The Nation Newspaper

Category: Niger Delta

  • ‘Competence should determine Amaechi’s successor’

    A frontline politician in Rivers State, Sam Agwor, has said the major criteria for choosing the successor to Governor Rotimi Amaechi must be competence.

    Agwor spoke in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

    He said the best persons, devoid of ethnicity, must be presented as candidates during the 2015 elections.

    He said the era of upland/riverine dichotomy had passed in Rivers State, with emphasis now being placed on competence, political experience and capability to deliver, rather than sentiments.

    Rivers Ijaw and the Ogoni are campaigning for the governorship of the state to be zoned to their area. The riverine people, who are Ijaw, are saying they have not led the state since 1999. The Ogoni are also making the same case.

    Candidates from other upland part of the state, such as the Minister of State for Education, Nyesom Wike, are also saying they are entitled to run for the office.

    Agwor, a former Special Adviser to the ex-Governor of Rivers State, Dr. Peter Odili, also called for concerted efforts to battle terrorism.

    He observed that terrorism should not be given room to fester before being nipped in the bud.

    He said: “It has become clear to everybody that the security situation calls for cooperation of all. Boko Haram has no limit and does not respect personality. We must work together and become watchmen for the country.

    “If you see strange movement in any place, you must report to the appropriate security agencies. With such cooperation, we will be able to check insecurity in Nigeria.

    “The security situation in Nigeria is to undermine the Federal Government. They thought it would constitute an instrument with which they would continue to say the Federal Government is inefficient.”

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain urged public office holders facing impeachment should deeply reflect on their performance and activities, in order to avoid whipping up sentiments.

  • Where is ex-Governor Sylva’s abducted uncle?

    The is an octogenarian, about 86-year-old. Any hairy part of his head had already turned grey. Adigio-Eseni, a community leader,  no doubt deserves respect, especially from the youths.  The octogenarian is a favourite uncle to former Bayelsa State Governor Timipre Sylva.

    On July 28, youths as young as his grandchildren stormed his home in Okpoama, Brass Local Government Area, Bayelsa State, at about 2am, and whisked him away. Without respect to the age of the octogenarian, the armed youths kicked, pushed him and tore his clothes before bundling him away in a speedboat to an unknown place.

    The hoodlums unsettled the community with their sporadic gunshots before and after abducting the grandfather. Two weeks after the incident, nothing was heard from the kidnappers. They kept family members of their victim in the dark and created anxieties over the safety of Adigio-Eseni. Their action created panic among the children of the victim raising suspicion over the motives of the gunmen.

    The affected relatives were in dilemma, especially considering the health condition of their benefactor.

    He has high blood pressure. He was only being sustained by his drugs. His abductors didn’t go with the drug neither did they go with his phone.

    The family thought that they would come out to make their demands . It took over two weeks before the kidnappers asked for ransom. They want N250m to set the old man free. He was also allowed to speak with a family member and the family was relieved, but worried about where to get that kind of money.

    Fabo, the third son in the family, suspects that their father was abducted for political reasons because of his relationship with Sylva, who is now a leader of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in the state.

    Apart from being his uncle, Sylva, according to Fabo, was very close to their father.

    He said: “We are suspecting that it is political because of his relationship with former Governor Sylva. Maybe some persons kidnapped him to get at Sylva. We know our dad is not a politician and he has been sick for sometimes.

    “He has been in the house and he hardly goes out even to the church. But he is a very close uncle to Sylva. Any time he (Sylva) comes to the village, his first port of call is my dad’s place.

    “We are down and my step mum is the worst hit. She has been in shock and depressed. She doesn’t know what to do. She has not uttered a word since then. We are even afraid. Everybody is downcast. There is nothing we can do because the old man is the pillar of the family.”

    Just like Fabo said, the 70-year-old wife of Adigio-Eseni has been a ghost of herself since her husband was taken to the kidnappers’ den. But her spirits were lifted a little on Tuesday when she was told that the kidnappers contacted a member of the family. She was also told that her husband’s voice was heard for the first time after about 15 days.

    “I miss my husband. Until l see him l won’t be at rest. I am begging the kidnappers to set him free for me. They should at least consider his old age. Since they took him away from me, my life has not been the same again,”she said.

    But where will the money come from? That is the family’s dilemma.

    Fabo said: “We are a little relieved to learn that our father for the first time spoke. This is an indication that he is still alive. At least negotiation has started.

    “We, however, learnt that his voice was very down perhaps because of his sickness. He should be released to come back to us. Hearing that he is alive makes us happy.

    “Where do they expect us to get that kind of money? We don’t have money. We are appealing to them to release our father on humanitarian ground.”

    Commissioner of Police Mr. Hilary Opara said the command was doing everything possible to rescue the octogenarian. Hilary whose command has been solving many kidnap cases in recent time promised to bring back Adigio-Eseni alive.

    Certainly, the octogenarian does not deserve the kind of treatment being meted out to him. The youths who are holding him should think of their own old age. That is if they leave to even see old age.

  • 10-million man campaign against kidnappers in Rivers landlord

    10-million man campaign against kidnappers in Rivers landlord

    At a point Rivers State was almost synonymous with militancy and kidnapping. Militancy gave way later but kidnapping remains. It has, however, reduced drastically in the last two months.  A 10-million man campaign launched by Police Commissioner Tunde Ogunsakin promises to further spoil business for the ‘bad boys’, writes  PRECIOUS DIKEWOHA 

    Check out the cars of many of the rich and famous in Rivers State and chances are that the cars are bullet-proof. It is not that they just wanted to waste their money; it was a guide against kidnappers and other criminals. But while the rich and famous can afford to protect themselves with armoured cars, the poor and the middle class cannot. So, they fell prey to kidnappers. There were even instances where the kidnappers went after the wives, children or relatives of the rich who hid in armoured cars. At least 20 people were kidnapped monthly before things began to change in February.

    The end seems here for kidnappers. Rivers Police Commissioner Tunde Ogunsakin last Friday launched a one million man anti-kidnapping campaign. Already, prominent indigenes of the state, such as Deputy Governor Tele Ikuru, have signed the register, volunteering to give information that will help police nail kidnappers.

    Prominent youth organisations, such as the Ijaw Youth Congress (IYC), have also signed up to the campaign.

    Speaking at the launching of the campaign, Ogunsakin described the initiative as “the first of its kind in the history of the Southsouth”.

    He said: “This gathering is reminiscent of the January 10, 1920 League of Nations meeting to put a stop to a general enemy of mankind; war at the time. This initiative would not have come at a better time than now seeing that we are hard-pressed to take a definite and collective stand against our common foe; Kidnapping.

    “The relationship between both occasions of history is marked with a determination to achieve sustainable results. For the former, success was recorded when the all powerful United Nations was ultimately formed to forestall any future world war. As it concerns our cause today, victory will be achieved when we bring Kidnappers to their knees and make this State a haven of peace and order. This task seems enormous but dwindles in magnitude when we pool efforts together.

    “ I am sure you all must be wondering why we chose to adopt this strategy of bringing people to discuss and find lasting solutions to the blowing wind of kidnapping. The answer is simple; we need to see the crime from different perspectives so as to obtain a holistic approach to tackling it. It is important to opine at this point that the Rivers State Police Command has identified a need to place more emphasis on prevention of the crime as we continue in our post kidnap response. We also see the pressing need to involve the general public in combating the menace.”

    Ogunsakin said when he resumed as CP in Rivers last February kidnapping was the most worrisome crime he was confronted with. The figures were just alarming. Over 20 cases were reported monthly, with the victims cutting across every age grade, religion, creed and social status. He added that people in government and businesses were not spared by the kidnappers.

    “As Police officers, my men (Anti Kidnapping Unit in particular) and I were deeply concerned and began conscious efforts to reduce the crime. I announce to you today that we have been able to reduce the crime by over 50 per cent with less than 10 cases recorded monthly. Even this doesn’t suffice for us, as a single case is bad enough.

    “Kidnapping as we all know is a big phenomenon affecting every organisation, individual and community. Kidnappers hide under the façade that justice and equitable distribution of natural resources is a farce in our society and as such they are free to grasp as much as they can, while they can. The quest for immediate wealth is also a major cause of the increase in this crime in Rivers State. “

    He referred to a September 14, last year report by The Economist which shows that Nigeria contributes 26 per cent of cases of kidnapping globally and has been recently tagged the second most dangerous place to live in largely because of the spate of crimes, including kidnapping.

    Ogunsakin said: “This has coincided with a drop in the nation’s Foreign Direct Investment by $2.6bn in the last three years. I will make bold to state at this point in my speech that Rivers State, the Southsouth and Nigeria’s development in general are under attack by various forms of criminal activities with terrorism/kidnapping at the top of the list. We cannot surrender to it; neither can we relent in our crusade against it.

    “The “STOP KIDNAPPING campaign” is not a mere campaign. It’s our noble effort in taking policing above the present bar of arresting, investigating and prosecuting, to a point where the community is viewed as one impregnable tool for policing. As earlier pointed out; emphasis on prevention is paramount. The campaign is one of the humble attempts of the Police in Rivers State to create awareness and point to information sharing as a key to successfully ending this scourge. Members of the public are to be vigilant and cooperative at the same time. Every one of you here is a stakeholder in this effort and the time to view the Police as a friend is now.”

    The campaign is to be launched in the Area Commands and Divisions to encourage citizens to file complaints. Part of the plan is to also get the people to march in solidarity through the streets of Rivers State and sign a 10-million man register in support of the campaign.

    The campaign also integrates churches and other religious bodies because “the family and religious bodies still serve as very powerful tools in the socialisation and acculturation of our children and youth”.

  • FERMA intervenes on Akwa Ibom federal roads

    The Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) has commenced work on Ekparakwa-Iwukem-Azumini road; Ikot Ekpene – Umuhia road and Aba-Ikot Ekpene- Itu road.

    The Board member representing South South Zone on FERMA, Otuekong Idongesit Nkanga, disclosed this while briefing newsmen in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital.

    Nkanga, who was an Ex-Military Administrator in Akwa Ibom State, explained that FERMA acted on Presidential Directive ordering it to unlock the state from the poor conditions of the roads surrounding it.

    According to him, the Federal Ministry of Works had been working on the roads but the contracts were re-awarded due to poor performance of the contractors handling the road projects.

    He said: “You may have noticed particularly those of you from this environment that for some time now Akwa Ibom State has basically literally been locked out because of the poor condition of the Federal Roads beyond the state.

    “The roads in the state are all nylon tarred but beyond the state we cannot say the same. But there is a Presidential Directive that FERMA must stepped in immediately to unlock the state from the poor conditions of the roads surrounding it.

    “With the Presidential Directive, I need to let you know that Federal

    Ministry of Works has actually been working on those roads, contracts were awarded but because of poor performance of the contractors those contracts have been terminated.

    “FERMA couldn’t have been working on those roads at the same time

    Federal Ministry of Works is working on the roads. We have three different contractors working on those roads now. Zerock Contruction Nigeria Limited is to handle Ekparakwa-Iwukem-Azumini road; Walltown

    Stone Nigeria Limited is to handle Ikot Ekpene – Umuhia road while Mothercat Nigeria Limited is to handle Aba-Ikot Ekpene- Itu road.

    “Within this August break and into the dry season those roads must be clearly motorable that is the matching order that have been given and some of the contracts have now been re-awarded within the last three weeks to a month and I am very sure that those roads will be motorable and Akwa Ibom state will be unlock as it were.”

    While calling on the Federal Government to improve her maintenance culture on the existing federal roads, Nkanga argued that if more money is given to FERMA to maintain the roads, the country would have saved more than constructing new roads.

    His words: “What we are doing is an intervention by FERMA. FERMA is not coming to put brand new roads but it is an intervention so that people can make use of the those roads until a decision will be taken on how it will be done for a more permanent solutions.

    “In other countries, more money is spent on maintenance of the existing roads. When you hear people asking for the opening of new roads it is because the existing roads have dilapidated to a point that they cannot make use of it again. If you pay attention to maintenance in this country, we will be better off.”

  • Jonathan’s school, SUBEB and I, by Liverpool

    Jonathan’s school, SUBEB and I, by Liverpool

    The Executive Secretary of the Bayelsa State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Mr. Walton Liverpool, in this interview with MIKE ODIEGWU, speaks on the state of emergency declared in the state’s educational sector and crisis rocking SUBEB.

    what was the nature of Educational system in Bayelsa State prior to the Inauguration of this present board?

    Actually, we came into existence in August 6, 2012 after our Governor Serike Dickson declared a state of emergency in our educational sector. The educational system was in the state of comatose and the children were learning under leaking thatched roofs. The system was collapsed. We just felt that it is not good enough for the state. In our first SUBEB quality assurance meeting, Bayelsa came least out of the 36 states in the country. We had to tell them that we just came on board and that if they could give us some times, we would meet up with whatever expected standard and actually in not less than two years Bayelsa has moved from the least performing state to the number 10th position in the country.

    These were the achievements we recorded within this period. Actually the governor in our assumption in office paid a counterpart fund of 1.8 billion Naira which was Bayelsa’s share. With that, we have been able to construct 200 primary schools across the state. We did not end there; some mega projects that were abandoned before we came in were activated. We mobilised the contractors to start working on the schools.

    Most of them that could not meet our standard, we revoked their contracts and gave them to other contractors and today out of 25 ongoing projects we have successfully completed 21 of those schools here in Yanegoa .All the completed schools contain 12 classrooms, 23 toilets, a multi-purpose hall ,for primary school pupils which is as big as the banquet hall and an ICT hall where primary school pupils can access the internet right in their school here in Yenagoa and even teachers research room which is also computerized at present.

    Now when you look at the headmaster’s office, you can confuse it with that of the commissioner’s office. There is no school in the country that can measure up with the schools we have built in Bayelsa state not even in Rivers State. We have seven of these schools in Yenegoa metropolis. We have in Okolobiri , Opolo, Zarama, Biogbolo, Agudiama Epie and Ekpetiama.  We have installed 75KVA sound-proof generators in all the schools we have mentioned. We have also dug boreholes to regularly supply water to avoid messing up the environment.

    Are these schools operating now?

    Yes. You can take a ride to all the newly constructed schools in the metropolis. You will see that we have installed generators in all the schools because without them, the internet cannot be accessed. So, if you go to Brass, we have one in Twon Brass, another in Okpoma in Nembe, we have one. In Southern ijaw, we have in Amasoma and Oporoma. Tha is the success we recorded which made us to attain such height in the educational sector in the country.

    These schools are built with headmasters’ quarters. The governor approved 400 projects which include 400 headmasters’ quarters built across the state and if you go round the schools you hardly see a school without a headmaster’s quarters although we haven’t completely built such quarters in all schools because we have over 540 primary schools. The remaining ones will be done or completed with the 2014 intervention fund.

    But pupils are still sitting on the floor in some schools including those in the primary school attended by President Goodluck Jonathan in Otuoke.

    For the President Goodluck Jonthan’s primary school, the governor has directed that the school should be pulled down and rebuilt. So as we talk, they are working on the school. Before the directive was given, more than 200 seats have also been sent to the school. But when I went to the school to see things for myself to know if the furniture was distributed to the children, I discovered that the chairs were surplus and most of them were packed inside a room.

    They also complained that the school lacked headmaster’s quarters and that we have built headmasters’ quarters in other schools across the state. At the same time, they said there was no land to build on. But when I went behind I saw an old structure there which I pulled down. As we talk now the headmasters’ quarters is almost ready. We are doing a lot of work in Otuoke and by the time we finish with that school, I don’t think any school will be better than that school.

    On this issue of children sitting on the ground, I want to categorically make a statement that by September this year no child will sit on the ground because we have made adequate arrangement to flood all schools with desks including teachers tables and chairs. The problems we had was the 2012 mighty flood that caused the schools and villages to be submerged by water. Then, if you go to our schools, you would just see only roofs. The whole buildings were inside water while those that were not submerged were used as camping ground for flood victims.

    We also discovered that women were using our chairs as firewood. This happened even in my own community. When we got back to all these schools, more than half of the seats were broken and used as firewood. There was nothing we could do because the water covered everywhere and there was no room for going into the bush to fetch firewood. So our chairs became firewood. Those were the things we experienced. The modern educational structure we are looking at is a gradual thing.

    Did you say nothing was done against the people who broke school chairs for firewood?

    There is nothing we can do about this because these people are villagers. Do you know in a place called Okoroba, a school compound well-completed and furnished, the community boys whose houses submerged during the 2012 flood used axe to break into those completed houses and they were sleeping inside those houses within those period. They vandalised a lot of things so when we heard of this incident, we went there with policemen with the intention to round them up but they stood their ground because they preferred to die instead of packing out.

    They said, ‘we don’t have any place to stay while will you lock all this places up?’ In a place called Odi, the whole Odi community went into that place and they were cooking inside our classroom, that befitting structure we have built. But after everything we asked, the contractors to repaint the structures.

    Your board is enmeshed in crisis and other members the board are up in arms against you. Has the crisis been resolved?

     

    As far as I am concerned, this board has no crisis. People are only trying to create artificial problem. As human beings, most times we disagree to agree. The area of disagreement now for example is on the nature of the board. Before now, the board operated in full time and each board member was entitled to an office. But today, the board is now working in part-time and nobody is entitled to a personal office apar from the executive secretary.

    The amended law is very clear which states that the executive secretary is the Chief Accounting Officer of the board. The law also said that the executive secretary is in charge of the day to day activities and running of the office while other board members are supposed to come to the meetings on quarterly basis. But most of the members do not understand the nomenclature of the board despite the fact that the laws were made available to them. Some are not even willing to read the law.

    They want to operate like full-time staff and question me on routine administrative matters like giving a teacher query and promotion of staff However, this is my legitimate duty. Mine is to set up a promotion committee, interview them and later present the result to board meetings for them to rectify. Then, letters are issued accordingly. These people are saying that I must invite the board members before taking any decision on who to promote. But this is not how it is done. This is the sole responsibility of the executive secretary.

    But the board members accused you of taking a critical decision of sacking teachers without informing them.

    Yes. The teachers were sacked by the board but the board members went behind me, and denied me. Thank God I had the video clips of the meeting, where all their faces, the minutes on how the decision to sack the teachers were taken. This group of people went to the assembly and denied me and this was a set-up. But I stood my ground. It was only one person that stood by me that was how God vindicated me.

    Also while in the assembly, they interviewed them by asking them ‘how many times we have met for our board meetings?’ They ended up by saying that we have met just thrice but the reality of the matter is that, apart from the last meeting held, this will make it the fifteenth time we have met from the time of inauguration. But if you want to go by the normal meeting it ought to be quarterly that is four times in a year.

     

  • Three years after UNEP Report, Ogoniland mourns inaction

    Three years after UNEP Report, Ogoniland mourns inaction

    Three years after the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) released a scientific report detailing decades of devastating oil spill and its subsequent hardship on Ogoni land, environmental monitoring groups have released a report indicating that Shell and the Federal Government have done nothing to clean up Ogoni land, Seun Akioye reports

    The 17-page report gave a damning verdict: No Progress. It was an evaluation of the implementation of a report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on environmental assessment of Ogoniland.

    Three years after the report was released and after the Federal Government and multinational oil company, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) promised to implement the recommendations, the environmental justice groups had just one conclusion for the stakeholders: Failed.

    The groups: Environmental Rights Action (ERA), the Center for the Environment, Human Rights and Development, Friends of the Earth Europe, Platform and Amnesty International were unequivocal in their condemnation of government’s insensitivity to the plight of the Ogoni people.

    Ogoni: The curse from oil

    The Ogoni live on approximately 400 square miles or 1,000 square kilometers of land east and southeast of Port Harcourt in Rivers State.  According to the 2006 census, the Ogoni population is approximately 832,000 people.

    Oil was first discovered in Ogoni land at Bomu in 1958. According to Shell, 634 million barrels of oil valued at US$5.2 billion were taken from Ogoniland from 1958 – 1993 when production was halted following series of protests against the company.

    Although oil has not been produced in Ogoniland since 1993, there are regular oil spills from aging and poorly maintained oil pipelines. Perhaps, nowhere is this more pronounced than Bodo community in Ogoni land.

    In 2008, two massive oil spills from the Trans-Niger pipeline devastated the Bodo coastline destroying every living thing in the river. While the community was still dealing with the spill another from the Trans-Niger pipeline at Koloma-Zommadom road rocked the community, this time shaking the community to its very foundation.

    Bodo is on its kneels. The mangrove, the river and life as it used to be have been turned upside down. A mainly fishing community, the fishing industry has completely collapsed. After the 2009 oil spill, the Bodo people began to cut whatever tree was left of their forest, park them in canoes and sail to other communities to sell. The once proud people were humbled.

    Bodo’s devastation is only a part of the entire catastrophe that befell the Ogoni land, courtesy of decades of oil spill in the region. In a detailed scientific evaluation, the UNEP enumerated how the Ogoni landscaped has been raped by oil spill.

    But the people of Bodo are not taking the rape lying low. After the 2009 oil spill the community  instituted what has been termed the largest environmental trial in history in a United Kingdom court. The community asked for a payment of three hundred million Pounds Sterling as compensation for the twin oil spill, a claim Shell was quick to dismiss as “exaggerated.”

    However, Shell accepted responsibility for the oil spill and offered to pay the sum of $51million as compensation to the community. The Managing Director of Shell, Mutiu Sunmonu said: We want to compensate fairly and quickly those who have been genuinely affected and to clean up all areas where oil has been spilled from our facilities, including the many parts of Bodo which have been severely impacted by oil theft, illegal refining and sabotage activities.  We hope the community will now direct their UK legal representatives to stop wasting even more time pursuing enormously exaggerated claims and consider sensible and fair compensation offers.”

    One report, global outrage

    The final report from the field monitors who for 14 months laboured to evaluate the environmental devastation visited on Ogoniland was not sanguine about its findings. No part of Ogoni land was spared as the devastation took hold on air, land and the sea. The economic impact was devastating, according to reports, almost everyone in Ogoni live below $2 per day. Fishing activities which is the primary occupation in the region has been reduced to the barest and live in Ogoni is hard.

    “It is clear from UNEP’s field observations and scientific investigations that oil contamination in Ogoniland is widespread and severely impacting many components of the environment. The Ogoni people live with this pollution every minute of every day, 365 days a year. Since average life expectancy in Nigeria is less than 50 years, it is a fair assumption that most members of the current Ogoniland community have lived with chronic oil pollution throughout their lives,” the report says.

    The report had only knocks for Shell and the Federal Government for decades of pollution in Ogoniland. It said the cleanup would take 30 years and a bill of $1billion. UNEP Executive Director, said Nigerians had “paid a high price” for the economic growth brought by the oil industry.”

    The report found heavy contamination of land and underground water courses, sometimes more than 40 years after oil was spilled; community drinking water with dangerous concentrations of benzene and other pollutants; soil contamination more than five metres deep in many areas studied.

    The report also indicated that most of the spill sites oil firms claimed to have cleaned still highly contaminated and found evidence of oil firms dumping contaminated soil in unlined pits. In many places water coated with hydrocarbons more than 1,000 times the level allowed by Nigerian drinking water standards and indicted Shell for failing to meet minimum Nigerian or own standards.

    Environmental activists in Nigeria are gearing up for another round of battle after the government and oil company failed to implement any aspect of the report. Recently, during an activity marking the third year of the release of the report, Ogoni indigenes demanded a $100billion restoration and compensation fund for Niger Delta.

    Understandably, there was frustration written all over the people of Ogoni and other environmental activists who had gathered in solidarity with the people. Prominent among this group is the Executive Director, Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN),Dr. Godwin Uyi Ojo.

    Ojo has been a lifelong environmental activist and for many years a fierce opponent to the activities of the oil companies. Uyi berated the Federal government and the oil company for this failure and lack of transparency in dealing with the Ogoni devastation.

    “Shell would not obey the laws of Nigeria and would not accede to the implementation of the report recommendations. We reiterate our demands, among others, that the Ogonis in collaboration with other Niger Delta communities and civil society approach the United Nations to appoint a Niger Delta Reconciliation and Restoration Commission with autonomy and authority to do so.”

    Ojo then demanded a $100billion cleanup fund for the region:”We are not only demanding $1bn for the Ogoni environment restoration but the sum of $100bn restoration fund for the Niger Delta to address clean-up, restoration and compensation.”

     How the government failed

    The Federal Government was the first to respond to the findings of the United Nations investigative team after a detailed report was forwarded to the presidency. While the government did not respond directly to any of the recommendations, it set up processes designed to take the report forward.

    Following the presentation of the report, the government set up a committee chaired by the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Allison Madueke. The primary objective of the committee was to review the UNEP report and make recommendations on the remedial and long-term solution.

    However, the content of the  report of the committee which was submitted to the President in May 2012 has never been published and its result unknown.

    One year after UNEP report and following prompting from civil society organisation, the Minister of Petroleum Resources, established the Hydrocarbon Pollution Restoration Project (HYPREP) with a

    pledge to fully implement the UNEP report.  The mandate of the body include: To investigate and evaluate all hydrocarbon polluted communities and sites in Nigeria and make recommendations

    to the Federal Government;  to restore all communities and sites established as impacted by hydrocarbon pollution in Nigeria, and any/all matters that the Federal Government may assign to it, finally to implement the actionable recommendations in the UNEP Assessment Report on Ogoniland.

    While HYPREP has been involved in the implementation of some emergency measures, it has been largely criticized for not doing anything meaningful to address the major issues raised in the UNEP report. By the end of July 2014, according to Amnesty Internation, no local organisation working in Ogoni is aware of any meaningful work done by HYPREP.

    Since its publication, Shell has taken the report and the recommendations with a pinch of salt. Over the three year period, it had disputed many of the claims and has done its best to distance itself from the report. The company’s overall response is to note that “the UNEP report was commissioned by and delivered to the Federal Government of Nigeria. Many of the most important UNEP recommendations – such as the creation of an Ogoniland Environmental Restoration Authority and an Environmental Restoration Fund for Ogoniland – are directed at the government and require the government to take the

    lead to co-ordinate the activities of the many stakeholders involved. Other recommendations concern the Ogoniland community, the oil industry operators and SDPC.”

    In 2011, Shell announced that it has hired a company called the Bureau Veritas to verify the oil spill investigation system. The report of Veritas despite repeated request from Amnesty International has not been made public.

    Shell has also debunked the claim that its operations resulted in oil spill instead blaming oil theft and the issues of sabotage as the main cause of oil pollution in Ogoni. But the report from Amnesty International and its partners debunked the claims.

    “While Shell is quick to point to sabotage as a problem, the company has failed to take appropriate action to prevent it. For example, as noted above, when Shell left Ogoniland it did not properly decommission its facilities, leaving them vulnerable to illegal tapping and sabotage – and leaving communities exposed to the associated risks. This is completely contrary to internationaloil industry standards as well as international standards on business and human rights, both of which require that Shell exercise adequate due diligence in relation to prevention of sabotage and the associated human rights and environmental risks.”

    The report also faulted Shell’s position on UNEP finding saying Shell has the responsibility to clean up the spill even if it is from a third party. “One of the most serious findings of the UNEP repor t is in relation to Shell’s failure to clean up properly. Under Nigerian law the operating company is responsible for cleaning up oil spills from its facilities, even if the spill is the result of third-party action. Therefore, the human and environmental impacts of Shell’s failure to properly clean up pollution cannot be defended by reference to illegal activity that, allegedly, caused the oil spills,” it says.

    But defending the oil company’s position, the Corporate Media Relations Manager of Shell, Mr. Precious Okolobo, in a statement said that neither SPDC nor any other stakeholder is in a position to implement the entirety of UNEP’s recommendations unilaterally.

    Okolobo said three years on from the UNEP report’s publication, the SPDC, operator of a joint venture between the NNPC, SPDC, Total and Nigerian Agip Oil Company, had made progress in addressing all the recommendations directed, to it in that publication.

    Okolobo: “The majority of UNEP’s recommendations require multi-stakeholder efforts coordinated by the federal government. However, it is important to emphasise that neither SPDC nor any other stakeholder is in a position to implement the entirety of UNEP’s recommendations unilaterally.”

    He further stated that SPDC had an activity programme in place, focused on delivering improvements in the environmental and community health situation on the ground.

    “We continue to work with the government, communities and a number of constructive Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and civil society groups in the Niger Delta to accelerate progress,” he added.

    But, as legal battle continues in Nigerian and foreign courts over fight for justice in the Niger Delta, the over 800,000 inhabitants of Ogoni land would wake up  every day to an environment, polluted by oil giants.

  • Who will restore Timothy’s manhood?

    Who will restore Timothy’s manhood?

    Little Timothy Atoe is quite too young to be aware of his current predicament. He is yet to know the importance and function of a missing vital organ in his body because he is just three years old. His problems? Timothy was born without the male organ. At the place where there is supposed to be the organ is a lump and little testicles. Test results, according to his mother, Charity, showed that Timothy is a male.

    The mother said Timothy’s pee used to soak his panties for her to know that he has urinated.  Timothy’s supposed male organ is reddish and appears to be growing. Timothy’s problem has been further compounded as a supposed N5 million donated for his surgery has vanished due to ignorance of the mother.

    Timothy’s plight might have become a meal ticket for perhaps his parents and some greedy persons who pretends to offer help. He was born without penis and after a first operation doctors at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, doctors demanded the sum of N900,000 for a proper surgical operation that would restore the genital organ.

    His father, a bricklayer, abandoned him to his fate, while the mother who simply identified herself as Charity, said she took the pains to look for fund to carry out the operation. She stormed the premises of the Nigeria Union of Journalist in Edo State to narrate her endless quest to find solution to her son’s problem.

    Charity said she wrote the Edo State government for assistance and after several failed attempts to raise the money in Edo State, she relocated to Lagos State with the hope of getting help at the Synagogue Church of All Nations led by Prophet T B Joshua. She is back from Lagos crying for more help.

    She is calling on the Police to help her unravel the whereabouts of one Blessing Asatu, whom she alleged eloped with the N5m fund donated for her son’s surgery.

    She said: “My husband ran away after he has spent lots of money on this condition. He is a bricklayer and I used to sell garri. I stopped to enable me look for money to take care of Timothy. I have children for two husbands. Two girls for another man and two boys for this man that ran away. I have not seen my husband for the past eight months. I have been to several places and no help came. I have been looking for help for the past three years.

    “After looking for help in Benin without any forthcoming. I decided to go to TB Joshua church. On my way, someboday said I should go to Redeemed Church. It was where I was to buy sachet water to drink that I met one woman by name Blessing Usatu.

    “She promised to help me and within few minutes I saw pressmen asking me questions and the report was published the next day alongside my photographs. After two days, I started receiving calls from individuals across the world stating that they have paid money into an account provided alongside the story. I did not know that the account was in her name. She has a store at Ikeja opposite the Redeem church. We went to the hospital at Lagos and Dr. Bankole asked her to give me the money to go and do the operation in Benin but she refused. I used to sleep at Ijesha outside The Lord Chosen Church.

    “Somebody brought N600,000 cash which I saw. I was given N100,000 and the woman said she would keep the rest. I later gave her N80,000 out of the N100,000. Whenever I am going for check-up, she would give me N2000. She said I should go and call my husband before she would hand me the money. I went to the Zenith bank and the bank officials my picture was not in the account. I really need help. I do not know that the woman was out to dupe me. I have been calling her and her number is not connecting.”

    Charity said she was not in possession of copies of the doctor’s report as well the account number used by Blessing to raise fund for her son.

     

  • IYC charts new course

    The Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) is charting a new course. Last weekend, the body elected zonal officers, starting with the election of officers into the Central and Western zones. It said it chose to carry out the elections now so as to have a vibrant organisation across the region and in the Diaspora ahead of the 2015 elections.

    The Western zone officers emerged on Saturday after a keenly contested election held at Ogbe-Ijoh Primary School ground, in Ogbe-Ijoh Local Government Area of Delta State.

    The election, which was witnessed by the National President of IYC, Comrade Udengs Eradiri alongside the spokesman of the council, Eric Omare and other national officers of the council, was declared free and fair by the chairman of the 7-man electoral committee, Omoro Ogei.

    Declaring the results, Ogei, flanked by other committee members, said the election was devoid of rancour.

    According to him, 69 delegates participated in the election from the 23 Clans that were duly certified to vote, adding that in the IYC zoning arrangement, six offices were zoned to Delta State and two zoned to Ondo.

    Comrade Freeborn Atigbe from Edo State emerged the new executive chairman of the Western zone, beating three other contestants to the position.

    Others elected to pilot the affairs of the zone for the next three years include: Preye Thomas Koremene (Vice Chairman, Delta), Iwabi Ebigha Ebidaubra (Secretary General, Ondo), Napoleon Kenerekedi (Information Officer, Delta), Ms. Patience Seimode Inigha (Women Leader, Delta), Augustine Ebi-Okporu (Assistant Secretary, Delta), Ms. Esther Ukulor (Treasurer, Delta), Jackson Agbor (Financial Secretary, Delta), Denmene Edwin (Mobilisation Officer, Edo), as well as Loko Kikiranki Ibakeyowei (Student Representative, Ondo).

    Eradiri said: “It is a fulfillment of the convention we held at Ofunopama, Edo State in June. In that convention, we agreed that all elections should be held in clans, chapters and zones both in Nigeria and in Diaspora.”

  • Redefining land management in Cross River

    Redefining land management in Cross River

    The Cross River State government has made land acquisition easy for those interested in investing in the state or settling there, writes NICHOLAS KALU

    Imagine you were in Cross River around, say, 2005 to register your land. The mental stress of the processes you had to get through may be enough to deter you from going ahead. The Ministry of Lands where the exercise was expected to be carried out was enmeshed in bottlenecks.

    Chances were you would be passed from one office to the other, paying so many different fees, you would even lose count. Many times files that pertained to your case get missing somewhere in the long chain of hands that it had to pass through. Otherwise you would wait endlessly for one to look for a hard copy of your title. Many a times many had thought it wise to abandon the process even after spending so much time and money.

    Little wonder then that problems relating to land ownership abound. The old system was swallowed up in so much paperwork and bureaucracy and  was error-prone, time consuming and frustrating . It was often that you would see two or more people with titles for the same piece of land. It was a situation that created plenty of problems for individuals and government.

    Fast forward to the present day. With Cross River becoming a destination in the West African sub region, the demand for land has become and the need for proper land management becomes necessary, especially with so many investors knocking on the door.

    Hence to ensure that every issue relating to land management is streamlined and properly managed to eliminate all problems, the state government had set up the Cross River Geographical Information Agency (CRGIA) to digitally manage every issue related to land. With this development, all the available land in the state is to be digitally captured. The bill establishing the agency was signed into law in July 2012 by the state House of Assembly.

    The state has shown interest in Geographic Information Systems applications in acquisition of orthophotos in 2001 and 2005, though it was not until 2011 that the implementation of a standard Geographic Information System-Land Information System (GIS-LIS) platform was initiated. It was implemented with a project name “Cross River Geographic Information Systems (CRGIS” focusing on the introduction of GIS to various components of LIS such as capturing, processing, managing, analysing and disseminating land information.

    The project driven by Cross Riverians under the supervision of a consultant, led to the bill that established the agency. It examined all extant laws of the state as well as the laws of the Federal Government pertaining to land and repealed those state laws anachronistic and injurious to modern land administration.

    Marking a huge departure from the past, one can now an electronic Certificate of Occupancy (CofO) just 21 days after application. This is a process which under the former manual regime could run into years if successful.

    Again with a policy that no staff of the agency touches cash at any point through the process, the tendency for corruption has been whittled down.

    Director General of the agency, Dr Clement Oshaka, in an interview, said as an agency that has zero tolerance for corruption, all payments are made through the bank, and this will enable 100 per cent collection of all monies meant for land transactions and a boost to the internally generated revenue of the state.

    According to the DG, the agency which serves as a “one-stop-shop” for all land transactions in the state has not taken over the duties of the Ministry of Lands. “Rather, we complement them. We work in synergy with them and other relevant agencies. You are aware the world has gone digital and we cannot be left behind,” he said.

    Oshaka, who lauded the vision of the governor, Liyel Imoke, said: “The agency was set up to ensure that problems related to land management are reduced to the barest minimum. Land is a very important aspect of any human endeavour and needs to be managed properly especially in the light of the increase in demand of land in the state. Land management in the state now is done digitally. With the innovations in the agency one does not need to wait for months or years to get a certificate of occupancy, but can get it now within 21 days of application.”

    He said the agency offers bank-able certificate that is tamper-proof, has advanced digital security features that cannot be forged, different types of data analysis, offers town planners, agriculturist and other land users ability to key into world class Geographic Information System.

    “Today, heritage land is protected by the simple act of registering the property with a little fee. The issuance of land instrument gives all land owners in rural areas access to credit facility from financial institutions, a benefit currently enjoyed only by urban dwellers,” Oshaka said.

    He noted that CRGIA would ensure that historical data on each plot of land was captured and preserved electronically and hard copies preserved in standard reference archive, maintained in the agency for posterity.

    As an agency that to boost internally generated revenue also, the DG said it had generated about N300 million for the government in the first quarter of this year.

    Beyond the issuance of CofOs, recertification of CofOs, registration of title documents viz-a-viz, processing of land transactions other areas of resource management where GIS can be applied include urban planning, management and policy, environmental sciences, political science and business, he said.

  • Rivers cottage hospital… From five to 367 babies

    Rivers cottage hospital… From five to 367 babies

    In four years, the story  of a cottage hospital at Obio community in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State has changed, for good. The community thanks the Rivers State government and Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) for the good turn. Residents and beneficiaries could not hide their ecitement during the fourth  anniversary celebration of the hospital.

    It all began when  in  2011, Obio Primary Health Centre was renamed Obio Cottage Hospital. To date about 45,000 people have benefited from the hospital. Yet, the Health Insurance premium is pegged at N7, 200  per person per year. No wonder the scheme is highly sought.

    Mrs. Ngozi Onyeala, one of the beneficiaries, said she would forever thank SPDC and Rivers State government.

    She said: “My mouth cannot express what this hospital has done to me and my family. Those who establish it have done greatly on the side of the Lord. When I newly registered with this hospital, I had no money to register for antenatal or to take some necessary medications for me and my unborn baby. But coming down here, my problem was over; I did not pay kobo when I delivered my baby.”

    Another beneficiary, Mrs. Rose Nwoka, said: “One thing about Obio Cottage Hospital is that after the initial registration, the hospital will not demand for anything even in a critical condition that required surgery,  which for other hospital could have been N300, 000 and above but the hospital will take care of the situation without asking for  kobo. So, the women of Obio are saying thank you.”

    The Medical officer in-Change of Obio Cottage Hospital, Dr. Umejiego Chigozie, said the major challenge is how to attend to the clients with limited staff.

    He said: “We used to have 20 patients but today the number has tremendously increased. But, we are also working hard to get more doctors. Before now we have only two doctors but today we have eleven doctors; with the help of the community insurance scheme, we are going to have more doctors.”

    On the area of infant mortality, Dr Chigozie said: “In every centre like this, you must have child mortality, but we have done a lot to reduce child mortality rate. Before now, we used to have five deliveries in a month but now we do have 367 deliveries in a month. This has showed how we have grown since 2010.”

    SPDC Acting Regional Community Health Manager, Dr.  Edet –Edet, while addressing reporters, said the need for accessible healthcare informed the idea to partner with Rivers State government for the benefit of the people.

    He said: “The SPDC with JV partners renovated the facility in 2006/2007 and started working with the I.A GMOU cluster Community Development Board (DCB) in designing and implementing a sustainable health care model that could impact health care in their community. The Obio Community Health Insurance scheme was thus born as a pro-poor programme after Shell conducted an actuarial study which placed the community readiness to pay for Health services at 85 per cent. SPDC in partnership with the Rivers State government and the IA cluster of communities introduced the community Health Insurance Scheme with the goal to develop and implement a scheme which will provide community members with access to efficient and effective healthcare services accessible through sustainably operated healthcare facilities within the communities where they reside.

    “We have also moved to Rumuokwurusi,   within the state there are request from other state pleading to have the programme in their state. We have a big health insurance scheme. Recently we have a roundtable discussion with the Commissioner of Bayalsa State who has seen what we are doing decided to have it in their state. The scheme is now financially independent from SPDC and underpinned by a commercial viable business model which ensures the scheme’s long term sustainability.”

    The highpoint of the occasion include a drama presentation, a lecture, dancing and cutting of the 4th anniversary celebration.