerian-Chinese couple, who run shop B10, Uncle Sam & Windy Store on the upper floor of the left wing of the Chinese Village.

    Like the Chinese, like the Igbo

    At the end of a full day in between the high walls of this Chinese enclave, what became really clear is the seeming resemblance of the Chinese to the Nigerian Igbo people. Like the Igbo, they are very industrious and will go to any length and any part of the world to do anything legitimate to make money. Also like the Igbo, they are not necessarily bothered by a quest for western education, and they have a deep passion for trading. Most importantly, they do not shy away from production. The Chinese are masters at fabricating popular products, a trait common amongst the Igbo. Whether it’s in core technology such as machinery and spare parts production or in fabric manufacturing, the Chinese are well at home. The good thing of course is that both groups are steadily improving, except of course the Chinese are way ahead, due largely to the support they enjoy from their home government.

    Also, age is no barrier for a Chinese when it comes to owning or running a business. Gohl, for instance, looked to be in his teenage years, but already he has made the long trip to Nigeria. He practically runs the big fabric shop in the ‘village;’ something you can only find amongst the Igbo in Nigeria. And to top it up, he has been to Abuja!

    As demonstrated by Wei, the Chinese half of the Nigerian-Chinese couple, if the Chinese can overcome the phobia of mixing with the locals, they have the ability to quickly learn the vocabulary of their host community. And this is another major similarity to the Igbo. It was thus a pleasant surprise to hear a Chinese woman utter with total fluency ‘e wole’ and ‘ki lefe,’ two Yoruba expressions for ‘Please come in’ and ‘what do you want?’

    The half-Chinese, half-Nigerian

    Mr. Li is in his early fifties and sells mainly children clothing. He’s been around since 2002, when the ever-bustling Awolowo Road China Town in Ikoyi used to be the beehive of Chinese-Nigerian trading activities, and declared gleefully that he is half-Chinese, half-Nigerian. He is at home with Nigerian foods – or so he thinks, since he eats potato, yam and corn. However, for someone who has spent over ten years in Lagos, his level of English competence appeared to be very low. He apparently has not mixed well enough, and the suspicion still lurks in his eyes. But Li does not think so. “By simply looking at Nigerians, I can tell whether they are Yoruba, Igbo or Hausa,” adding that he has remained in Nigeria for so long because he already feels some kind of brotherly attachment to the people. He laments that business has nose-dived in recent time, compared to the good old days on Awolowo Road.

    And as for Tony who has come to spend his high school holidays with his father, the attraction is the weather and the lure to see new lands. Tony will be going back to China soon, but promises to be back. Already, he seems to enjoy some level of popularity with the Nigerian girls in the complex, with whom he exchanged banters.

    An amazing Nigerian-Chinese couple

    Wei, a delightful Chinese lady, beckons customers to her shop with her seamless rendition of ‘E wole.’ Considering how herculean it was to find an English-speaking Chinese all-day, it was indeed like a jackpot meeting Wei. She is married to Samuel Musa, a Nigerian, since 2006. She announced proudly that she also speaks pidgin English, a smattering Igbo language and can exchange greetings in Hausa. Not just that. She is also a master in Nigerian culinary: “I cook egusi, okro, vegetable soup, stew and I also pound yam, prepare amala and semo.” They got legally married at the Ikoyi Registry in Lagos. Wei declared amidst smiles that her attraction to Sam was his openness. “He is different; he is straightforward and open, like Chinese men.”

    On his part, Sam, who hails from the Eggon tribe in Nasarawa State, said aside the wedding in Lagos, they also went to China to consummate the union with Wei’s people. He met her at the Awolowo Road China Town, through her sister, whom he used to patronise; fell in love with her and today they have two kids: a boy and a girl. As an in-law and as a businessman who trades in adult and children clothing, Sam revealed that he visits China regularly and confessed that the Chinese are indeed a very friendly people. “They welcome visitors a lot, but they don’t like to be cheated,” he said. Because he is married to one of them, Sam is well trusted amongst the Chinese in the complex and says he and Wei are sometimes called in to help with interpretation and other knotty issues. Wei, by the way, also speaks French.

    Language barrier and insecurity

    Explaining why they look restrained in mixing with Nigerians, Wei said, “You know, outside is not safe because of cases of armed robbery and all sorts of violence. And because most hardly speak English or know anyone, the tendency is for them to be afraid and feel insecure. So the Chinese Village provides them with that security, neighbourliness and rest of mind.”

    She observed that the Chinese cannot be compared to the Lebanese or Indians, who are more used to the system and speak English and French very well. Even as recently as two days before the reporter’s visit, the Immigration officials were at the complex in search of illegal immigrants.

    Sam added that the fear is not unfounded. Not too long ago, one of them was kidnapped. According to him, “Initially, some of them lived outside the complex, but when armed robbers attacked them, they returned to the village. Last year, a Chinese lady was viciously attacked by a customer, whom she had taken into her warehouse within the complex and over N300,000 was taken away from her. When you add these to the huge language barrier and the fact that they feel very vulnerable, then you will understand why most of them choose to live inside the village. Even most of those that work for several other Chinese companies outside the village, including the construction company, CCECC, live here.”

    Sam emphasised that most Chinese inability to speak English isn’t necessarily a mark of illiteracy. His wife Wei, for instance, is a graduate of Chemistry. “It’s not just their lingua franca; but they recognise the power of the English language for integration and have employed the English and the Americans to teach them the language back home in China. If you go to Beijing, Shanghai or even Gwanzo, you’ll find a lot of them speaking English.”

    On business in the village

    “As you can see business is down; unlike in those days at Awolowo Road or even when we just moved here. Things took a downward turn when the place was shut down right after the late Stella Obasanjo died. You know she officially commissioned this place and gave us a lot of support to flourish. It was re-opened about six months later, but it has never really regained that tempo.” Sam lamented.

    To buttress his point, he revealed that he ordinarily used to have in his employ an average of eight sales assistants, but now, he can only manage about four. He added that the coming of the Chinese, whether to the formal sector or the informal sector, has helped in reducing the level of unemployment in the country. “No one can deny that organisations like StarTimes, Tecno, CCECC and other Chinese trading stores have provided employment for thousands of Nigerians,” he reasoned.

    On the allegation of substandard goods/products

    He dismissed the perception that Chinese are manufacturers of fake good. “That’s not true. Goods are made to specification and people only get what they request and pay for. Even Europeans and Americans go there (to China) to place orders for different kinds of specifications and they get them because over there, labour is cheap. So it’s your money that counts.” He added that officials of the Standard Organisation of Nigeria were at the complex recently and Sam and Windy’s store was given a clean bill of health, so it’s not everybody that brings in substandard goods. Using their shop as a reference therefore, Sam insists that quality goods abound.

    Sam would also want people to view the whole issue of standard from the angle of affordability. “At least they bring in what is affordable. Some people can only afford the cheap stuffs and they only oblige them by making available what they can afford. At the same time, they make top-notch quality; and it’s your financial power and tastes that eventually determine what you go for.

  • Warri: A return to hostilities

    Warri: A return to hostilities

    Riverside communities in Warri, Delta State woke up to another gale of violence on Tuesday, when a pocket of armed Egbema Ijaw militants unleashed terror on eight Itsekiri communities in Warri North Local Government Area of the state. South/South Regional Editor, SHOLA O’Neil, examines the lethal mix of politics, illegal bunkering and greed unearthed by the incident.

    No one saw it coming. At least not the two brothers who were gunned down at a jetty in Aja-Amita, in Tisun, a man and his wife were forced to watch helplessly as their home was torched and their five-year-old son thrown into the inferno. Their tormentors were ‘kind’ enough to grant them the relief of swift deaths, which saved them eternal agony and trauma of remembering the painful death of the innocent child.

    The death of the child was reminiscent of a similar incident in Koko, on the eve of the April 2003 governorship election. Four children of a local pastor of Foursquare Gospel Church, Pastor Omohodion, were flung – one after the other – into a bonfire made of their homes. The pastor and his wife were attending a weekly programme when armed raiders invaded the town.

    Mr. Isaac Dosu, Chairman of Aja-Amita, said five persons were gunned down in the community on Tuesday morning. He gave their names as Francis Amita, George Tonmughan, Felix and Thompson Atsanyinku (two brothers) Tonmughan Aduke.

    An eyewitness said one of the Atsanyinku brothers was about travelling to Sapele when the evasion took place. His brother, who accompanied him to the jetty to bid him farewell when the attackers’ opened fire, was also killed.

    The inferno

    The horrific scenes were replicated in several other communities – Gbokoda, Udo, Eghoro, Obaghoro, Ebrohim, Ajamita and Tisun among others. Not unexpectedly, it evoked a déjà vu and sent dozens of residents of riverside communities around the Benin River campering for safe havens.

    Thirteen persons have been confirmed dead while scores of others were still missing at the time of this report.

    “It is the terror of the Warri crisis all over again,” lamented Ejule at the Koko waterside, as hundreds of residents of the riverside communities fled the area through the historic town. The bus park in the town overflowed with fleeing riverside communities dwellers. Other panicky inhabitants of the area fled through Lagos junction to Ondo and Edo states.

    A woman, possibly in her early 50s, clutching Ghana-must-go bags containing her few valuables, told friends in Koko that she was not willing to take chances like she did 10 years ago during the Warri crisis. “That last time I was reduced to a beggar; all my belongings were destroyed and looted. I have just started to pick up again and now they have started again. No, I will not make the same mistake twice.”

    Mr. Ige Attah, a resident of Koko told our reporter that a thick fog of fear enveloped the town that Tuesday. “People are just being very watchful and keep close tab on the happenings in the waterways to decide if they should leave (Koko) or not.”

    The fear was not only in Koko. Magnified tales of destructions and deaths in the various communities sparked panic and concerns throughout the state. The tremor reverberated in the oil city of Warri and Escravos, among others. It was a painful reminder of the fragile nature of the peace in the area.

    The age-long Ijaw and Itsekiri neighbours have been living for nearly 10 years after their battle over the location of a local government headquarter led to the death of over 5,000 persons, mostly of Itsekiri extraction, built a massive wall of distrust and crippled the state’s economy.

    That war was sparked off when the late military dictator, General Sani Abacha, created three LGAs out of Warri. The headquarters of one of them was first announced as Ogbe-Ijoh, an Ijaw town, before it was dramatically relocated to Ogidigben (Escravos), an Itsekiri community. The Ijaws in the area accused their Itsekiri counterparts of using ‘political connection’ to influence the twist. They threatened that blood would flow; nobody took it seriously or fathomed the volume until it was too late.

    The battle to right the perceived wrong took several years, created armed warlords and foot soldiers that would later play key roles in the Niger Delta crisis before the 2009 amnesty proclamation. It also created billionaires and millionaires.

    The ingredients of that crisis were evident in the attack of Tuesday.

    Before the marauders raided the Itsekiri communities, there had been rumours of discontentment over the sharing of political offices accruing to Warri North. Ijaw groups, notably the Egbemas for Positive Changes, led by some of the key players in this latest mayhem, threatened to unleash bedlam to press home their demands for equal political space in the affairs of the council.

    Whodunit

    When the initial shock of the mindless killings subsided, it gave way to questions over who the masterminds were. A statement credited to a prominent Egbema (Ijaw) leader in the area said it was fighting between various Itsekiri groups in the area. Another version indicated that the Ijaws merely fought back after they were attacked by Itsekiri youths.

    The debate over the mystery was effectively laid to rest when a hitherto unknown Egbema Radical Group claimed responsibility for the attack. Amin Dada (apparently a pseudonym) who spoke on behalf of the group said the attack was part of the Ijaw’s agitation for a better deal. He said it was to ensure that the forthcoming local government polls in the state are shelved until their grievances are resolved.

    Amin Dada warned that the pulverisation of eight communities and death of at least 13 persons is just a mere tip of the iceberg of violence.

    Apostle Sunny Jero, an Egbema leader, however, said Amin and his ilk are merely hiding under the cover of political agitation to carry out their criminal activities. His position was supported by Ezekiel Akpasibouwei, a former member of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) and leader of the Deadly Underdogs, which controlled the Egbema area.

    Akpasibowei (aka Egbema 1) said the Egbema people “have no issues with our Itsekiri brothers,” adding that the perpetrators of the mayhem were kidnappers, sea pirates and illegal bunkerers who are opposed to the new dispensation of zero-tolerance to crime in the waterways.

    He said they are merely agitated because security operatives and notable Ijaw and Itsekiri leaders were not ready to condone the criminal activities of illegal bunkering and operators of rogue refineries where stolen crude oil are distilled.

    Our independent investigations revealed that five alleged members of the gang had earlier been arrested by security operatives. They are accused of kidnapping the trio of Shedrick Jero, Victor Goroh and Kenneth Biya, who are relatives of Apostle Jero, a member of the Egbema, Gbaramatu Communities Development Council (EGCDC).

    Nevertheless, before the arrest of the five, identified as Frank Yebu, Kenneth Odibo (alias Community), Solomon Ogomugo and Moses Doyabe, leaders of EFPC had raised the alarm over an alleged plot to implicate them in phantom crimes. Balas Miebi (aka producer) and Mr. Prince Fetimi, leaders of the Egbemas for Positive Change, told our reporter that money was offered to them to drop their agitation for justice. They said their refusal to accept the financial inducement had pitched them against powerful forces in the council, including their kinsmen who had been compromised.

    Days after their concerns, five of their members were arrested for the kidnap of Apostle Jero’s relations.

    In a swift reaction, P.E.Fetimi, Mr. Shedrack Igina, Mr. Smart Y.O Yortor and Comrade Shola Korokoro, who escaped arrest, issued a statement demanding ” the immediate, unconditional release of all persons arrested by the Joint Task Force,” warning that the state government shall and an oil multinational would be “be held accountable.”

    Money as the root of evil

    However, rumours making the rounds in the area after the attack hinted of discordance over the sharing of huge sums of money from an unnamed source. It was gathered that the fund, which was given for the resolution of the dispute in the area, was misappropriated by some leaders of the ethnic group.

    “The money was about N60 million; it was given to buy peace in the area. But those who shared the money kept the lion share to themselves and handed pittance to the militants. What we heard was released was just N4m. Initially the boys were satisfied. Trouble started when they got to hear the true figure. That was why they went on the first rampage burning houses of some of their kinsmen,” a source who asked not to be named said.

    Among Ijaw leaders targeted in the first rampage were Akposibowei and Jero, whose houses in Jero Zion were razed. The former told our reporter that their fate was fallout of their refusal to allow the criminal unhindered access to illegal bunkering.

    Speaking in the same vein, Jero, in a telephone interview with our reporter on Friday, debunked the allegation as a figment of the imagination of those spreading it.”Nobody gave money to anybody; these are just criminals and their sponsors who kidnapped my brothers.”

    He traced the crisis to the abduction of his brothers and subsequent arrests of the masterminds. “Their members reinforced and burnt down my houses. They wanted to bail the suspects but they couldn’t because of the weighty allegation against them, that is why they resulted to violence.”

    On the precipice again

    Whatever the cause of the latest killing may be, it has led to increased tension and pushed the state to the edge of another ethnic crisis. It was gathered that but for the quick intervention of notable leaders from both ethnic groups shortly after the incident, the scope of attack could have widened.

    The Itsekiri National Youth Council (INYC), the umbrella body of all youth activities of the ethnic group, also swiftly moved in to douse tension. The Chairman, Honourable David Tonwe, a former Chairman of Warri South West LGA, urged leaders of National Association of Itsekiri Students, their graduate counterparts (NAIG) and Iwere Development Association (IDA), who visited him and other leaders of the council in his Warri GRA residence to resist being used to escalate the crisis.

    “I appeal to you (youths) not to be used for crisis; we are not prepared to fight. We have lost 13 of our brothers and sisters; let’s all ensure that it does not escalate. War will not do anybody any good.”

    Tonwe remarked that the area is going through a painful rehabilitation process after a decade-long war, stressing, “Nobody who witnessed that crisis would encourage another war. So, I want to appeal to everybody to remain calm and hope that the law will take its course.”

    The INYC chair said he had received assurance from notable Ijaw leaders in the area that they do not support the dastardly attacks. “This is not about all Ijaws, it is just some criminals who want to cause another crisis,” he said.

    Tonwe’s position followed flurry of telephone calls between youth leaders of both ethnic groups in the area. Sources said shortly after the killings on Tuesday Ijaw leaders from neighbouring Gbaramatu Kingdom called their Itsekiri counterparts to denounce it. Chief Government Ekpemupolo (aka Tompolo), Chief Dan Ekpebide and Keston Pondi, among others, reportedly expressed their displeasure with the event.

    “They were emphatic that they would not support any action capable of plunging the area into a fresh crisis in Warri area. The Ijaws and Itsekiris have resolved to live together,” a reliable source close to the dialogue said.

    Yet, Mr. Omatseyi, an exco member of the National Association of Itsekiri Students said Itsekiris schooling in Ijaw areas, particularly those in the Bomadi School of Marine Technology in Bomadi, an Ijaw town, were forced into hiding after the attack.

    “They (students) wanted to flee Bomadi, but they were afraid because their Ijaw colleagues knew them as Itsekiri; they are afraid that they may be attacked on their way out of the town,” he said.

    Commander of the 13 Battalion of the Nigerian Army in Koko, Lt. Colonel F.S Etim, also joined in the call for calm. Etim told our reporter that the incident was “a pure case of criminality carried out by criminals trying to perpetrate their acts in the area.

    “Let’s not look at it from the ethnic coloration that people are trying to give to it,” he pleaded

    Sign of things to come?

    In spite of the assurances, our findings indicated that the incident might have opened up old wounds and cast doubts on the future of long term peace in the oil-rich city. A cross section of community leaders and neutrals who spoke on the incident described it as a wakeup call.

    Tonwe said the incident showed that some persons were still in possession of arms and ammunition in the area in spite of the Federal Government’s effort to end militancy through amnesty. He expressed concern that suspicions over the attack could lead to more challenges and appealed to security agencies to ensure that the masterminds of the attacks are brought to book in order to assuage the pains of those who lost loved ones as well as to discourage others who may want to engage in criminality.

    At the time of this report, three days after the carnage, both ethnic groups in the area said they sleep with one eye opened. No arrest had been made and those who fled are yet to return to their ravaged homes despite increased security patrol by the JTF. “We are hearing of reprisal attacks, threats of more violence and other rumours. We do not know what is going to happen,” a worried Egbema man told our reporter.

    Meanwhile, the Delta State Government has also moved to douse tension and restore sanity to the area. Reliable sources said Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan met with youth leaders from the two groups in Asaba on Wednesday and extracted assurances of good conduct from them.

    The state government, through its secretary (SSG), Comrade Ovouzorie Macaulay, also announced emergency measures aimed at restoring sanity. It includes a ban on movement of speedboats after dusk as well as affirmation of ban on youth associations.

    How far the security measures of the state government and the suffocating presence of security operatives in the Benin River area will go to curtail the bloodthirsty gang is yet to be seen.

    What is clear though is that the incident is another test of the prevailing brittle peace, not only between the Ijaws and Itsekiris living in the Benin River area, but those in other parts of Warri. How both groups manage now will go a long way to charting the course of the chequered history between these eternal neighbours.

  • After floods, snakes terrorise Bauchi community

    After floods, snakes terrorise Bauchi community

     Austine Tsenzughul in Bauchi State visited Duguri, a community threatened by flood and invasion by snakes.

    Nine months after the flood in Duguri, Bauchi State, has subsided and about seven months after the Presidential Committee on Relief and Rehabilitation led by Prof. Dora Akunyili promised to provide anti-snake venom vaccines to Duguri District, there seems to be no relief in sight.

    The physically and psychologically traumatised people of Duguri District in Alkaleri Local Government Area of Bauchi State, who are also in a severe agony from the devastation of the 2012 flood disaster and the poisonous snakes the flood deposited in the predominantly peasant valley, are waiting.

    Their hope has seemingly turned sour as the Akunyili-led Alhaji Aliko Dangote-chaired Presidential Committee on Flood Disaster promised relief materials and the rehabilitation of flood washed-away homes have not been fulfilled. And there is no news about the much expected vaccine. And the announcement by officials of the Federal Meteorological Department that there will be another flood in 2013 is worsening the people’s situation hourly, with their blood pressure dangerously increasing.

    Duguri district which is 136 kilometres from Bauchi, the state capital, is also 120 kilometres from Alkaleri, the local government headquarters in which Duguri administratively belongs, sits atop the fertile low land, south of the famous biggest natural tourist facility in West Africa, the Yankari Game Reserve. Duguri village, the largest settlement in the district, from which the district derives its name, has a population of more than 14,000.The inhabitants of the district are predominantly peasants involved in shifting cultivation. Among the crops they grow are sugar cane, water melon, banana, rice, corn, guinea corn, sorghum, millet, pepper, onion, carrot, tomato and other daily farm consumables. The people also rear goats, sheep, cows and domestic birds that are usually sold to supplement income from cultivated crops or utilised during festivals and other important occasions.

    Living in the past

    Though, there are sons and daughters of Duguri that are educated, and are occupying top positions in private firms, from the local, state to the federal governments’ levels, including international organisations, the majority of the people in Duguri have continued to live and experience life as enjoyed in the 17th century. This is typified by the conspicuous absence of a functional modern medical facility. It has a dispensary that was built over 36 years ago but not equipped and not functional. It also has a medical facility built by the Abubakar Tatari Ali government during the Shehu Shagari-led Second Republic.

    The medical facility, however, only dispenses anti-malaria drugs sent from the Bauchi State Agency for the Control of AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria [BACATMA]. The clinic, surrounded by unplanted thorny shrubs, is located three kilometres outside the village on Duguri to Geji Road. Though it is said to have eight staff, the facility is not equipped with drugs and medical utensils, but a sure comfort for assorted poisonous reptiles.

    The only staff quarters within the clinic which has been out of use for 11 years has become a fertile breeding home to assorted snakes that have become terrorists to the staff and patrons of the clinic, especially at nights. The clinic has neither a borehole, a well, nor any source of potable water, besides water harvested from rains, despite the district’s population of over 34,000.

    Duguri district, though chiefly inhabited by peasants, has more than 11 primary schools that feed the only junior and senior secondary school located in Duguri village. But this is not to say that the people have been impervious to western education or hate academic work or challenges. But the opportunity had not been kind to them, especially those who want to till the soil and get the needed education to make them meet up with current realities of the global village system.

    The district, like other areas in the state, has one of the best access roads from the state capital to the District Head’s official residence but lacks feeder roads from the food-producing villages. The Bauchi-Duguri Road, with construction work on-going, is dotted with concrete electric poles on the side. As at the time of this write-up, electricity to the District headquarters and villages along the easily motor-able road remained a near un-attainable luxury for the villagers.

    Unfortunately, and perhaps because of the loose environment, and its proximity to un-fenced Yankari Game Reserve, Duguri and its immediate environs ‘harbour’ poachers who make brisk business from games sourced from the Game Reserve to satisfy their financial and nutrition challenges against the Reserve’s interest. The people in these villages, according to investigations, have been living in the lowland for more than 60 years, and have not experienced flood disaster as they did in 2012.

    The flood did not only destroy crops, houses, and wasted domestic animals and birds, it swept away personal effects and rendered the people poorer than it met them, it has severed the people’s socio-economic life. Painfully, several lives were also lost to the flood, just as it left in its wake a permanent sadness and bitter memory in the lives of many. That is not all. There is a disaster within disaster. The merciless rampaging flood, said to have came from the over-flow of a Cameroonian dam, deposited assorted foreign venomous snakes in the entire Duguri District including neighbouring villages in Kanam District of Dengi Local Government Area of Plateau State.

    When this reporter visited Duguri, Geji, Shafa, Yuli, Gamu, Dogon-Ruwa, Bogos, Rimi, Kukuri, Keffi, Talan, Geji-Gamu, Kunzum, Yalam, Sabonlaye, Kungimbar, Gyel, Anguwar-Gebi, Bunn, Sabon-Gari,Yumi,Bayek and Gobir villages that have been hard hit by both flood and snakes’ invasion within Duguri district, last week, there was no smiling face among the over two hundred families he met.

    Across the former deep, but now shallow, alluvial river that is a natural boundary between Duguri District in Alkaleri Local Government Area, Bauchi State and Kwalele, Munn, Anguwar-Gero, Zali and other hamlets in Dengi, Kanam Local Government Area of Plateau State, the story is not different. Perhaps it is because of the topography, climate, vegetation and similarity in almost everything the people do.

    They all wore sad faces. There is no family in these villages and hamlets that had not lost at least two members to the terrorist, poisonous snakes.

    At the mercy of snakes

    There is no village in this Valley of Peasants that does not have at least 20 graves made up of children and adults, courtesy of the snakes identified by health workers in the area as vipers and puff adders or Kububuwa in Hausa language (as at June 9th 2013).

    The socio-economic life of the villagers is threatened, even as agriculture which is their backbone is losing steam as the people are no longer able to go to farm. What to eat is increasingly becoming a very serious issue to the people who hitherto lived in surplus, but now depend on relatives and relations outside the district to send food aid to them.

    Besides depriving them of their means of livelihood, houses to live in, and losing loved ones to the flood that ravaged more than 14 states in the country, the Duguri snake victims are paying very high price to obtain medical treatment for the bites. Some of the survivors and their relatives informed The Nation on Sunday that “it costs us N13,000 to transport a snake-bitten person to the General Hospital, Kaltungo, Gombe State which is over 200 kilometres away.

    “But that is not it. The road from here (Duguri) to Kaltungo is bad; it takes between three to five hours to get there. And sometimes the victims die before getting to the hospital. Then when we get there and we are not lucky to have the anti-snake venom vaccine, we have to buy from drug stores in town. And each dose costs between N11, 000 and N14, 000 and usually two doses are administered. So, all in all, we pay between N33, 000 and 40,000. And you know it is not everybody that can afford that amount.”

    At Munn, across the stream from Duguri, Mallam Abubakar Audu Maiayaba, who narrated his bitter experience, said he lost his younger brother, Danjuma 35, and his son Imrana 26, last March. He recalled “They had gone to clear the place so that when it rains we plant crops, and were bitten by snakes and before we could arrange for anything, they died. Danjuma left a wife and five children while Imrana left two children and a wife who have now gone to live with her parents.”

    Alhaji Adamu Abdullahi, 64, is the village head of Shafa (Sarkin Shafa). He lost his 14-year-old daughter, Sadiqa, to the poisonous foreign snake bite in May. She was bitten by the puff adder while sleeping in her bedroom at night. She was a junior student of the Government Secondary School, Duguri.

    He told this reporter that “the snake bit her while she was asleep in her bedroom at about midnight. We were sleeping outside here because of the heat and we heard her shout, when we got there the snake vanished but she showed us her hand where it bit her. We saw the blood trickling out from the spot, but before we could arrange for a car to convey her to Gombe, she took a deep breath, slumped and died.

    “The following night, while taking her female neighbours who were on a condolence to Sadiqa’s room, they saw the snake running into a hole in the room, so we dug it out and killed it,” Abdullahi explained.

    The village head confirmed that “in this village, not less than 11 people have died besides my daughter, and over 37 people have been bitten by snakes. The other villages around us are in the same problem. But we do not have anybody in authority to help us. As I talk to you, we have stopped going to the farm. The snakes are in our sugar cane farms, and in a few areas where the flood did not wash away.”

    However, Mohammed Hashimu, 30, also a Shafa farmer and a father of two, was lucky. He was bitten on his left hand by one of such snakes on June 3 while clearing his plot of land for planting. He was rushed to Kaltungo in Gombe State, where he “bought” his life back from the hospital ‘s medical staff after parting ways with N32, 500.Yet, as at the time of this report, he is unable to use his hand as the poison has crippled it.

    He now depends on his parents, relatives and age mates for his daily needs with his family. He complained: “Whenever I go out in the sun I feel pains all over me and my hand starts swelling.” Sadly, Hashimu has “no rich friend or relatives who can help me with money so that I can get better medical treatment.”

    In Dogon-Ruwa village, about 28 kilometres from Duguri, Kunzum, Yalam, Kungimbar, Sabonlayi, Bogos and several villages visited in the course of investigating the invasion of snakes, the scenarios were not different. There were gloomy faces, so many fresh graves, especially among the cluster of hamlets where many farmers with lean means have absolutely been rendered hapless and helpless. In these villages, it was learnt that between August and late November 2012, when it was realised that foreign snakes have invaded Duguri district, not less than 210 persons were bitten to death.

    At the mercy of snakes

    But to Abubakar Sani Sa’adu and his immediate family, their headache is “My houses were washed away by the flood along with the crops we harvested and stored at home. Our personal effects were also washed away, domestic birds gone. But our worst challenge here is the deposit of the dangerous foreign snakes that have been killing and terrorising our people. In villages where the means of transportation is not easy to come by, their situation is by far worse, because the poison does not allow its victim live up to 24 hours.”

    It is obvious that the population of the deadly reptiles has increased from what it was in 2012 to date. Though some farmers still brave the trend and go to work on their farms, as, according to Danjuma Mairogo of Dogon-Ruwa, “we have to eat, that means we have to work, though the snakes are a great barrier, we have no choice. We have nobody in the government to hear our cries and come to our help. But we have trust in Allah to help us. Insha Allah no politician shall come to us and ask us to vote for him and we will do that.”

    But children no longer accompany their parents to farm as they used to. And the brave adults that go to farm have resorted to wearing rain-boots and thick hand gloves, which are not convenient for the kind of farm work they are engaged in. They, however, must wear them to avoid snake bite.

    The snakes, which increase in numbers almost daily, it was learnt, are also attracted by the smell from chicken droppings. This has further reduced the population of domestic birds, as many families fear that keeping chickens will further invite snakes into their homes. A majority of families questioned in the area said, “We are all forgotten because we are poor and don’t have representatives in government to come to our aid. The politicians only know us when it comes to voting, thereafter we are not human beings.”

    In Geji, 39-year-old Abdullahi Abubakar, a sugar-cane farmer, a father of nine children from two wives and aged parents, revealed that “During the hot weather the snakes went into the sugar cane farms to escape from the heat and hatched more, so now even our sugar cane farms are no longer safe for us. Besides, due to the nature of sugar cane which attracts assorted insects, including frogs and toads, apart from these foreign snakes, there are other snakes that like to live in the farms and feed on these tiny creatures.”

    His childhood friend who is also his confidant, Mukthar Zubair Abubakar, 39, with 11 children from three wives, confirming the sorry-state of affairs in Duguri District, shaking his head tearfully, said, “my younger brother, Abba, aged 30, was bitten by the snake on May 27, 2013, he saw it afterwards and killed it. But before we could take him to Kaltungo in Gombe State for medical attention, he died on the way.”

    Zubair who is also deprived of the usual nocturnal visits to friends and relatives after a day’s work on his farm said, “It is no longer safe to walk the paths at night without a thick cover shoe. There is no more socialising, as we used to, after work on our farms because of the menace of the snakes. No more night business, our children neither go out at night nor during the day time to play with sand as we used to do. And young prospective husbands no longer go out to meet their heart throbs as it were, all because there was flood and the flood brought with it, the snakes and now our lives are miserable.”

    Recently, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) announced that 363 persons died in the 2012 flood, and seven million people were affected. In addition, 2.3 million persons were displaced from the 597,476 houses damaged and the Federal Government lost N2.6 trillion to the 2012 flood.

    Bauchi State Emergency Management Agency (BSEMA) is yet to say how many persons died, number of houses damaged, displaced persons and how the flood-related challenges are weighing the state economically and socially. It, however, complains that ”the state lost over N2 billion to the flood disaster, yet it is being given a paltry sum of N400 million by the Federal Government authority, a sum, state officials described as being grossly inadequate, even as a palliative measure.”

    Their cry is coming on the heels of the beneficiaries’ (flood victims) complaints that “what we are getting from the federal government’s N400 million is annoyingly too small, though we did not ask for it, but we are Nigerians and we are also the federal government’s property that we need to be well catered for.” Such complaints, according to The Nation on Sunday investigations are far below the devastation caused by the flood. For example, take the case of the Duguri people whose houses were completely washed away, by the flood and the poisonous snakes the same flood left behind, the loss of lives courtesy of the snakes.

    However, the saying goes, ‘one man’s meat, is another man’s poison.’ For the Duguri residents, as captured by Sarkin Yaki, Labaran Hashimu of Kunzum, “the houses we can rebuild, crops we can plant again if we can source seeds from our brothers from other places. But what about lives we are losing within our area on daily basis?”

    But when The Nation on Sunday contacted Alhaji Bappa Azare, Bauchi State Commissioner for Special Duties, who also led the Prof. Dora Akunyili team to Duguri on November 25, 2012, while she was at the area for assessment, he said, “The vaccines were received and sent to the people in Duguri.” He, however, did not disclose the quantity of the doses of the anti-snake venom vaccines, when it was delivered to the people and who received the vaccines on their behalf.

    Most of the Duguri residents spoken to denied knowledge of any anti- snake vaccines sent to them. The staff of the almost-abandoned drug-less health facilities confirmed that no drugs have been sent to the area, besides the anti malaria drugs sent to them from BACATMA, though most of them recalled they complained and gave Prof. Akunyili a sample of the foreign dangerous snakes.

    At Alkaleri General Hospital, medical staff who should have knowledge of the vaccines supplied for any specific purpose said ”nothing like that have been sent to this hospital, but you may confirm from the Health Commissioner in Bauchi.”

    The Duguri District Head, Alhaji Adamu Mohammed, (Wakilin Bauchi) in a pensive mood with a continuous shake of his head confirmed, ”between August 2012 and end of May 2013, not less than 210 people in the district have lost their lives to snake bites.” According to him, “we complained to the state government before the coming of the Presidential Committee on Flood and Rehabilitation here, but nothing was done and that was why we again complained to the Presidential Committee led by Prof. Akunyili when they came.”

    With the expected arrival of heavy rains and the people not going to work on their farms, children not going to school, the Duguri people are left on their own as the snakes continue to have their pleasure.

  • ‘Dana has almost turned me to a beggar’

    ‘Dana has almost turned me to a beggar’

    The owner of the building on which the plane crashed, Pastor Daniel Omowumi, spoke with Sunday Oguntola on his ordeals and futile efforts to get compensation in the last one year. Excerpts:

     

    How has it been in the last one year?

    My brother, it has been tough. It is not easy at all. It is only by the grace of God that I have been surviving. You know those who work and receive salaries are still struggling, let alone someone like me who has been out of business for almost a year now. It has been tough but God has been faithful. I have a family of eight, three biological children, my wife and others living with me.

    How far have you gone with Dana Plc on the issue of compensation?

    There is nothing at all from them. They only wrote my lawyer after I locked up their office requesting for two weeks to make an offer for compensation. They did not even bother to cross-check my claims; they were only willing to make an offer. Then a day before the two weeks elapsed, they wrote back asking for a week extension. That ends today (Friday) but we haven’t heard anything from them. Can you imagine that? You wonder the kind of boldness they have. They just do things as if nobody can question them.

    I originally would think that a responsible organisation like that will not wait for me to lock up their office before settlement.

    Until you picketed their office, are you saying there was no correspondence or negotiation with you?

    There was none at all. The letter we got three weeks ago was from the lawyer to their foreign insurer, Yomi Oshikoya. He told my lawyer that he had instructed Dana not to talk to anybody on compensations except him. If you go and ask Dana, they won’t say anything. I learnt their spokesman, Tony Usidamen, claimed on air that they were negotiating with me. I want him to provide evidence of negotiation with me. You can only be talking about negotiating if there had been an offer and I accepted or declined. Tony is a liar and what he said is untrue.

    How much claims have you put to them?

    It is about N500million for three different people. There is someone who had six warehouses of educational materials with me. There was another who had five warehouses of kitchen utensils. All the documents to that effect have been put across to Dana. I lost four apartments in the crash; one detached apartment; two bedroom apartments and a bungalow at the back, four fish ponds and my Xterra SUV.

    All the details were put across to them. Whenever my lawyer pressurises their lawyer, they will call for meetings and then decline. This has been dragging for almost a year now. They keep asking for all manners of documents, which we have provided. The only thing they have not asked for is the receipt of my life. Every required document has been given to them.

    The community recalled how helpful you were. How does it make you feel looking back now?

    When I got to that community, everything was at a standstill. Within the short time I was there, I alleviated poverty there to an extent. I moved there in January 2012. The house was completed in December 2011. I was barely six months when the crash happened. I believe in giving and that is the life I live. But now see the man giving has been made to start depending on others.

    But it is believed you received $30,000 from the airline. Is that true?

    Yes, I received that sum, which is about N4.5million from them. But how much is that compared to what I had there? So, I should be left alone after that peanut? I initially rejected the money but my lawyer, in his wisdom, said it was wrong. He said I should receive it that they might use it against me in the court. They might say when they wanted to start compensating me, I refused. It was on that basis that I collected the money from them.

    My lawyer said if they bring a kobo, we should collect it. The money came barely three months ago for an incident that happened almost a year ago. Dana has almost ruined my life. The airline destroyed my business.

    How does it make you feel that the airline is back in business?

    It makes me shudder at the kind of wickedness that we allow in this country. They destroyed the businesses of people and have returned to their own. They are back because they believe they get away with anything. It is a very bad signal for the country and a big slap on Nigeria. It is a disgrace on Nigeria. The thing is we have people feeding on the dead, forgetting that they will drop dead one day.

    How far are you willing to go with this battle?

    I won’t stop until I get my money.

    And you believe you will get it?

    I will get my money. I believe so without doubts. There won’t be a letdown until I get my money. The longer it takes the better for me.

    Did you receive any compensation from Lagos State on the crash site that is being turned to a cenotaph?

    I have not received anything. That is what you get from Nigeria.

    Were you ever contacted?

    I was invited to a meeting sometime ago that I would be compensated. They promised I would be relocated somewhere before then. As we speak, there is nothing like that. The meeting was at the instance of the ministry of lands and physical planning.

    What do you do every day when you wake up now?

    I just thank God because going by what is happening in this country, one is lucky to be alive. The whole thing has taught me never to rely on human beings. I have realised the best you can get from any human being is disappointment. God is the only one who does not disappoint.

    Do you see yourself bouncing back soon?

    My brother, I will be back. I won’t allow what happened to keep me down. I am going to emerge stronger and better from all of these.

     

  • One year after Dana crash victims seek justice

    One year after Dana crash victims seek justice

    A year after the Dana Air crash that killed 163 passengers, it is no longer business as usual at the Iju Ishaga site reports Sunday Oguntola

     

    It’s been over 30 years since Alhaja Ramota Akinwusi moved to House 11, Popoola Street, Iju-Ishaga Lagos. But the last one year has been the most traumatic and frenetic for the widow. “This place is not the same again at all,” she muttered last Friday.

    She was merely stating the obvious. The changes are there for all to see. Alhaja Ojasope, as she is popularly called, and other residents have been battling with how much has changed in the community. Many of their former neighbours and acquaintances are nowhere to be found again. At least four of them died when Dana Air Flight 992 crashed in the vicinity on June 3, 2012.

    It was a crash that was to change their destiny and that of the community forever!

    Mass relocation and arrivals

    Other survivors lost their apartments and accommodations, forcing them to relocate. Those whose lives and property were spared have lost the courage to live in the neighbourhood again. “Many of them have moved away. They say they see things and live under torment. The sight and sound of airplanes kill them every day psychologically,” a resident who identified himself as Ibrahim stated.

    Akinwusi, a leader in the community, said she had lost count of families that have moved away. “They keep going and going. I have known some of them for over 20 years. Some were tenants and some house owners. We have shared intimate moments together but no more, thanks to the Dana crash,” she added.

    Their departures left voids and memories difficult to replace. “Many of my friends and pals have left. It is so scary that it was the crash that made them leave,” Ibrahim lamented. These families were closely knitted, sharing close affinities forever severed in a harsh, unpleasant manner.

    But as they leave, there are naturally new arrivals. The high demand for accommodation in a populous city like Lagos would mean people will most certainly take over. In almost all the streets in the community, investigations showed there has been unprecedented arrival of new families. Blessing Uwa is one of them.

    Her new apartment on Olaniyi Street was badly affected when the McDonnell Douglas MD-83 plane crashed. Those who could not live with the torments left, making it possible for her to move in with her husband. “I came here about three months ago,” she began. “Though I knew about what happened but I was not bothered because I did not live here to see the carnages.”

    These arrivals have shot up rent values in the neighbourhood. A 3-bedroom apartment that used to go for N250, 000 per annum now costs N350,000 – 400,000. Yinka Bello, an estate agent in the community, said this is expected as house owners move to maximise profits.

    “Those whose buildings were affected had to rebuild through loans and borrowing. They have to recoup. Those whose houses were unaffected have to benefit from the current market value since their old tenants moved. That is why the rents have gone up drastically,” he explained.

    High costs of renovations and rebuilding

    For most house owners, the last one year has been frenetic. Many of them have had to rebuild devastated buildings at massive costs. The toilets, bathrooms and a room in the apartment of Alhaja Ojasope were badly destroyed after the crash. All of them are wearing a new look but at great costs.

    She revealed she had been left with no option than to obtain a high interest-paying loan to rebuild the structures. “I am only a poor widow. Where can I get money? What trade do I have? I only had to borrow and I am still heavily indebted for the reconstruction,” she hinted.

    One of her two shops has also been demolished to accommodate a new road construction in the community. “Since I moved here, things have never been this bad,” she complained. Mrs. Grace Adekunle is the owner of House 7 Popoola Street. The widow had been through the valley of the shadow of death since the incident.

    The trauma of leaving the house where her late husband was buried compounded her health challenges. Her blood pressure had been on the rise since. “I have not been myself at all. Apart from the loss of my trading business and the damage to our house, I was hospitalised and left to suffer,” she recounted. At a point, she moved to the rehabilitation home in Ipaja for victims where she said she only benefitted from the feeding.

    “They (Dana officials) took us to hospital for tests but failed to pay for our treatments. I stopped going after nothing was forthcoming. I had to live with a landlord in a room apartment after being a house owner for years,” she recalled.

    When she finally came back, she was faced with the challenge of rebuilding without funds. “I had to just borrow. I am still in debts with my children, otherwise we won’t be here again at all.”

    Many other house owners on Okusanya, Olaniyi and Popoola streets stated that they have become indebted due to the reconstruction they had to do.

    Where is the compensation?

    But they are still a bit luckier. They, at least, have houses and structures to rebuild. For Pastor Daniel Omowumi, it is a tale of nowhere to go. The highly successful entrepreneur is down to ground zero, no thanks to the crash. His business empire and residence crashed with the plane less than six months after he moved to the community.

    From an employer of labour, he has become an ordinary struggler, surviving on the largesse of acquaintances and relations. When our correspondent met him last Friday, he cut a pitiable sight. Recounting his ordeals in the last one year, Omowumi said: “My brother, it has been tough. It is not easy at all. It is only by the grace of God that I have been surviving. You know those who work and receive salaries are still struggling, let alone someone like me who has been out of business for almost a year now.

    “Dana has almost ruined my life. The airline destroyed my business.” Despite his losses, he said he has not been paid any compensation (see full interview). What used to be his thriving furniture and printing press businesses have been turned to a cenotaph ahead of the first anniversary of the ill-fated flight.

    A blessing in disguise?

    There is blessing in adversity for some. In so many ways, however, the crash has been a blessing in disguise for the community. The Lagos State government has focused developmental projects in the neighbourhood ahead of the anniversary. Two months ago, H.F.P Engineering Nigeria Limited moved to the area to embark on massive road constructions. The inner roads on Kufeji, Idowu Williams, Okusanya and Olaniyi streets leading to the cenotaph were being completed last Friday when our correspondent visited.

    Many staff of the firm were seen frantically working on the projects. Not less than four caterpillars were on site. The roads were being constructed with culvert drains to fight flooding, which has been troubling the neighbourhood for ages. There are also street lights ready for commissioning ahead of the visit of Governor Raji Fashola tomorrow.

    The secretary of Akande Community Development Association (CDA), Mr. Akin Aina, noted the “rapid, unprecedented infrastructural developments” were most welcomed. According to him, “There have been some rapid and unexpected infrastructural developments here. That is very connected with the crash. We are really grateful to Governor Fashola for this because we are now receiving infrastructural attention in this area.”

    He admitted the projects would not have been possible without the unfortunate incident. The fences of several houses have been demolished to accommodate the new roads. This, Aina stated, has left the community insecure. “In the last one week, we have recorded four armed robberies because the houses are left without fences. We want the government to help us on this. We also have the issue of flooding that has devastated many houses.”

    Cries for justice

    Omowumi, Adewusi, Adekunle and other residents are livid Dana Air has not been forthcoming with compensation. “I have not received a dime from them,” Adewusi stated. According to Adekunle, she only got an umbrella worth N200 from the airline after the incident.

    “When we were in the rehabilitation home, they gave me an umbrella that I found out costs only N200. Apart from that, I have not received anything else.” The debts she incurred to rebuild her house, she said, keep mounting, forcing her blood pressure to keep shooting up. “It is true we are alive but we are dead already. How can we survive without any form of compensation?”

    Omowumi accused the airline of playing hanky panky with his claims after submission of all relevant documents. “They have ruined my business but they cannot ruin my life,” he boasted.

    When our correspondent visited the Allen Avenue, Ikeja office of Dana Air, he was told the spokesman, Mr. Tony Oshidame, was not around. No official of the airline was willing to comment, saying only Oshidame was competent to talk. Calls to his mobile phone were not successful.

    For Omowumi and others who ever lived on Iju Ishaga, the crash was one too many. Their lives and community will never remain the same. It is only a year after but life has taken a different turn.

     

  • Ijaws vs Shell Drawing a new battle line

    Ijaws vs Shell Drawing a new battle line

    On May 8, the people of Amazor community in Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa State opened a new front in the endless battle between oil multinationals and their host communities in the Niger Delta, when they handed a quit notice to Shell Petroleum Development Company. Shola O’Neil looks at the issues involved

    Since the 90s, relationships between oil multinationals prospecting the nation’s oil reserves in the Niger Delta region have gone from bad to worse. Locals have constantly accused international oil companies (IOCs) of taking them for a ride while a supposedly acquiescing government does nothing to redress their grievances.

    The oil companies on the other hand complain that they do more than they should for the host communities. A top manager in Shell once declared that what the company spends on community relations in Nigeria exceeds what it spends in other parts of the world where it operates.

    Though mostly whispered in the public, oil firms in the region blame their acrimonious rapport with communities on the yawning lack of government’s presence in the oil-bearing communities, particularly those located in the creeks and remote parts of the region, where they are seen as an arm of government.

    Brewing crisis

    But when 25 leaders of Amazor community expressed their unwillingness to allow Shell’s planned replacement of the Trans-Ramos trunk line to go on, it signalled a new front in the never-ending face-off. Those who signed the document slammed the company as bad and disrespectful tenant without respect for the host to its facilities.

    The strongly worded letter sent to the General Manager of SPDC in the Western Division, and Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Deziani Alison-Madueke, warned that “It shall be very difficult to tolerate and put up with SPDC for another 20 years.”

    Apart from lamenting their “abandonment” by the company, the community leaders blamed Shell for the no-love-lost relationship between them and neighbouring Aghoro II Community. They said they enjoyed harmonious relationship with their neighbours before Shell’s arrival on the scene.

    “Shell is meddling in the internal community/land politics to cause bad blood and possible war between Amazor and Aghoro II communities,” the protest letter stated.

    The two Ijaw communities are locked in a protracted land ownership tussle that has threatened to degenerate into a full-blown war in recent times. The bone of contention, recently, is a strip of land, which Amazor said Shell sought and got their approval for use in the 1989 for the contentious pipeline.

    “However, when it came to awarding the Integrated Pipeline Surveillance Scheme (IPSS) contract, Shell said we are too small to be allotted a part of the contract. Instead, they bundled us with Aghoro and gave the contract to an Aghoro contractor, who is asked to merely take five of our persons.

    “We refused and at the end of the day it was agreed that we should get the next one when it is due for renewal. But till date, we have nothing to show for it 20 years on and they are asking for approval to replace the pipeline,” a youth leader, Bolokowei Metini, told our reporter.

    Also, the aggrieved community leaders expressed displeasure at the company’s plan to deliver 35-km high voltage (35KV) transmission line passing through their community to connect Agge and Aghoro I and II communities to the Ogbotobo flow station without connecting Amazor.

    The Community Development Committee Chairman, Mr. Gospel Ebisini, said the decision was part of the plot to further stoke the fire of communal conflict. He said when the project starts, his community would not allow it go ahead because “we cannot be cooks who cannot taste the meal.

    “Then, this will now pitch us against the Aghoro and Agge people who will see us as enemies of progress who do not want them to enjoy electricity. What we are saying is that since the project is supposed to create employment and empowerment, are our people not good enough to enjoy these benefits even when it is passing through our community?” he asked.

    More worrisome for the community, according to Ebisini, is that whenever the company attempts to resolve issue of grievances with Amazor, it sneaks in their neighbours into the meeting, ostensibly to make Aghoro II its proxy fighters.

    The first indication that all is not well between the company and the community emerged in early March 2013, when Shell published, in a national daily, its intention to seek, from the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, licence for the renewal of its Trans Ramos Pipeline, which was constructed over 20 years ago.

    Rather than allow the company to go ahead with it, what was a routine procedure, the community objected. The objection, raised at the public forum held in Asaba, the Delta State capital, prepared the ground for what would be an acrimonious process.

    It followed the protest with a letter to the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and relevant government agencies, through their solicitors, Osteen Igbapike, who cited various ecological, health and environmental problems resulting from “serial oil spills” from the pipeline, which he says did not meet regulations in the oil industry.

    The objection, dated 24/3/2013, stated that “Amazor community is suffering from the following oil spills on the Trans Ramos Pipelines: October 2002, June 2003 and February 2004…”

    It was gathered that most of the spills mentioned in the letter are contentious with the oil firm insisting on no compensation payment for spills caused by third party interference (sabotage). The December 2011 Bonga spill is also one of the issues unresolved with Amazor.

    Counterpoise

    Reacting to our inquiry on allegations contained in the letters, SPDC’s spokesperson, Mr. Tony Okonedo, simply said they are “misleading and false.”

    Okonedo debunked Amazor’s assertion that it is Shell’s host, stressing that “Amazor is not host” to its assets in the area, but a neighbouring community to its facilities in Kou Kingdom.

    He explained that in spite of not being a host community, “Amazor continues to benefit from the JV (Joint Ventures) social responsibility initiatives. For example, the community is part of the Kou cluster where SPDC JV spent about N500 million in a GMoU (Global Memorandum of Understanding) which expired in 2011.

    “Also, with the support of the Bayelsa State Government, a new five-year GMoU (with increased annual spend from N105 to N267m) was signed in February 2013 with the Kou communities,” Okonedo added.

    However, Amazor leaders say issues involved in the squabble are not as straight forward as the response. Dr. Johnny Gari Suwa, one of the signatories to the quit notice and member of the Traditional/Elders Council of Amazror Community, insisted on his kinsmen’s stance as host to Shell and the Trans Ramos pipeline.

    Dr. Suwa said the company’s response was consistent with its show of “wickedness and insensitivity” to the plight of its host communities. “We gave SPDC our land and today they are saying we are no longer host to their operations, did they bring the land from wherever they came from?

    “SDPC has demonstrated utmost bad faith in her dealings with us and has challenged our lordship to the land areas granted her for the laying of the pipeline evidenced as pillar Nos 106 and 105 then. This is evident in Shell’s land Form C No. 08401 in Field Book No. 5C3/66/57.

    “The Amazor Community is the beneficial owner in possession in fee, simple, and the persons entitled to the statutory right of occupancy of all that land area within which the pipeline is laid,” he affirmed.

    The community leader lamented that the company could turn around to describe his community as “mere neighbours to Shell” after all these years. “This is why the people of Amazor see Shell as a bad tenant with the temerity to challenge its landlord’s right to ownership of its property.”

    Tracing the origin of the bad blood between the two sides, a leader of the community, Mr. Fredrick Seimodi, said the first sign of trouble between SPDC and his kinsmen started shortly after construction of the pipeline.

    “When other communities in the areas got the contract for IPSS (Integrated Pipeline Surveillance Scheme), our community was short-changed. From then till now, we have not benefited from it,” he stated.

    Other contentious issues are series of oil spill over the past decades. The issue of compensation and clean up of the spill, which, ironically, resulted from the pipeline that Shell wished to replace, have lingered and is subject of series of meetings between the community and company.

    Asked on the way forward, Seimodi said his people want Shell to acknowledge Amazor as a host community with benefits and royalties accorded its neighbours. “We also want the company to pay us the sums due for all the entitlements as well as proceed for the IPSS since past 20 years or else it should uproot its pipeline from our lands and leave.

    “We are very peaceful people and it seems our peaceful disposition is being mistaken for stupidity, this time we are prepared to show that we are not fools. If they cannot give us light as they are giving our neighbours, clean up their spills, which they on their own called ‘Legacy Spills’, carry out best industry practice, then they should be prepared for us. We are not violent, but we will go through legal means to battle them,” he added.

    In spite of the community’s tough talk, our checks show that the licence for the replacement of the pipeline might go ahead without hitch because of the strategic importance of the facility. The 24″ line evacuates crude oil from crude from several facilities in the Benisede clusters and other facilities to the Forcados Terminal for export.

    However, Igbapike, who conceded that such projects hardly face objection, said the communities have a game plan to ensure due process and adherence to the extant laws.

    “Shell is not used to objection from communities because of the understanding between them and the Ministry of Lands and Survey as the federal government is a part owner of the project. We are ready for them. We have adequately served the notice of our objection and we may go to court, if they do not comply,” he added.

    It is difficult to see how this battle of wits is going to play out, especially with both sides holding firm on their points. What is certain though is that this is only one of several battles ahead between the oil firm and its host communities.

     

     

     

  • Militia nation

    Militia nation

    Against the backdrop of the declaration of state of emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states last week due to unabated mayhem unleashed by the Islamist sect, Boko Haram, concern over the proliferation of militia groups in the country in the last two decades has continued to rise, Remi Adelowo and Sunday Oguntola examine the growing menace.

     

     

    The origin of militia groups across the country is widely traced to the sense of perceived injustice and lack of equal opportunities which some sections of the country feel have been perpetrated against them. For instance, militia organisations became pronounced in the 1990s, especially after the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election.

    Described as a child of circumstance, the Oodua Peoples’ Congress (OPC) was formed, according to its founders, to address the perceived injustice meted out to the Yoruba nation following the annulment of the election and the subsequent detention of the presumed winner Chief Moshood Abiola (widely known as MKO). Although the election was annulled by Gen Ibrahim Babangida who ruled the country with the title of president, Abiola was arrested and detained by the military regime headed by the late General Sani Abacha. He had toppled the Interim National Government (ING) left behind by Babangida and headed by Chief Ernest Shonekan.

    At the early period of its existence, the modus operandi of OPC was arguably decent and noble. Taking advantage of the concentration of major media organs in the South West, its leaders engaged other stakeholders in important national discourse that enjoyed massive coverage.

    Issues bordering on the restructuring of the country along the principles of true federalism, revenue allocation formula, to mention but a few, soon assumed the front burner.

    The pedigree of most of the brains behind OPC was also not in doubt. For instance, its National President, Fredrick Fasheun, was a medical doctor and a former presidential aspirant under the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the aborted Third Republic.

    Like most good things in Nigeria that started well but later faltered principally on the altar of huge egos, the organisation began to derail from its set objectives.

    The resultant effect was the polarisation of the group into a militant arm headed by Otunba Gani Adams and the non-violent faction presided over by Fasheun.

    Before long, the widespread support enjoyed by the organisation from many Yoruba turned to resentment, as the OPC began to assume the unenviable image of a thorn in the flesh.

    From being an organisation with a clearly defined ideology, it turned to a group allegedly used by people to settle personal scores with real and perceived enemies.

    Alarmed by the activities of the group, former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, sometime in 2002, ordered a massive crackdown on members of the group. In addition, its two warring leaders-Fasheun and Adams-were detained for about a year at the Kuje Prisons, Abuja.

    At the height of its operations, it spread its wings across the South West and was always ready to ‘correct’ any perceived injustice against the Yoruba. In fact, it fought many battles and caused so many mayhem in the region while fighting its cause. However, of recent, save for its occasional intolerable acts, its unbridled actions have become more tempered till date.

    The Egbesu Boys

    The Egbesu Boys, also referred to as the Egbesu Boys of Africa, first emerged in the early 1990s. It began as a religious cultural group of the Ijaw people but subsequently took up arms to challenge perceived injustice caused by the exploitation of oil resources in Ijaw land and the Niger Delta by the Nigerian state and multinational corporations.

    A report prepared by the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada titled, “Nigeria: Egbesu Boys; Leadership, membership, recruitment practices and treatment by authorities,” described the group as the militant wing of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), the umbrella association of civil and youth groups in the Ijaw Nation.

    The Egbesu Boys are active across the six South-South states comprising Ondo, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers and Akwa Ibom. The group’s traditional headquarters was located in Amabulou in Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.

    Ex-militant leader, Mujaheed Asari-Dokubo, according to reports, was acclaimed as the leader of the group. He is also the founder of the Ijaw Youth Council and the leader of the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force (NDPVF).

    Most Egbesu Boys are members of other ethnic militias drawn from already existing groups in the Niger-Delta region. Membership is voluntary, and members are, “in theory,” free to “disengage” from the group as they wish.

    There is no specific age for joining; however, most members first join the militia group at the age of sixteen. A number of youths initially joined as informants and are later initiated into the group.

    During militant operations, members of the group generally carry guns and ammunition and wear red or white headbands. Members also wear leaves on their heads or carry them in their pockets or under their hats to protect them in battle. This is believed to the their charm against any harm.

    The rule of militia groups

    From OPC to Egbesu, different militia groups have sprung up in every part of the country, constituting themselves as sovereign authorities within the state.

    At the last count, about ten of such militant groups are very active. They include Boko Haram (Western education is sin), an Islamic sect which has, in the last two years, unleashed unprecedented violence in some states in the North West and North East regions of the country, with over 5,000 people reportedly killed in the process.

    Another northern Islamist sect, Ansaru, with its main operational base in Bauchi State, has taken after the Boko Haram in terms of similarities in their mode of operations.

    A few months ago, the group claimed responsibility for the abduction of seven construction workers in Bauchi, threatening to kill them if certain demands were not met by the authorities.

    The South East is not left out in the share of its militia organisations. Within the region, two militant groups-The Bakassi Boys and The Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB)-hold sway.

    While the former was allegedly set up by a former governor of Anambra State to tackle security challenges in the state, particularly incidences of kidnapping and armed robbery, the latter was specifically established to agitate for the secession of the South East from the country.

    A failure of the state

    Not a few Nigerians, in high and low places, have described the worsening security situation in the country due to the activities of militant groups, as a potent danger to its continued unity and existence.

    Recently, the Osun State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, expressed fear that the nation is teetering on the brink. The governor, who raised the alarm at a dinner organised in honour of the President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, Mr. Femi Adesina, and other executive members of the association, stated that unless the Federal Government urgently takes some concrete steps, the nation might collapse.

    The basis for such palpable fear, Aregbesola said, hinged on the protracted unrest in virtually all the regions of the country. For the governor, militant groups have thrived due to the perceived deep seated injustice suffered by all sections of the country.

    He said: “Crises manifest in different ways but the real causes of the nation’s abnormalities have not been addressed. It is not enough to tag the insurgency in the South as militancy or youth unrest and the one up North as religious crisis or Islamic fundamentalism, rather the utmost thing needed is solution to all these unrests.”

    Explaining why Boko Haram sect killed people indiscriminately in the North-East, Aregbesola said the area had suffered great neglect, which consequently led to social dislocation.

    According to him:”The North-East had been so much neglected for several years. The region has the lowest power supply in the last 50 years. The region does not have power supply for up to 100 hours in a month.”

    In a telephone chat, renowned constitutional lawyer, Professor Itse Sagay, said while the different militia groups were founded for varied reasons ranging from religious and political factors, the underlying reason may not be unconnected with the lack of provision of social justice to the vast majority of Nigerians.

    He pointed out: “There is a deep dissatisfaction with the prevailing political economy, which has become entrenched over the years.”

    Reiterating his call for the convocation of a national conference to address this perceived injustice, Sagay noted that the over-centralisation of the levers of power in the country has done more harm than good for the people.

    He explained: “What we have currently is a suffocating centralism of power. We don’t operate a federal state but a unitary state. Our federating units are very weak. Power must devolve to the other federating units.

    “That way, people will look up to the states and local governments for solutions to their problems and not the federal government. We need fiscal federalism and reduce the over bloated powers at the centre.”

    Deadly adventures

    In Nasawara State, the little known Ombatse cult made its first claim to national prominence (infamy?) with the death of over 35 policemen in one operation. The group allegedly waylaid the contingent of a police team sent to arrest its leader in Alakyo village, which lies less than 10 kilometres to the state capital, Lafia.

    The policemen were going to raid the shrines operated by the deadly group. Apparently tipped off, members of the militia group ambushed the operatives in the bush and inflicted them with maximum losses.

    Such needless deaths have become recurring decimal whenever the many militia groups in the country strike. They leave in their trails massive death toll and collateral injuries. As President Goodluck Jonathan declared emergency rules in Yobe, Adamawa and Borno states last Tuesday, members of the Boko Haram sect mobilised to attack secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), in Borno State, Rev. Faye Musa.

    Musa, who was also the presiding pastor of REME Assembly, Maiduguri, was trailed to his house around the Government Reservation Area (GRA) at about 7.30.p.m and shot dead by two gunmen. Before him, over 5,000 others have been killed by the sect in various attacks that started in 2009.

    Last Monday, over 30 people were feared killed in Agatu Local Government area of Benue State after Fulani herdsmen allegedly invaded the venue of a burial ceremony of some of the slain policemen in Nasarawa State who hailed from the council area.

    The attack was barely a week after eight villages in the same council were invaded by the herdsmen who left several dead and many injured. In Imo, Kaduna, Adamawa, Oyo and Ogun states, the herdsmen have been killing hundreds over the years on grazing farmlands and sundry issues.

    From Egbesu boys, MASSOB, OPC to Ombatse and other ethnic militia groups, the nation has witnessed untold deaths and killings in increasing proportion, especially since the return of democratic rule in 1999. Bottled up ethnic agitations and grievances have suddenly found a route of expression never allowed under military juntas.

    All-time low security

    All these deaths have worsened insecurity across the nation, turning Nigeria to more or less a country at mini-war. In fact, the Nobel laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka recently said with the events in the country it could be safe to say it is at war. Security has hit an all-time low as militias easily overrun state forces and violate rule of law. A criminologist, Dr James Alfred, said the development is a disturbing trend capable of consuming the nation.

    According to him: “When armed groups free prisoners and orchestrate breaks, then you know anarchy is close by. A country that cannot arrest this trend is heading for the rocks. That is where Nigeria is at the moment and it is a very precipitous state.”

    Alfred explained that the inability to guarantee lives and property is a clear indication of lawlessness and chaos. “When people no longer feel safe in any parts of the country, then you wonder if there is a government in place. It is a dangerous signal really.”

    He pointed out that all the indices playing out in Nigeria have led to the disintegration of several nations, stating the country may be heading in the same direction. “You look at Syria, Lebanon, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Libya and even Iraq and see that Nigeria is where they used to be shortly before they exploded. If nothing is done to address the situation, we may also disintegrate beyond redemption,” he stated.

    The increasing balkanisation of the nation across ethnic armed groups, experts say, is a clear danger of disintegration that must be arrested. Yet, most of them started as ethnic freedom fighters and agitators for greater federal presence. They rode to public acclaim and acceptance on the strength of their commitment to better delivery of good governance to the grassroots.

    A tale of abuses

    Most ethnic opinion moulders and agitators embraced them as foot soldiers, considering them as comrades in the struggle for better governmental presence in their neighbourhoods. They were adopted more or less as unofficial community police operatives to offer protection. The dismal performances of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) also boosted their wide acceptance.

    Unlike state police officials, they are readily accessible and provided visible protection from common ‘aggressors’. With their rise came abuses and bastardisation. Members of the militia groups became intoxicated with power and turned to lords manor. They exploited people and held many to ransom.

    In the South East, the Bakassi boys arrested with impunity and engaged in extra-judicial killings. The OPC boys replicated the same orgies in the South West, mesmerising imaginary and perceived enemies. Politicians hijacked the machineries, making the militias pawns in their games. Rather than sticking to regional interests and agitations, they started chasing opposition figures.

    Saving Nigeria

    The militias have also become a veritable source of livelihood for private individuals. The outsourcing of community security has turned ex-militia leaders to overnight billionaires, attracting contracts from even government agencies.

    A security expert, Mr. Gabriel Da Silva, said the various militia groups must be disarmed as a matter of urgency to safeguard the nation. “We have overgrown these militia groups and really need to dismantle them to save the nation from disintegration,” he began. “The way things are going, it is easy for a civil war to break out because there are far too many small arms and ammunition in private hands that can harm the nation.”

    Da Silva believes the promotion of regional armed groups diminishes national interests and runs contrary to Pan-Nigerian agendas. “The sooner we drop our ethnic togas and paraphernalia, the better for all of us. As long as we sustain these structures, we are setting up for a big fall,” he explained.

    He called on security forces to enforce the outlawing of the various ethnic militias in the country. The security expert also appealed to governors and other political office holders not to fund or promote enforcement groups outside the official police force.

    As the militias continue to hold the nation by the jugular, there are apprehensions their activities will become even more dangerous in the run-off to the 2015 general elections. Observers believe many of them are political creations orchestrated to negotiate for power. Whether or not they are whittled down or dismantled successfully before 2015 will determine the survival of the nation to every extent.

     

     

  • Bayelsa: Supremacy battle, illegal bunkering as fuel for militancy

    Bayelsa: Supremacy battle, illegal bunkering as fuel for militancy

    Barely three weeks after yet-to-be-identified gunmen ambushed and killed 11 policemen in the creeks of Southern Ijaw council area of Bayelsa State, five youths were ambushed and gunned down in Lobia. The incidents have led to fear that President Jonathan’s home state may have become the hotbed of violence and militancy in the Niger Delta. Shola O’Neil reports

     

     

    Visitors to Yenagoa, the capital of President Goodluck Jonathan’s home state – Bayelsa – are greeted by billboards of various hues, sizes and designs urging readers to beware of and shun rumour-mongering. Not satisfied with just paying lip service to the ‘deadly sin’, Governor, Seriake Dickson sent a bill to the State Assembly making rumour-mongering a crime punishable with various forms of penalties.

    However, recent events in the state have shown that violence and resurgence of bloody violence, and not rumour-mongering, are the gravest challenges facing the state. The raging aggression in President Jonathan’s home state, as the clock races towards 2015 presidential election, may enact feelings of déjà vu.

    The insecurity in Southern Ijaw and Nembe Local Government areas are not dissimilar to the violence that led to the bombing of President Jonathan’s Otuoke home in 2007 shortly before the election that brought him in as Vice President then.

    Growing insecurity

    On Saturday, April 6, armed gunmen ambushed a police convoy in Azuzuama, Southern Ijaw LGA of the state, killing at least 11 policemen. Among those killed in the attack were two inspectors, four non-commissioned officers and five constables.

    The incident, which generated widespread condemnation and comments, merely highlighted the state of security in the riverside communities of the state.

    Increasing discontent within the rank and file of former militant leaders and their foot soldiers as well as disenchantment with the management of the amnesty programme, fulfilment of pre-amnesty promises and several other factors are gathering storm and threatening the peace and security of the homogenous Ijaw state and others in the delta.

    Ironically, the policemen were killed while detailed to provide security during a ceremony hosted by a former leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), Mr. Kile Torughedi, known by the moniker ‘Young Shall Grow’. Torughedi was leader of the western wing of MEND.

    The hunters became the haunted when the policemen were ambushed by gunmen near the now infamous Azuzuama community by the gang, who opened fire on them and killed 11 on the spot. A member of the convoy, said to be an Izon (Ijaw) man from the state, jumped into the murky creeks amidst rain of bullets. He was lucky to make it alive, but at a price of up to N1 million ransom.

    “He resurfaced after a long time, unknown to him that the gunmen were waiting for him. They took him in their boat and drove to their camp where he was kept before a ransom was paid to secure his release,” a source, who claimed to be in the know of negotiation, told our reporter.

    The incident unleashed a flurry of activities, claims and counterclaims. It was also auspicious for a faction of the MEND, which had threatened to unleash mayhem in the wake of sentencing of Henry Okah for terrorism in Johannesburg, South Africa. The group quickly claimed responsibility.

    Hours later, it became clear that the Okah-MEND was merely trying to benefit from an unconnected incident. The police fingered disgruntled members of Torughedi’s militant clan. The revelation was no cheery news for security agencies that are battling criminals and militants on several fronts in the region.

    A pensive Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr. Kingsley Omire, in his reaction, ruled out the involvement of MEND. He said the policemen were only “soft target” for their attackers, adding that they were among 50 men he deployed to Azuzuama to provide security for the burial of the ex-militant’s father. The police chief, however, didn’t explain why such heavy deployment would be made just to secure a former warlord.

    The incidents also fuelled speculations that the policemen were on illegal duty in the creeks, with illegal bunkering activities top on the list of their possible mission. The nature of their deaths also fuelled the rumour. Those who saw their remains said they were charred and riddled with bullets. The corpses were so bad that journalists were not allowed to see them when they arrived at the waterside. However, Omire waved off the allegation.

    Illegal bunkering gangs embedded with some of the so-called repentant militants and security operatives in the area have all but crippled crude oil production from several facilities in the area. Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) and Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) were forced to declare force majeur, owing to the activities of the militants. Shell twice within weeks invoked the clause to spare it from contractual obligation to its crude buyers.

    The indiscriminate attack on oil facilities, spike in cases of illegal bunkering and illegal crude distilleries in the state heightened criticism of the multibillion pipeline surveillance contract awarded to ex-militant leaders in the state. The contract may also be one of the fuels firing discontentment among the ex-warlords.

    Among those who claimed responsibility for the massacre of the policemen was ‘General’ Jasper Adaka Boro, a self-acclaimed former foot soldier of Torughedi. He accused his former boss of embezzling up to N80 million of amnesty funds meant for his ‘boys’. Boro, in a text message sent to journalists, said the killing of the 12 policemen was a warning to Torughedi and others who are short-changing their foot-soldiers in the payment of the monthly amnesty stipends.

    Sharing the spoils

    He said his former boss and other leaders of MEND who benefited from the pipeline surveillance contracts largesse refused to allow the benefits to trickle down to junior cadre members of the gang.

    During the height of the confusion, former warlords in the state, including Victor Ebi Ben (aka Boyloaf) and Paul Eris (aka Ogunboss), among others, quickly went underground and resurfaced with even thicker cordon of security guards around them.

    Reacting to the incidents and claims, Sheriff Mulade, National Coordinator, Centre for Peace and Environmental Justice (CEPEJ), told our reporter that the breakdown of law and order in at least two of the eight local government areas of Bayelsa State was the clearest pointer to the failures of amnesty deal in the region.

    He said, “It is unfortunate that the President’s home state has become a hot bed for militancy. Something has to be done to curtail the excesses of militant leaders who have today turned against themselves. They may turn against the society again tomorrow. That is why government needs to rise up to the challenge.”

    For Mulade and other keen watchers of the unfolding drama, the power tussle between opponents of former MEND leaders like Young Shall Grow and their counterparts portend danger, not just for Bayelsa, but for the peace and stability of the Niger Delta.

    If the killing of the policemen was terrifying, fresh bloodletting in the creeks has sent chill down the spine of everybody. Last Saturday, no fewer than five youths were shot dead at Lobia in Southern Ijaw LGA, under yet controversial circumstances.

    Among those felled in the Lobia killing was Mr. Judah Benabi Wilson, a sibling of Pastor Wilson, a former militant leader in the area. Although initial reports indicated that the deceased were killed during gang violence, the Clifford-Wilson family of Koluama debunked the claim, stating that their son was killed while on a peace mission. They fingered a government official for his death.

    Joseph Wilson, who signed a statement on behalf of the deceased’s family, described the initial report of gang clash as “twisted and distorted”. He said: “The family wants to state categorically that the late Judah is the only one related to Pastor Reuben Wilson and one of his boys, Esau, an indigene of Lobia community.

    “The security agents should review the reported facts surrounding the Saturday killing at Lobia Community main town. To us, who are not security personnel, it appeared that the murdered youths were set up for ambush.”

    Rumours making the rounds in the creeks support the Wilson family’s claim that there was more to the May 4 killing than gang violence. Our sources in the area said it might not be unconnected with the earlier killing of 11 policemen.

    “We are all Ijaws, we know one another in the area and if anything happens it is easy for us to investigate, even better than the police or army, and get to its roots. So, if it is true that somebody feels aggrieved by that incident and he knows those responsible, it is only a matter of time before those behind it are revealed and dealt with,” our source added.

    However, it was not clear how a sibling of a former militant leader, Pastor Wilson, and his ‘boy’ could be involved in the Azuzuama killings. Wilson, who leads a group of repentant militants in the area, was the first to openly condemn the incident.

    He told our reporter on Friday that he strongly believed that the killer of the 11 policeman were those responsible for the killing of his brother and associate. He said, “They have also hijacked my vessel and barge with six members and are demanding N6million before they would release the boat and barge.”

    He advised the police to go after the people and those responsible for the spate of killings in the state before it spreads to other people.

    But Media Coordinator of the Joint Task Force, Lt. Colonel Onyema Nwachukwu, insisted that the incident at Lobia was a fallout of a clash between two armed gangs. He decried the prevailing situation in the region where people defend criminals simply because they are relatives or because they benefit from the crimes.

    He said, “We have our men on ground and the information we got was that it was an armed collision between two gangs. If, as the family claimed, they are not armed gangs, how did they come about the arms and ammunition we recovered from the scene?”

    These are also proponents of conspiracy theory, who believe that the opposition may have infiltrated the ranks of disgruntled ex-militants in the state and are now using them to cause problem to embarrass President Jonathan.

    Whatever is the cause of the prevailing insecurity in President Jonathan’s home turf, it is a cause for concern for all residents of coastal states in the region. Like the CEPEJ chief said, there are palpable fears that the canker worm of violence may spread to neighbouring Delta, Rivers and Edo states and plunge the region back into deeper militancy.