Top tourism industry stakeholders in Nigeria last week converged on Port Harcourt for the pre-opening facility tour of the Museum of African History and Culture and Zoo located in the Brooklyn Tourist Centre on East-West Road, Rumuosi in Obio-Akpor council area on the outskirt of Port Harcourt, near the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The tourism complex is the brain child of one of the leading tourism practitioners in the country, Alabo Mike Amachree, the owner of Brooklyn Group of Hotels and former president of the Association Tourism Practitioners of Nigeria (ATPN).
The practitioners were taken round the new complex to see the new zoo and the museum.
The museum has history of top monarchs that has left indelible marks in the history of Nigeria.
After the tour, the practitioners visited the chairman of the Rivers State Council of Traditional Rulers, His Majesty Dandeson Douglas Jaja, the Amayanabo of Opobo.
Amachree said tourism a major economic activity which generates income and create employment for the people. He added that for a country or state to attract tourists both local and inbound tourists, necessary infrastructures and superstructures that are capable of attracting tourists have to be put in place in addition to the tourists attractions. He said it was on that basis that the practitioners are visiting the monarchs to make suggestions on how the state could built its tourism profile and attrct tourists.
According to him : “Rivers State with international airport, seaport and network of roads and the petroleum industry, has comparative advantage over other states in the country foe tourists’ inflow. Secondly, Rivers State was the first state in Nigeria to establish a tourist site known as the Isaka Holiday Resort in 1967 by the first military governor of old Rivers State, King Alfred Diete Spiff. The second tourist site was established by my humble self known as the Port Harcourt Tourist Beach. It is also on record that my association, the ATPN organised the first Abuja Carnival under my leadership in 1991 without government assistance. We organised the second Rivers State Cultural and Musical Carnival in 1993, tagged RIVCAM ’93.”
Amachree said tourism was not just about building hotels, fast food restaurants, organising carnival festivals that will attract the desired tourists to Rivers State as these facilities are mere ancillary or support service for tourism promotion and tourist delight. He said the state has to develop high class tourist sites and museums where our history and cultural relics, artifacts and monuments would be permanently exhibited for admiration by our visiting tourists. The tour operators would then market the sites and bring in visitors. He said also that development and promotion of tourism was entirely a private sector affair, and that government was to provide enabling environment.
Amachree said traditional rulers, as custodians of culture, history and tradition, should be assisted by the government to equip their palaces with relics and artifacts to promote tourism in their various communities.
He also called on the private sector and the government to jointly open up the rural areas by establishing private tourist sites, monuments, museums, tour operating and tour guiding enterprises which will create more jobs for people like the one he had just built.
In his response, the Amayanabo of Opobo praised the Alabo Amachree for the consistency in his efforts in developing tourism in the country. He also praised him for the new project, the new Museum of African History and Culture.
He said: “Tourism is a product that enhances the dignity and prestige of most countries and provides so many opportunities, employment and entertainment. It helps in boosting national economies. We are lucky so many tourist sites abound in Nigeria.
“In Nigeria, we have so many places to go to. It requires government assistance to private sector to develop them. Your call came at the right time. We will try to talk to the government to look at that area for developing in the area of employment possibilities.”
The monarch said if tourism was developed to its full potentials, oil would take a back seat. He said people want to see new things in Africa. He promised to be at the commissioning of the tourist centre later in the year.
The monarch also used the opportunity to call on the government to return History as a subject in secondary school.
Among the stakeholders on the trip were Malan Garba, President, ATPN, Dr. Mumbo Eniola, ex-permanent secretary, Kogi State Ministry of Tourism, Dr. Dike, former director general, National Gallery of Arts, Prof Alegoa and many others.
Today a vibrant, young Niger Deltan, Mr. Duabo Theophilus, will be buried in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State. Theophilus, who worked with the Bayelsa State Ministry of Environment, died untimely. He was 46.
His demise is a grim reminder of environmental abuses, reckless exploration and exploitation of oil many of the International Oil Corporations (IOCs) operating in Nigeria have subjected the region to. It has also raised question on the sanctity of life and value placed on life of a Niger Deltan by multinationals when oil is the business.
The late Theophilus was among the 12 persons who died horribly on July 9 when the Tebidaba-Azuzuama pipeline belonging to the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) in Azuzuama, Southern Ijaw Local Government Area, Bayelsa State, exploded and went up in flames.
The inferno resulting from the blast also injured four others with one person declared missing. The explosion which was described as deafening also quaked the nearby Azuzuama community and created panic among the residents.
Theophilus and his departed compatriots died in active service. The victims were at the scene of the blast to conduct Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) and carrying out repairs on ruptured spots of the pipeline when the incident occurred.
Six employees of an indigenous company, M.G. Vogas Nigerian Limited, hired by Agip to maintain the line, two Agip workers, a soldier and an official of the National Oil Spill Detection and Regulatory Agency (NOSDRA) including an indigene of the host Azuzuama community were among the dead victims.
The Bayelsa State Ministry of Environment led by Mr. Iniruo Wills, has been mourning the incident especially the painful death of Theophilus. Indeed, Wills is determined not to allow the matter to be swept under the carpet. Even the governor of the state, Mr. Seriake Dickson, after the incident, threatened fire and brimstone and read the Riot Act to oil companies operating in the region.
Dickson immediately called for a forensic investigation into the explosion. He summoned officials of NAOC to Yenagoa for an emergency meeting, but was unhappy that the Managing Director of NAOC refused to attend the meeting.
The governor vowed to explore all legal means to seek redress.
He expressed dismay at the absence of NAOC’s Managing Director at the meeting, saying that henceforth he would want to relate directly with the Chief Executive Officer when discussing weighty mutual issues.
He consoled the families that lost their loved ones to the incident and restated his administration’s commitment to the protection of the environment against any further destruction by oil companies and perpetrators of pipeline vandalism.
He said: “In this government, we are concerned about the environment. The statistics that have been read out is alarming, to say the least. I can’t imagine in this state, how from your facilities alone, 656 spills occurred in one year.”
Some state officials, including Wills, Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Kemasuode Wodu and Special Adviser on Security, Mr. Boma Spero-Jack, decried Agip’s attitude.
But what caused the fire that resulted to the explosion? Even as Theophilus who hailed from Bassambiri, Nembe in Bayelsa State, is buried today, there is no official report indicating the real cause of the explosion. Maybe, the final report of the investigation if it is eventually compiled and made public will disclose how a JIV turned tragic.
Could it be that the oil company and its servicing firm failed to observe the minimum required safety standard recommended during visits to spill sites? The Commissioner for Environment, Wills, went into the books recently, dug out and documented guidelines on sequence for oil spill response and management in a condensed form.
The one-page document, titled Lives before Oil, stated 12 actions that must be undertaken in responding and managing spills. First is to shut down pipeline or other spill source facility and notify regulators within 24 hours as stipulated in NOSDRA Act.
Secondly, before conducting a JIV, there must be sufficient fire prevention/fighting equipment, materials and competent personnel certified by the regulators. All the persons in the JIV must be kitted with appropriate fire resistant protective equipment and a gas leak test must be conducted in the incident area.
Others are, protect spill area and relevant personnel and contain immediately as soon as possible; provide relief materials and services for affected communities; establish muster point at a safe distance determined by regulators, cordon off incident hazard area and conduct toolbox, safety meeting at the muster point.
Speaking to the Niger Delta Report in a briefing attended by the ministry’s Director, Petroleum and Pollution Department, J. Blanks and Deputy Director of the department, A. E. Adire, the commissioner said the government was exploring wide range of measures and sanctions in the law to hold oil companies operating in the state accountable.
He said companies could be dragged to court on corporate manslaughter to seek remedies for a firm which conducts its business so recklessly that it leads to the death of a person. He said the laws were not being implemented against environmental violators because of lack of political will across all tiers of government.
“We have not been resting on our oars. We are not satisfied with the level of compliance because there have been settled culture of corporate impunity in the oil sector. But we are now insisting on 100 per cent of compliance. This time around, we must force change to occur by taking distinct legal action against environmental violators”, he said.
In fact, everybody is waiting for the forensic investigation ordered by the state government to determine the cause of the blast that killed Theophilus and to ascertain whether Agip complied with the minimum safety standard before engaging in the tragic JIV.
Unless violators are punished to forestall future occurrences, Theophilus and other fallen heroes may have died in vain. Besides, the family of the deceased and the state government are demanding adequate compensation from the oil firm to some extent cater for the abandoned responsibilities of the deceased especially the child, wife and other dependents left behind by Theophilus.
I remember. I will always remember Brother Nyesom Wike was in the spirit. He could not have been anything less. The atmosphere at the crusade ground of the Lord Chosen Charismatic Renewal Ministry was enough to turn even the devil to an angel. Invisible eyes could see angels singing and praying. The presence of the church’s General Overseer added the impetus to make the environment not conducive for anything that was not of God. And if anything not of God had sneaked in there, the spirit would have arrested it. It is, however, not impossible that the spirit can relax its grip after the fellow must have returned to his or her natural habitat.
I forgot for a moment that the man speaking was a politician. “The way the God of Chosen did it on April 11, that is how he will do it again,” he said, and I saw the image of a believer.
He was to add the clincher later on: “Those who are fighting and plotting to truncate the lifespan of the mandate freely given to me by the people of Rivers State will be disgraced by the God of Chosen.”
Like an obedient servant, Rivers State Governor Wike knelt and Pastor Lazarus Mouka prayed for him. His mien was that of a man who had surrendered all. And it would have been perfected if he had bellowed: “I surrender all, I surrender all.”
The following day, Pastor Muoka visited him in his office. There again, he laid hand on Brother Wike. A day later, another man of God was also at the governor’s office. He also laid hand on Brother Wike.
Looking at the pictures bring to mind the trials of Brother Wike, the commander of Rivers politics as he is addressed by his supporters.
With all his trials, he sure needs all the prayers available. It won’t be out of place if clerics take turn every morning to pray for him. Emissaries can also be sent to the mountain tops for supplications on behalf of our dear brother.
Since May 29 when he took office, it has been one challenge after the other, which as far as he and his people are concerned are mere sound and fury amplified by the opposition media to create the impression that all is not well.
Of the challenges Brother Wike has faced, one has stuck out like a sore thumb: his visits to the office of the Chief Justice of Nigeria. A sub-Assistant Editor with The Punch, Olusola Fabiyi, got wind of the visits and it made the front page of the national newspaper. It was published with Wike’s reaction explaining why he visited. One of the reasons was that he visited to thank the CJN for sending the Chief Judge of Bayelsa State to swear him in as governor on May 29. He also said he was there to discuss the issue of a substantive Chief Judge for Rivers State.
The report made not a few accuse the governor of ulterior motive. Their argument is that at a time the Election Petition Tribunal is hearing Dr. Dakuku Peterside’s case against his election, such visits could not be plain. He fired back with a full-page statement published in This Day. There he attempted to impugn the character of the reporter and The Punch. He even attempted to give a lecture on what news should be.
But of all the things he said one sounded like he was saying would he have visited in the afternoon if he was there to influence the CJN. This raised the poser: So, is it at night that judicial officers are compromised?
The pictures of the governor submitting to prayers make me remember two books, The Power of a praying husband, which my wife bought for me when we were going to get married and ThePower of a Praying wife. Now, Wike is selling to us the image of a praying governor. Will his prayers be answered? It is too early to tell. Already the attempts of his legal team to stop the petition of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Dr Peterside against him have failed.
The last of the attempts failed earlier in the week.
The Justice Mu’azu Pindiga-led tribunal held that the joint request by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Wike for the dismissal of the petition, was misplaced.
INEC, PDP and Wike had, in separate motions by their lawyers, sought the dismissal of the petition on the ground that the petitioners failed to comply with the provision of Paragraph 18(1) of the First Schedule of the Electoral Act 2010 by not paying the stipulated fee of N100 for their application for the issuance of pre-hearing notices (Form TF 007) to parties.
They added that by not paying the fee, the petitioners were yet to key into the tribunal’s jurisdiction and were deemed to have abandoned their petition.
The tribunal, however, said the issuance of pre-hearing notice was not part of documents for which a filing fee must be paid as prescribed in the First Schedule to the Electoral Act.
The tribunal also held that contrary to the argument by INEC, PDP and Wike, the APC and Peterside validly applied for the issuance of the pre-hearing notice within seven days after the conclusion of exchange of processes by parties.
Justice Pindiga: “There is no defect in the pre-hearing notice. The tribunal therefore holds that the application filed by the 1st respondent (INEC) is hereby discountenanced and accordingly dismissed.”
Earlier, the tribunal refused to strike out the petition by the APC candidate as prayed by Wike, who argued among others, that Peterside lacked the locus standi to file the petition on account of his not being a valid candidate for the election.
Wike had faulted the notice issued to INEC by the APC in relation to its congress, alleging that it was issued less than the 21 days stipulated by law.
He also challenged the constitution of the tribunal and its decision to sit in Abuja as against where the election was held.
Justice Pindiga held that the notice to INEC was validly issued and that the tribunal was duly constituted by the President of the Court of Appeal, adding that its sitting in Abuja on security reason had not rendered it incompetent to hear and determine the petition.
At another time, the Judge faulted Wike’s legal team’s argument that proximity and accessibility were major determining factors in deciding the sitting venue of a tribunal.
The tribunal held that proximity and accessibility could not be determined in the absence of security for the tribunal members and litigants. And just two days ago, the tribunal insisted that the poll materials must be inspected.
So far, on the legal fronts, the APC has cause to smile. But there is nothing prayer cannot do. His Excellency is praying. Men of God are laying hands on him. He has done thanksgiving more than any other elected officials. He even worshipped at Dr. Peterside’s church. I think he will continue to seek the face of men of God.
My final take: As Wike is praying, Dr Peterside is also praying. That brings me to an unresolved issue in football. Each time two teams want to start a match, each of them offers prayers to God. Who should God answer? The best team most times carries the day. For me, in the matter of Rivers, where blood flowed before, during and after the elections, it is the truth that will prevail. Whoever has a hand in shedding the blood of others will not reap the benefits. Amen.
Until recently, Ovie Richard Okagbare (aka Ovie Whiskey) was a popular reggae musician but his calling has changed from the dread-locked man on the microphone to a man on the pulpit, using gospel to preach the world.
Okagbare, who was recently ordained as an evangelist, revealed that God’s call on him has helped to refocus his life towards using his music to propagate the message of salvation and spiritual healing.
The musical act, who recorded six studio albums before he temporary bowed out of music for other businesses, confessed that he was reckless with the fortune he made from music until God rescued him.
He told our reporter how the miraculous healing of his wife who had a ruptured fallopian tube, which is known in medicine as ectopic pregnancy, led him to God.
According to him, “In fact, I started by having my hair like a female. I was in the world living dangerously and recklessly filled with youthful exuberance and having a lot of fun, travelling around the world, making money but at the end of the day, everything went upside down because I was not properly managed. I was not close to God; I did not even know what the bible was. I did not even care about my standard of living until things got really bad and I met God and He changed my life.
“I was one person who never believed in churches. I am one person who believed that church is a fraud, a means through which people make money and all that because you read about a lot of stories.
“I have always argued with pastors and I never liked them and that distanced me from churches. But I was proved wrong when my wife had a major operation. Her fallopian tube got ruptured. For three months, she was in the hospital after spending close to N3m, I almost gave up my life.
“After leaving the hospital, she was still not feeling fine until she was preached to and somebody told me to take her to a particular church where I was told by the pastor that she was going to die because it was a spiritual attack and that during the operation, there was a mistake spiritually.
“How could my wife die? I was crying until somebody convinced me again to take her to Believers Ministry. I met the man of God, Pastor Samuel Osaghae who prayed with my wife. It was shocking I think God wanted to prove to me that there are few of His servants that He has sent because my wife could not walk after the operation. I was shocked. My wife who could not walk had to trek from the church to the junction. That was where I know there is God. I went back to him and I was prayed with and delivered.”
Ovie said he would now focus on using music to win souls and worship God forever adding his new album would soon be released.
Pastor Osaghae said that he encouraged Ovie to work for God through music.
Mboho Mkparawa Ibibio (MMI), the socio-cultural and pressure group for the Ibibio people of Akwa Ibom State, is 28.
As part of the activities marking its 28 anniversary, it reviewed its achievements and vowed to not only sustain but intensify the fight against the marginalisation and the violation of the right of the Ibibio sons and daughters.
It said: “Mboho will continue to respond to political issues, marginalization of the Ibibios, and will fight anytime and any day to ensure that the right of an Ibibio person is not violated while at the same time uniting the state and the entire country by living in harmony with other ethnic and socio-cultural organisations.”
Speaking with reporters at the International Headquarters of the organisation, the International President, Akparawa Monday Etokakpan, who was flanked by five of the 11 surviving founding members as well as three out of the eight past International Presidents of the group, said at 28, Mboho Mkparawa Ibibio was matured and had achieved a lot.
Etokakpan hinted that the socio-cultural organisation will this year create additional three new chapters in Italy, South Africa, and Israel to add to the already existing 55 chapters spread across four continents of the world.
Etokakpan, who is the ninth president of Mboho Mkparawa Ibibio, expressed satisfaction seeing the group that started August 1, 1987 with just twelve members grow up to 25,000 members worldwide and has not also failed in its objectives, especially that of agitating for the well being of the Ibibios both at home and in the diaspora.
The founding members said the organisation has achieved a lot in training the youths of Ibibio land for leadership positions and as well recognised and celebrated their past heroes that were abandoned without due recognition.
The week-long activities marking the 28 anniversary/ founders day has as its theme, “ Mboho Mkparawa Ibibio: 28 years of leadership, so long, so good, so much more.”
As part of the celebrations which ended on Sunday, the group undertook a charity walk to Saint Anthony Destitute Centre at Uruan Street, Uyo, held a public lecture/ cultural display while the event climaxed with a thanksgiving service at the Apostolic church, Obio Imo Street, Uyo and the induction of new members at the international secretariat.
Among those present during the briefing were; Akparawa Ikpong Essienudom, Idongesit Udokpo, Comrade Ama T Ama, Akparawa Emmanuel T Umoh, Okon Ime, Dr. Sylvester Okon, Udo Silas.
Out of the twelve founding members, only the founding president, Akparawa Anietie Ekong had passed on about twelve years ago.
A frontline Itsekiri leader from Ugborodo (Escravos) in Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State, Pa J.O.S Ayomike, has assured that the controversy over the $16 billion gas project in the community has been laid to rest.
Speaking against the backdrop of recent comments on the project, the Itsekiri leader advised his kinsmen, particularly of Ugborodo lineage, to refrain from unauthorized statements capable of derailing the multibillion dollar project in the Itsekiri community.
The $16bn project had generated controversy among the Ugborodo leaders and later between the Itsekiri community and their Ijaw neighbours of Gbaramatu clan, leading to concerns that the project might be relocated from the state.
However, Ayomike said, “As a frontline Itsekiri leader (and of Ugborodo), I have been at the centre of the on-going reconciliation to bring lasting peace to Ugborodo Community, hence I have refrained from making statements concerning the EPZ Project.
“This silence has to be broken at last in the interest of the Community regarding the NNPC-driven EPZ Project in Ogidigben-Ajudaibo in Ugborodo Community. The controversies trailing the project-siting had long ended and work is progressing as programmed. Therefore, recent comments and press interviews on the project, not authorized by the Chairman of the EPZ Interface Committee, should be completely ignored by the public.
“Until early this year when President Jonathan turned the sod on the site, negative reports/comments often appeared on the siting controversies. A reconciliation process, at whose centre I am, working round the clock to achieve full peace in Ugborodo, is nearing conclusion.
“Therefore, nobody of Ugborodo – no matter his personal feelings – is permitted to comment outside the Chairman of the EPZ-Interface Committee on the proposed Gbaramatu Seaport Project, an arm of the Escravos Development Programme promoted by the Nigeria Port Authority, for which land is yet to be acquired.
“In making this statement, full consultations have been made with all peace-loving people of Ugborodo Community who are anxiously inviting our new Governor to visit this biggest project-to-be in his State, in preparing the ground for the visit of Mr. President,” he added
Pa Ayomike urged all prospective investors in the project to take advantage of the restructured NNPC to get involved in the project, which, he said, will help develop Ugbodoro.
Five villages in Ukana Clan, Essien Udim Local Government Area, which donated their land for the establishment of Universal Basic Education (UBE) Special Vocal School (a Federal Government project), have decried non-payment of compensation on economic trees that were destroyed in the area to give way for the project.
They have also decried government’s neglect following the destruction of their means of livelihood.
Members of the five villages, which consist of Ukana Ikot Ngwo, Ukana Ikot Udo Etim, Ukana Ikot Osom, Ukana Ikot Udo Inam and Ukana Ikot Ide , told reporters in Ikot Ekpene that the donation of their land for the project and refusal of government to compensate them for the destruction of their means of livelihood, had made life unbearable for them.
The land donors who spoke through the village head of Ukana Ikot Ngwo, Chief Effiong Akpan Udoeshiet said, “Since 2013 when government demanded the use of our land for Niger Delta vocational school, we gave it to them as we saw it as a project that would bring development to the area.
“Shortly after we gave out the land which government promised to pay compensation for the economic trees destroyed, we never heard anything from them again. All we saw was the raising of structures which are nearing completion. We never heard from the government again even when some of our kinsmen have died due to the fact that what used to sustain them as peasant farmers have been taken from them and they don’t have anything to lean on. Till now, nothing has been done to alleviate the suffering of our people.”
The monarch said while they appreciated government’s lofty project for the community, he decried the negative effect and untold hardship that they are currently suffering.
He made a passionate appeal to the federal and state governments to come to their aid by paying them compensation.
The Village Head of Ukana Ikot Udo Etim, Chief Effiong Udo Udo Enwene, said while the community really appreciated the siting of the project, it was however unfortunate that they have been made to suffer while they should be thanking God and the political leaders of the community.
Other leaders of the five communities who spoke with reporters to express concern over their total neglect were the village head-elect of Ukana Ikot Osom, Chief Monday Sunday Udo, village chairman of Ukana Ikot Ngwo, Ime Akpan Umo, Village chairman of Ukana Ikot Udo Etim, Ime Akpan Okure and family head of Iwe, Alphonsus Johnsons Iwe.
They said the call for federal and state governments to pay compensation has become necessary as they do not want members of the community especially youths to react confrontationally with the authorities.
A human rights group in the state, Community Policing Partners for Justice, Security and Democratic Reforms, has expressed displeasure over government’s taking over of the communal land without payment of compensation to owners of economic trees destroyed in the cause of raising structures on the said land.
The Executive Director of the organisation, Mr. Saviour Akpan, in a letter to Governor Udom Emmanuel, said the acquisition of the land without adequate compensation is a ‘serious violation of the people’s right to food.
Akpan urged the governor to take an urgent action to meet with the owners of the said land to “forestall unnecessary tension and a possible breach of the peace”.
The communities said the youths are gradually losing their patience and may be forced to embark on a mass protest.
They called on political leaders in the area who might have gotten their due from government to give them their rights.
Anybody who has lived or is living in the Oil-City of Warri, the economic hub of Delta State, knows that the rainy season is not a good time. Inhabitants of the city and its twin, Effurun in Uvwie Local Government Area of the state, dread that time of the year when the heavens opened up incessantly, pouring oodles of water into the haphazardly laid city. The fear of the season also stems from the anguish, suffering, dirt and diseases that come with human feaces from overflowing septic pits pouring into the streets and living rooms.
The state of roads, not only in Warri, but across parts of the state, has worsened over the past few months.
Niger Delta Report’s extensive check on condition of roads in the areas showed that over 95 per cent of roads in Warri metropolis and adjoining suburbs are in dire need of repairs. Except for the recently dualised Refinery Road and network of roads in the Odogun (New) Layout in Uvwie, built by the Direct Labour Agency (DLA) and Okumagba Avenue in Warri among others, there is hardly a road in the area that is not fraught with fissures. The situation is worse in Abraka and not much better in Ughelli, Agbarho, Sapele and other parts of the state.
The Airport Road is punctuated by dozens of potholes of varying sizes from Effurun-Warri junction to Court 4 and various sections are washed away by water. A pitiable attempt to resurface the road left residents and motorists seething from poor job done by the construction companies.
The PTI/Jakpa road, which was dualised by the administration of Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan in 2009, is not faring any better. Apart from being cut off at the Sokoh Estate junction by an end-to-end cavern, the road built by Niger Cat Construction Company, is riddled with potholes around the Canewood Hotel, White House and several other sections and junctions.
The story is the same for the Okere, Emebiren and Esisi roads as well as network of roads within the Marine Quarters, Ovie Palace, Sokoh Estate, Commissioner and several roads in the cities.
Roads in Ubeji, a serene community in Warri South, are as pothole-ridden as their counterparts in the mainland. Traffics in and out of the one-access-road community are so knotty that it sometimes takes hours to navigate to the NPA expressway from the town – a distance of about one kilometer – during the rush hours.
The federal roads in the areas are worse off. The Warri-Effurun-Sapele road has gone from being one of the best roads to the deadliest nightmares for motorists. The dual carriage road stretching from NPA to the Effurun roundabout is in ruin due to the BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) initiative of the past government.
The plan to expand the road in order to create an exclusive bus-only middle-lane hit a snag when the planners realised, late, that a further expansion is needed to increase the incoming and outgoing traffics to double lanes. Bus stops (built on the centre of the road) coupled with concrete barriers separating lanes have not only reduced the road, but have made driving a big test and a course in patience and control. A broken down vehicle (or tricycle) on the now one-lane can unleash chaos.
The NPA Expressway is not faring any better. The nearly four-decade highway has withstood a lot – heavy duty vehicles, tankers loading products at the WRPC Depot and several other vehicles use it. But the road seems to be saying ‘enough is enough’. The constantly gathering pools of water from the Bypass and Ogunu area and other parts have started taking their toll. Traffic from the port complex to other parts are now diverted to the incoming lane to avoid the pits that have secretly crept in and taken over the road over the past years. The road has deteriorated further because of the stoppage of the routine maintenance usually done by the past administration.
The expressway pours into the East/West Highway at Effurun roundabout in three branches: one going into Warri via Effurun; the other to and fro Benin and Port Harcourt (through Ughelli/DSC roundabout). The onward Port Harcourt road has also deteriorated these past months, especially between the PTI Conference Centre and Woodridge Hotel, where it is now more of an earth road than a federal highway.
Mr Aaron Aghorigho, a businessman, told our reporter that before car owners leave their homes to the office every morning, they need careful plotting of routes in order to avoid the most pothole-plagued roads like Sokoh Estate Road, Housing Complex Road (Ekpan), Alegbo, Ugbolokposo and NPA Bypass among others.
“Unfortunately, the options are becoming fewer by the day as one road after the other gives way to potholes and become gutters. You cannot truly avoid them; you can only calculate the ones with lesser bad spots, the width and depth and decide if the pain of crashing your car through them is worth the mission. For most routes, you do not have that luxury, especially when the crooked road is the only option,” he said with a sardonic smile.
The appalling condition of roads around Warri and other parts of Delta State is not due to lack of efforts by the government. The immediate past governments in the state and the Niger Delta Development Commission invested billions of naira on the construction of access roads, rehabilitation and dualisation of major roads in the city and other parts of the state.
It was learnt that the problem of flood in Warri and environs is compounded by the jinxed ADB-Assisted Water Project, whose nearly 20-year-old underground network of pipelines are constantly rupturing and erupting like volcano on Airport, PTI/Jakpa, Housing Complex and other major roads in the twin cities of Effurun/Warri during tests. The hope that the project would pump water to homes and not continue to be unwanted fountains on the streets is dying.
Our finding revealed that intra-city roads in the university town of Abraka and those in Ughelli; those linking communities in Ughelli North and South, including the Abraka-Orogun- Agbarha-Otor- Ughelli and Sapele metropolis are badly in need of repairs that may not come soon as a section of state fears that Governor Ifeanyi Okowa might concentrate on roads in the state capital and Delta North area to the detriment of those areas because roads in Agbor, Issele-Uku, Ibuzor and others are also awful.
In his reaction, Mr Victor Efeizomor, media aide to Governor Okowa, assured that the governor remained committed to his promise to make the state prosperous for all.
“It should be on record that the Governor of Delta State, Senator Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa has vowed to remained focused as his administration has begun to match words with action in its bid to fulfill electioneering promises to the people of Delta State.
“You will recall that the government not too long embarked on the inspection of some sectors of the construction work on the Asaba/ Ughelli road dualisation. He also carried out inspection tour on some major roads in the state, including Warri and its environs, with the intention of ensuring that the project continues. Also, the state government made available funds for the rehabilitation of failed portions of the Asaba –Ughelli road near Ogwashi- Uku.
“Similarly, the government earlier embarked on the desalting of drainages across the state to provide immediate temporary solution to the issue of flooding being face by our people in most communities across the three senatorial districts.”
Efeizomor blamed the slow pace of road construction and repairs on the season. He said there was very little government can do under the prevailing incessant rain.
“Once the rains give way, the issue of bad roads in all the three senatorial districts of the state will be given adequate attention.”
The criminal activities of the oil thieves and illegal refiners and bunkerers made the Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas, to visit the Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) Pathfinder, Rumuolumeni, Port Harcourt, Rivers State shortly after he took over.
•Destruction of stolen crude oil by personnel of NNS, Pathfinder, Rumuolumeni, Port Harcourt, Rivers State,
While at the NNS Pathfinder, which has as Commander, Commodore Shuwa Abdulrahim Mohammed, who assumed office on May 15 this year, Ibas warned the naval personnel against aiding and abetting crude oil theft and illegal refining of petroleum products, declaring that anybody caught would be sanctioned appropriately.
The CNS, while addressing naval officers and men, stated that the navy had declared total war against crude oil theft, illegal bunkering and refining, as well as other criminal activities in the creeks and waterways, noting that the government and the Nigerian navy had done a lot, to ensure better performance.
The crude oil theft is becoming worse, with a whole community/village now getting involved in artisanal/illegal refining of crude oil, especially into diesel, which is sold for local consumption, while the criminals are now role models in most of the communities, without the elders and monarchs being able to call them to order, as some of them aid them for pecuniary benefits.
Nigeria loses more crude oil than any other country in the world – more than seven per cent of daily production. The Federal Government of Nigeria and the oil companies suffer huge financial losses, an estimated $6 billion per annum.
An artisanal refining unit is a simplified petroleum distillation unit, which is conceptualised like a crude school science project. It can also be likened to the production of the local dry gin, commonly called “Ogogoro/kaikai.”
The aim of artisanal refining is to boil barrels of stolen crude oil with naked fire in a metal constructed sealed tank. The crude evaporates and passes through two parallel pipes, connected to the tank through a wooden constructed cooling water bath. The refined product then drips out slowly into a container at the other end, with different products emerging at different intervals.
Artisanal refining sites can be easily seen in creeks, forests and villages of the Niger Delta and it takes about three days to get up to five drums of refined petroleum products. After the refining processes, the products are filled into rubber and metal drums for transloading and storage, from where they are transported to their final destinations.
Since most of the artisanal refining sites are located near the creeks, the refined products are usually transported through the waterways to the neighbouring towns and villages, while transportation of large volume of crude oil to mother ships offshore is done by the use of barges.
The barges and Cotonou boats are usually anchored within the creeks, where they are filled with the required volume of crude oil, before they are transported and transferred into the mother ship, which can be in the coastal waters of Ghana or Benin Republic.
It is unlikely to visit jetties within any of the communities involved in illegal bunkering, without seeing piles of drums and rubber containers used for transporting the petroleum products.
Most of the locally-produced petroleum products (through artisanal refining) are transported to the cities, where they are probably mixed with the regular products and sold in conventional filling stations. The dominant product is diesel.
Since the tolerance of diesel engines is high, it is usually not easy to detect locally-refined diesel from the regular product.
A major driving force of the thriving illegal bunkering business in Nigeria is market demand. There is a huge local and international market for the crude oil stolen from Nigeria.
While the stolen crude oil is sold in countries within the West African sub-region and Europe, the locally-refined petroleum products are mostly sold in the local villages and towns, but now getting to Onitsha in Anambra State and Lagos.
A drum of locally-refined diesel goes for N7,000 in the creeks and as much as N12,000 to N15,000 in the cities.
The involvement of women in the whole process of illegal bunkering and artisanal refining is more or less secondary, because they are generally not involved in obtaining crude oil or in the refining process.
Women, however, play pivotal roles in the transportation and marketing of the refined products, as well as cooking and provision of sexual services for the predominantly male operators.
Children, mostly orphans and aged between 10 and 13, also work in the illegal bunkering sites and run errands at the camps, while absentee owners of illegal refining sites always appoint managers to run the operations.
In 2010, there were 1,500 illegal refining operations in the region, with Bodo Creeks in Gokana LGA of Rivers state harbouring over 1,000 youths, who were directly involved in illegal refining, which might have been higher now.
There are three main sets of actors involved in illegal bunkering: those who compromise the pipelines by breaking and installing taps on them to procure crude oil for sale; those who buy the crude oil for export and the local operators who process stolen crude oil into low quality fuels for the domestic market, with the three sets of actors referred to as oil thieves or illegal bunkerers.
Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta States account for 80 per cent of Nigeria’s onshore oil production and a predominant proportion of crude oil theft.
Illegal bunkering and artisanal refining are rooted in the grim economic and social circumstances of the Niger Delta. Poverty is endemic and unemployment is high. Nigeria loses $6 billion to oil theft annually. 28,000 people receive incomes directly or directly from illegal bunkering.
The illegal bunkering economy has an annual value of $9 billion. Those who export 80 per cent of the stolen crude oil are not poor people. They are connected to the political and military establishments, as well as the oil bureaucracy.
Concerted international action to check the Nigerian crude oil theft is not feasible, because the stolen crude oil represents a minor fraction of international crude oil traffic and does not present any credible threat to the world’s economy and international security.
Some Niger Delta youths are angry and have developed a deep sense of alienation. Their resort to illegal bunkering is an effort to earn a living and live their dreams, as well as being their expression of rebellion against the Federal Government.
Cult and militant groups also take part in illegal bunkering and artisanal refining processes in the Niger Delta.
Another important group that is involved in the illegal oil refining business is made up of individuals, who are not involved in any cult group, but are simply unemployed youths, with their ages ranging from 18 to 30.
The wages of the unemployed youths are usually calculated on a daily basis, but they normally get paid at the end of the week, when the products must have been evacuated and sold, while their wages vary according to the bunkering area. Some are paid N1,500 or N2,000 per day.
Marketers of the locally-refined products evacuate them from the producers and market them in bulk quantities. Then the women and children take over and sell to the members of the public in small retail units.
In some cases, stolen crude oil from pipelines are loaded in small barges and taken straight into the sea, where it is transhipped into larger barges (mother ships) in return for money and weapons. The practice has in recent years fuelled the violent communal clashes within the Niger Delta communities.
Artisanal refining is now undergoing structural changes, featuring concentration and centralisation, making possible oil theft on an industrial scale. The huge storage steel tanks being constructed and other requirements, including insurance in case of arrest, require considerable starter capital of about N1 million.
A major implication of this change is that many of the small operators of the past now work for the powerful “big boys” and financiers, who can muster the capital requirement and necessary law enforcement contacts for the protection of the business.
Workers and other people with legitimate livelihoods are investing in the illegal businesses of artisanal refining and bunkering, in order to provide for themselves an additional and more rewarding income stream.
The industry is also undergoing technical innovations, while expanding its commodity chain. Well paid specialists now drill the holes and install valves on them for siphoning crude oil from pipelines.
The fee for drilling a tapping point in some Niger Delta creeks is now between N250,000 and N300,000, with the changes giving the illegal bunkering and refining business the grounding for sustainability.
It was also confirmed that the nationals who are mostly involved in moving stolen crude oil are mainly non-English speaking, while it is common to sight Lebanese, Cameroonians, Pilipino, Romanians, Thais and Ghanaians, with the recipient refineries of crude oil stolen from Nigeria being in the United States of America, Brazil and the Gulf of Guinea.
Some naval officers are also believed to be willing tools.
Ibas said: “The navy has never tolerated its personnel conniving to wreck the nation. Any naval personnel that is involved in criminal activities will be sanctioned appropriately.
“Nigeria deserves a navy we all should be proud of. A navy that finds itself at sea, doing what other navies of the world do and not the navy that finds itself at shore, engaging in things that are strange to most navies. We are all aware that our nation depends majorly on the maritime environment for its survival and we are constitutionally mandated to ensure that the maritime domain is safe and secure, to enable us to reap from the resources therein, for the prosperity of our nation.
“In recent times, the insecurity in the nation’s maritime environments has denied our nation of the needed revenue for developments. If we continue on that line, even the navy, as an institution, will find it difficult to survive.”
The Commander of NNS Pathfinder (Commodore Shuwa Abdulrahim Mohammed), while briefing reporters, after destroying 78 illegal refineries and setting ablaze 1.9 million litres of stolen crude oil in the creeks of Rivers state, stated that the operations were part of navy’s efforts to put an end to crude oil theft and other maritime crimes in the nation’s waterways.
The commander of NNS Pathfinder, who was receiving the CNS, at the same time the illegal refineries were being destroyed, was represented by the Base Operations Officer, Commander Chidi Ejiofor, and noted that the naval personnel had carried out many operations, aimed at eradicating crude oil theft, illegal bunkering and operations of illegal refineries in the area.
Since the assumption of duty of Mohammed on May 15 this year, it was disclosed that the NNS Pathfinder had regularly been deploying gunboats for daily patrols and show of force along Port Harcourt and Bonny channels, as well as within the creeks in its areas of operations.
The commander of NNS Pathfinder said: “In all, from June 15, 2015 till date, the NNS Pathfinder has destroyed 78 illegal crude oil refineries and set ablaze 1.9 million litres of stolen crude oil in 65 days. Boats and many other items being used by the oil thieves were also destroyed.
“Our gunboats are deployed for patrols across various areas, including Onne, Bolo, Alakiri, Bile and Ke areas, Port Harcourt channels and Bonny areas.
“These deployments are in response to the Nigerian Navy’s renewed commitment and the Chief of the Naval
Crisis is brewing in hitherto peaceful Okpella community in Estako East Local Government Area of Edo State as Komunio, one the clans that make up the community, is at daggers drawn with the monarch, Okuokpellagbe, and other clans.
The battle may not be unconnected with the huge mineral deposits in the community, as it was gathered that some influential leaders of Komunio, also known as Afokpella, are on a mission to excise the clan from Okpella, in a move for their people to gain unfettered control of their resources.
A source said: “The revitalisation of the Okpella Cement Factory under the ownership of the BUA Group and other economic interests appeared to have triggered recent demand for autonomy by the Komunio clan as the company is located in the clan.”
It was further learnt that the agitation for autonomy by the Afokpellas is coming at a time Okpella community is locked in a battle with its neighbors in Kogi State over ownership of a large parcel of land with huge limestone and other mineral deposit.
The growing tension escalated recently when the President of Komunio Community, Chief Charles Adogah, authored a letter dated 24 July to the Chairman, BUA Cement Company Limited, hinting of the community’s move for autonomy.
Adogah told the company that his clan had decided to indefinitely boycott activities at palace of the Okpella monarch, Okuokpellagbe of Okpella, HRH Andrew Yusuf Dirisu, citing perceived high-handedness, tyranny, and injustice.
He asked the company not to transact any business whatsoever with the Okpella monarch on any matter that concerned the Komunio community and reminded the company that the parcel of land where the company is currently located and the minerals therein form part of the landed property of Komunio community.
It was gathered that those leading the agitation by Komunio clan included Chief Adogah (SAN), Dr Ayuba Giwa, Philip Magnus, a community leader and Messrs Edward Sado and Anthony Usman, both of whom are lawyers.
Our findings revealed that trouble started on June 16 when the traditional ruler summoned a meeting of the Okpella Traditional Council based on series of petitions from Ogiriga community that it wants to be a clan of its own and not under the Komunio community.
It was also alleged by elders of the Komunio community who were at the meeting that a hidden agenda of HRH Dirisu was to dissolve the Komunio Ruling House and make part of Komunio an annex of the Imiegiele Okashie quarters so that no others parts would form part of the Ogiriga and Iddo sub-clan/ruling house.
Chief Adogah, Dr. Ayuba, Sadoh and Usman wrote a strong-worded letter to the monarch accusing him of plotting to dislodge them from the place they have occupied for over 300 years.
They reminded the monarch that the same gazette legal notice, which recognised his position as Clan head or Paramount Chief of Okpella equally recognised the Komunio Ruling House of the Oteku Sub-clan of Okpella clan.
The letter reads: “No law or rule of law vests jurisdiction in you to decapitate Okpella, eliminate kindred and or villages or sub-clans or ruling houses that you hate and add more to your own village or any other for the purpose of “divide and rule” or to ignite inter-kindred conflicts.
“No law or rule of law vest in you or any Clan head of Okpella as at today in the Federal Republic of Nigeria, any jurisdiction to make any declaration of the title to land as you have purported to do in favour of your own kindred and others or at all, certainly not after more than 300years of our ownership and occupation of the said land area.
“We have hitherto believed that the unity and peaceful coexistence of Okpella was one of your primary responsibilities and not its economic exploitation and despoliation, which is the only reason you are attempting this patent lawlessness and illegality after all the assistance we have personally rendered to you to assist in the maintenance of peace in our beloved clan.
“We shall make a report of this lawlessness and caprice to the Government of Edo state that made the legal notice under reference so that they can be forewarned of your moves to cause significant and serious security breaches and challenges for the State where none currently exists,” the letter added.
The monarch was accused of deliberately increasing the number of villages in Okpella from seven he inherited in 1971 to 120. This action, they argued, made Okpella too large to be under the leadership of one traditional ruler.
In his response to the letter from the lawyers, HRH Dirisu explained that no final decision on the issue raised at the meeting was reached regarding the dissolution or annexation of any part of Okpella and described it as the figment of the imagination of the authors.
He said: “The Palace expresses dismay at the language of your letter and content on issue which it is displaying every act and diplomacy at its disposal in resolving. More painful is the fact that you are all gentlemen who have unfettered access to the palace from which you could have obtained the facts of the matter.
“The substance of the matter is that there were petitions from Ogiriga Community regarding their continued grouping under Ukhomunyo. As these were continuing unabated and increasingly provocative, the Palace summoned the Okpella Traditional Council to discuss and evaluate the issues raised at its meeting held on 16th June 2015. No decision was arrived at that meeting regarding the dissolution or annexation of any part of Okpella. It is the figment of the imagination of the authors.
“The Palace is undeterred by the very strong unwarranted and unjustifiable vituperations and threat in the tone of your letter. It will continue in its efforts and endeavors in ensuring the unity and co-existence of our clans.”
It was learnt that another meeting slated for June 27 was boycotted by Komunio clan. Sadoh explained that they viewed it as a matter beyond the legal competence of Okpella Traditional Council.
He stated that it is now a matter within the exclusive competence of the Edo State Executive Council and the legislature.
Afegbua
Special Adviser to Governor Adams Oshiomhole on Media and Public Affairs, Prince Kassim Afegbua, who hails from the community, said nobody can redraw the map of Okpella. He accused the Komunios of seeking autonomy for economic reasons.
Prince Afegbua stated that the Komunio clan earlier kicked against agitation by his ruling house for the creation of more clans for more political and economic patronage.
He said some companies left Okpella because of economic agitation which he noted left many youths jobless.
According to him, “Are they conducting a plebiscite or are they going to rewrite the history of Okpella? I am surprised that a particular community wants to pull out. Are they going to use caterpillar to uproot their houses? Are they saying they are no longer under the political leadership of the king? If they want to take such measure, there are procedures in law to take such measures. I expect that as we are moving forward, people should be talking about how to move community forward and not issues of clannish and ethnic sentiments. It should not be the driving force in promoting communal prosperity.”
Dr. Ayuba, who faulted Afegbua ‘s claim, said the battle for the Komunio clan land was because of the huge mineral deposit therein not found in other clans. He said their agitation was to free them from oppression and further incursion on their ancestral land.
When contacted on phone, HRH Dirisu said he traveled out of the country and described the agitators as his subjects whom he would not join issues with on the pages of newspapers.
