The Nation Newspaper

Category: Niger Delta

  • ‘Why Niger Delta is still backward’

    ‘Why Niger Delta is still backward’

    Oil is its main resource. But there are others yet to be tapped. Niger Delta has been unable to reap the benefits of its being the major base of the much-sought oil and gas, writes OLUKOREDE YISHAU

    It extends to over 70,000 square kilometres and constitutes about 7.5 per cent of Nigeria’s land mass. It is called Niger Delta. The region is densely populated and comprises Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo; Imo and Rivers states.

    This home to over 31 million people is the oil and gas-producing belt.

    Since the discovery of oil in commercial quantity in Oloibiri, in present-day Bayelsa State in 1956, the region has been embroiled in controversies, agitation and protests over the attendant oil spills, devastating pollution of fishing zones and sources of potable water and ecological degradation.

    Over the years, the people have lived in conditions that are intolerable. From time to time, gross neglect and under-development snowball into pockets of protests and agitation for resource control because successive administrations at the centre and in some states glossed over sustainable development of the region.

    While other regions were being developed in infrastructure and human capital, the reverse was the case in the Niger Delta. No wonder there has been a debate on whether oil exploration is a curse or a blessing to the region.

    Bottled resentment as a result of the status quo has been blamed for instances of vandalism of oil and gas pipelines and series of kidnappings for ransom.

    In the beginning

    The enactment of the Mineral Ordinance by Nigeria’s first Governor-General Sir Frederick Luggard in 1914 signalled the exploration and exploitation of the country’s mineral resources, especially oil and gas.

    In 1937, the British colonial government gave the exclusive rights of exploration and exploitation to Shell D’Arcy, which could not actualise this mandate because of the Second World War. In 1938, Shell entered into collaboration with British Petroleum (formerly Anglo-Persian Oil Company) for oil prospection in Nigeria.

    Their early efforts yielded 450 barrels of crude oil in Akata I Well, in 1951. Further successes were made in Oloibiri in 1956 and Bomu Oil Field in 1958 when oil was struck in commercial quantity.

    After this, many major players in the global oil sector were granted prospecting licences. They include Socony Vacuum (now Mobil) in 1955, Tennessee (later Tennenco) in 1960, Gulf Oil (now named Chevron) in 1961, American Overseas (later Amoseas) in 1961, Agip Oil in 1962 and Safrap (now ELF, Phillips in 1965 and Esso in 1965.

    Shell, Mobil, Chevron, ELF, Agip and Texaco were major players in the oil sector. Others, such as Ashland, Deminex, Pan Ocean, British Gas, Sun Oil, Conoco, Statoil, BP and Chemical Oil Company (now Conoil) played minimal roles.

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has 55 per cent equity participation in Shell; 58 per cent in Mobil; 60 per cent in ELF and 60 per cent in Texaco.

    What manner of blessing?

    In collaboration with Shell, the Federal Government set up the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG) with a plant at Finima, Bonny Island to enable it maximise its revenue from oil prospecting and to also reduce gas flaring. The country has earned several millions of dollars in revenue from the NLNG.

    In spite of these efforts to increase the extraction of both oil and gas from wells and fields located in the region and consequently shore up gross revenue earnings, the peoples of the Niger Delta have tales of deprivation and neglect to tell.

    A large proportion of the country’s poor lives in the Niger Delta where the exploration and exploitation of oil and gas has created sorry sites and sights of oil spills and distorted bio-diversity.

    The situation has often given rise to non-violent and violent protestations. These include the initial 12-Day Revolution in the Creeks in 1967, which was championed by the trio of Isaac Adaka Boro, Samuel Owonaru and Nothingham Dick, in a failed bid to secede from Nigeria.

    There were other protests and agitations by groups, such as the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP), led by the late Ken Saro-Wiwa who was killed by the Gen. Sani Abacha Administration and activities of groups, such as the Ogba Solidarity, the Urhobo Progressive Union, the Niger Delta Environmental Forum, the Chikoko Movement, the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth, the Ijaw National Congress, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) and the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force led by Mujahid Asari Dokubo.

    Not a few will easily forget repentant militants, such as Government Ekpemupolo (aka Tompolo), Victor Ebikabowei Ben (aka General Boyloaf), Ateke Tom, John Togo, Fareh Dagogo and the late Soboma George.

    Interventionist moves

    Deriving from the recommendations of the Henry Willink Commission of Inquiry set up by the British colonial government on September 26, 1957 that the Niger Delta people were “poor, backward and neglected” and should be on the concurrent list as a “special area” needing special attention, the government established the Niger Delta Development Board (NDDB).

    The board was assigned the responsibility of managing the challenges and the socio-economic development of the new special areas of Yenagoa Province, Degema Province, Ogoni Division of Port Harcourt Province and the Western Ijaw Division of Delta Province.

    It existed for seven years (1960-1967) until it was replaced by a Presidential Task Force Committee that was set up by the then President Shehu Shagari in 1980.

    A major attempt to address the issues challenging the development of the Niger Delta was the constitution of the Oil Mineral-Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC) in 1992 by the Babangida Administration.

    Other interventions came in forms of panels, until December 21, 2000 when the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) was set up by ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo to “offer a lasting solution to the socio-economic difficulties of the Niger Delta region” and further facilitate the “rapid, even and sustainable development of the Niger Delta that is economically prosperous, socially stable, economically regenerative and politically peaceful.”

    So far, the interventionist agency has made some strides and achievements in the areas of infrastructure development and human capital development in spite that its affairs, at many points, have been dogged by internal feuds and opposing blocs of influence over control of its operation. These actions have stunted its growth rate over the years.

    Though many observers have accused the Federal Government of duplicating the functions and scope of the NDDC by establishing a Niger Delta Affairs Ministry in 2008 and the constitution of a 40-member National Council on Niger Delta in April 2013, no action will be too much in redressing over 50 years of neglect, lack, poverty and degradation suffered by the people of the region.

    Aside from other strides achieved either by the NDDC or the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, two issues are prominent in the struggle to better the living condition of the average Niger Deltan.

    They are the Amnesty Programme that involved the voluntary disarmament of various groups of armed militia that hitherto fought for the emancipation of their people.

    It is gratifying to note that the programme has empowered a new generation of young Niger Deltans who, through the human capital development segment of the Amnesty Programme, are now licensed aircraft pilots and aeronautic engineers; doctors, civil, mechanical, electrical and maritime engineers, welders, nurses, petro-chemical technicians. There is also the concept and gradual actualisation of the East-West Coastal Road, which is designed as a pathway to sustainable development of the region.

    The East-West Coastal Road

    The concept, construction and cost of the East-West Coastal Road surpasses, in sheer magnitude, geographical spread, technical and structural specification, of any other project ever undertaken since independence in 1960.

    Originating from Udukpani in Cross Rivers State, the proposed road will transverse and connect over 1,000 communities along its route with growth poles on the north-central-south ribs while achieving easy access and reduction in travel-time before terminating at Aiyeteju, Epe, in Lagos State.

    The East-West Coastal Road is a landmark and the flagship of the Federal Government infrastructure development intervention in the region.

    The three sections of the road will pass through areas with challenging and difficult terrains. The East-West Coastal Road Section 1 is from Warri to Kaikama in Delta State; the Section II from Port Harcourt to Ahoada in Rivers State and Section II-II from Ahoada, Rivers State to Kaiama in Bayelsa State. It will interface with the ongoing Trans-African Highway running from Dakar, Senegal to Mombasa in Kenya.

    Experts say the East-West Coastal Road will serve as the shortest link between Lagos and the coastal areas of Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Ondo and Rivers states. It is also meant to stem the rising tide of rural-urban drift as the opportunities within the region will outweigh those outside it.

    The road will enhance the security of the region and Nigeria at large. It will facilitate the direct access to waterways that have not been utilised, even as it will encourage the setting up of core maritime engineering facilities such as ocean terminal for deep-sea anchorage; ship repairs and maintenance and facilities to handle the engineering needs of big ocean-going vessels; fishing and passenger commuter terminals; increase in fishing activities in the coastal region; encouraging the establishment of functional Export Processing Zones (EPZs) in the coastal states; boosting trading activities as it will assist in moving people and goods from one point to the other. The road will open up employment opportunities to both skilled and unskilled labour during and after the construction of the road. The road will facilitate new investment in the coastal areas of the Niger Delta and encourage local technology and content.

    It is incontestable that the East-West Coastal Road will be vital to the enhancement, advancement and operation of the Niger Delta economy as an artery that will harness the economic, social and industrial empowerment of a people who have carried the yoke of deprivation, degradation and denial for so long.

    No wonder experts say the Federal Government should prioritise this road so that Nigeria will not fail to deliver on its segment of the Trans-African Highway (TAH7 and TAH8) which is the Dakar-Lagos Highway (which is also known as the Trans-West African Coastal Road) and the Lagos-Mombasa Highway, of which the East-West Coastal Road is a major component, when completed.

    The proponents and initiators of the larger Trans-African Highway and the East-West Coastal Road are on the same page in terms of the accruable benefits of both projects.

    In the Niger Delta region, there is the pervading fear that if the little gains made so far in redressing the dire straits that the region has gone through is not consummated, concretised or completed within the tenures of President Goodluck Jonathan and his late predecessor, Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua, the region will relapse to its shoddier state.

    Fast-tracking Development Efforts

    It is in the light of the foregoing that utmost efforts should be made by both the Federal Government and the nine states that make up the Niger Delta region to fast-track the infrastructure and human capital development agenda through policies, programmes and projects that will have holistic and lasting impact on the life and living standards of the people.

    As a region that is still marginalised, it is envisaged that the states in the region should tackle such challenges squarely and find solutions to them.

    There should be profound commitment to integration and long-term development which will focus on consolidating the gains made so far in the areas of peace and stability; entrenchment of an enduring regime of good governance; conception and prosecution of a diversified economic roadmap with special emphasis on agricultural transformation and agro-industrial development that will utilise available local raw materials and other contents.

    There should also be in place policies and programmes that will enhance human capital development of its citizens to provide labour in the various fields in the component states; instituting new culture of projects monitoring to ensure that specifications, directives and cost implications are strictly adhered to; making the various states less dependent on statutory allocations from the Federation Account and concentrate on other areas of revenue-generation that will out-live a Niger Delta After Oil; ensuring the proper monitoring of the activities of oil companies to control the recklessness associated with oil exploration and exploitation as most of the past spills and other ecological disasters have either been as a result of poor regulation or none at all; entering into joint partnership with relevant and specialised multi-national companies in the areas of power generation, petroleum refining and petrol-chemicals, agro-allied industries and solid minerals, among others.

    In actualising these set goals, states in the Niger Delta region will be creating job opportunities that will reduce dissent and rancour within a region that needs the human face of governance in all spheres of life.

    Resource Control

    As there were no mutually-agreed grounds for co-operation and common goals in the calls for resource control between 2003 and 2007, the protagonists of this genuine request did not get the expected support from most of their kinsmen and women because of the prevailing distrust and lack of faith in government at the time.

    The clamour for the oil-producing states to collect, retain, control and use revenue accruing from sales of petroleum and gas in their various states for accelerated development, did not elicit positive acceptance of the people of Niger Delta. This was because the manner in which some of the leaders managed their states’ statutory and other accruable revenues from the Federation Account and internally-generated revenue was suspect.

    In consequence, the generally-held view was that if some of these administrators could not manage the available resources of their states prudently without resorting to “personal resource control,” what will they do if they are given unhindered access to the mouth-watering outlay of all the petroleum revenues? The people saw through the veiled intention of some of the protagonists of this “people-focused” demand for control of all revenue from oil and gas and refused to offer their support.

    Reliance on oil revenue

    The culture of over-dependence on petroleum as the prime source of revenue has either reduced or erased many governments’ focus on revenue earnings from agriculture, solid minerals, tourism, service provision and adequate taxation, among other revenue sources.

    These are some of the sources that had sustained governments before the discovery of oil in Oloibiri in 1956. As soon as huge revenue from the exportation of crude oil started coming, the early administrators and their successors started paying less attention to other areas of the economy that had, hitherto, provided the revenue that sustained the region and its people in the pre-crude oil era.

    Economists have traced the genesis of this oversight to the shaky foundation laid by some of these administrators who did not possess the necessary visionary disposition to project, plan and institute policies, programmes and projects or chose to ignore these strategic indices that would have laid the enduring foundation for a seamless transition from oil revenues to other lucrative alternatives, while utilising the earnings from oil to develop necessary infrastructure and human capital.

    This would have served as a strong fulcrum for future development and progress in the Niger Delta region.

    This self-limiting factor is one of the major reasons that, in spite of the huge oil revenue allocations available to many states in the region from the Federation Account and other internally-generated ones, they are not experiencing buoyant economies or providing people-focused governance that will impact favourably on the people.

    In addition, the over-reliance on revenues from the sales of crude oil has stunted growth and development of other revenue-yielding areas.

    After careful analysis of available statistics of the oil reserves in the Niger Delta and the rate of its exploitation and exploration, reputable geologists are of the opinion that there is a possibility of the oil wells drying up in the next 40 years.

    This possibility is premised on the rate of the current exploitation of about 2.5 million barrels of crude oil per day which will take a 40-year time span to deplete the estimated 37.2 billion barrels of crude oil under the bowels of the Niger Delta.

    In scope, concept and prosecution, the futuristic movement from over-reliance on oil revenue to a new vista of diversification should be accessed from two standpoints of utilising the revenue from the near-mono-economic petroleum and gas sector prudently to develop other key areas of the Niger Delta region’s economy and also diversifying the revenue base of the region with the exploration of other vital sectors such as agriculture, tourism, commerce and industry, among others.

    In jump-starting the new process of diversified revenue generation, administrators need to be conscious of the fact that oil and gas as sources of energy and power (and consequently revenues) are constantly exposed and susceptible to global price fluctuations and boardroom politics, exhaustible by chemical composition, non-renewable and non-reusable.

    The dynamics of the energy industry is constantly changing from the high dependence on fossil fuels (oil, gas, coal etc) to renewable and clean energy sources. This gradual shift from petroleum and other fossil-based fuels will inevitably drive down the global prices of crude oil once the other sources attain positive economies of scale.

    It is important that leaders of the Niger Delta region should accord high premium to the activation of this project that will be primarily based on resources and revenue diversification by providing the avenues conducive to proper utilisation of the region’s oil earnings for sustainable development – especially in the interest of future generations.

    To achieve maximum success, the leaders should create enabling platforms like directorates, departments and agencies with specific responsibilities to oversee, supervise and actualise specific targets that will concretise those processes that will either reduce or eliminate over-reliance on oil revenue. The leaders and/or administrators should go beyond grandstanding, self-serving platitudes and rhetoric by giving holistic interpretation to sustainable development of the component states of the Niger Delta for the overall benefit of this and coming generations.

    It is envisaged that the seamless movement from over-dependence on oil revenue to non-oil areas of the region’s economy should focus on development of those core areas that will lessen the people’s burden in the event of waning oil revenues or sudden depletion of crude oil reserves in the region.

    Some of the identified sectors include infrastructure development, human capital development, establishment of specialised macro-economic Free Trade Zones and Industrial Parks and solid minerals development, among others.

    States of the Niger Delta, observers believe, should collaborate to realise their goal through judicious deployment of the region’s oil earnings to ensure a seamless transition from huge allocations to none at all.

    The region needs leadership that thinks years ahead of its contemporaries to bring enduring succour and satisfaction to the people and extricate them from crass poverty, hunger, under-development and want.

    It is only when the welfare of the people of the Niger Delta region become the utmost concern of leaders at the federal, states and local government levels that those years of marginalisation, lack of representation, physical development and exploitation can be reversed.

     

  • Foundation’s free Medicare for Rivers communities

    Foundation’s free Medicare for Rivers communities

    The Abonnema community in Akuku-Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State and its environs were agog recently as the medical team from Care for Life Foundation, an initiative of High Chief Olu Benson Lulu-Briggs visited the area to offer free medical treatment to over 5,500 residents who were suffering from various ailments.

    Aged men, women and youths trooped out in their large numbers to access healthcare services which they lack due to grippling poverty pervading the rural communities.

    The five-day intensive healthcare outreach held at the Abonnema General Hospital. It was the third visit of the foundation to the area in its 13 years of existence and 22nd outreach across the South-South region.

    Executive Director of the Foundation, Mrs. Seinye O.B. Lulu-Briggs described the foundation’s gestures as their own way of appreciating God’s call and mercies upon their lives.

    Mrs. Lulu-Briggs recalled that after the 2008 outreach at Abonnema, the foundation has successfully reached out to other remote communities in Bayelsa and Akwa Ibom states as well as several others in Rivers State, where over 67,000 lives were positively touched and surgeries performed.

    She reiterated that the foundation’s concern was to provide quality healthcare for people at the grassroots, especially those indigent ones who could not afford medical care.

    The director expressed concern over increasing rate of ailments among the rural poor. She called for upgrade of medical facilities in the public healthcare centres with the latest technology to meet the reality on ground.

    She pledged the foundation’s readiness to partner with the state government to upgrade facilities at the Abonnema General Hospital for the use of residents of the community and its environs.

    “The number of patients that have turned out in the last three days of this outreach suggests that there is need for the country to upgrade her healthcare system from stage one to the current 21st Century stage four healthcare system as practised by countries such as India, United States of America and the United Kingdom, among others.

    “There is need to make drastic and positive changes in our healthcare system in terms of improvement in the remuneration of health personnel, provision of appropriate drugs, medical instruments, equipment and facilities, as well as the maintenance of same; so as to avert a retrogressive effect on our socio-economic development.

    “In this regard, the O.B. Lulu-Briggs Foundation is having preliminary discussions with the Rivers State government to partner with it on making the General Hospital in Abonnema a fully operational and world-class hospital as it should be,” she stated.

    No fewer than 5, 504 patients were treated, even as 49 surgeries were carried out at the Abonnema outreach. Those diagnosed with HIV were counselled and referred for further treatment along with those that have major cases which could not be effectively handled within the period of the outreach.

    Some of the beneficiaries expressed their gratitude to O.B. Lulu-Briggs Foundation for its benevolence to the poor.

    A middle-aged man whose nine-year surgical error was corrected testified at the event. He said: “I had major (appendix) operation in 2000. The appendix ruptured in my stomach. I was the only survivor of the six people that had the problem at that time.

    “In 2011, I was invited for the second round of the operation; they said it would be re-opened and closed back. But for fear of the death of some of those who underwent the surgery along with me, I decided to go to a private hospital.”

    Also, a 25-year-old male beneficiary who suffered from hernia expressed his gratitude to the foundation for its love for the people.

    He said the condition deprived him of the ability to fend for himself. He expressed joy that the opportunity provided by the Lulu-Briggs Foundation has given him succour.

    Pastor Amaechi in a topic entitled “Bearing Good Fruits,” said “bearing good fruits engenders peace, love, forgiveness, patience and joy in the family, whereas bad fruits bring sorrow, anger and troubles in the family and, by extension, the wider society.

    Quoting copiously from Psalm 15:2, he urged people to bear good fruits so that God would reward and bless them.

    On the medical cases they handled in the week-long outing, Dr Etuk Akpan, a surgeon said: “The services we’ve been rendering included general out-patient services, consultations, prescriptions for common medical ailments as well as surgical operations for common /minor surgical conditions that will not require in-patient treatment and monitoring.

    “By minor surgeries I mean hernias, lumps, lynpomer and appendix, among others. However, the pre-dominant case is hernia, which could be as a result of the people’s predominant fishing, farming and other hard labour occupation.

    “We have performed a total of 49 surgeries and we are still counting because we still have so much number in our list and the programme is still on.”

    Dr. Akpan recommended frequent access to health facilities for routine and regular check-ups on the people’s general health and high blood pressure levels to enable them to manage their health conditions for longevity.

    The Chairman of Akuku-Toru Local Government Area, Theodore Gorgewill, expressed his gratitude to the foundation for its intervention on the health needs of residents. He promised to upgrade the facilities at the Abonnema General Hospital, venue of the programme.

  • Don’t legalise illegal refineries

    It started last month and it has not quite gone. Filling stations across the country were closed because they had no products. Drivers sat for up to eight hours waiting for fuel. Other stations upped the price as much as 50 per cent.

    This scarcity has brought up the issue of whether or not the several illegal refineries in the Niger Delta should be legalised.

    The illegal refineries are scattered all over the Niger Delta, especially in states such as Bayelsa and Rivers. At the refineries, sights of men pouring oil under locally made burners to keep the fire going are common.

    Security agents, especially the Joint Task Force (JTF) have burnt down hundreds of such oil refineries in recent months. The operators are fond of replacing the refineries quickly. Last year, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps destroyed 813 illegal oil refineries and arrested over 1,590 oil-related criminal suspects. 1,549 of the suspects were undergoing prosecution as at the beginning of the year. 44 had been convicted. This year, the Navy said it has destroyed over 200.

    Minister of Finance Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said the country is losing 400,000 barrels of crude oil daily to illegal bunkering and oil pipelines’ vandalism. That means a whopping 20 per cent of the daily production capacity of two million barrels is creamed off by daredevil criminals. She spoke during her appearance before the House of Representatives Joint Committee on Appropriation/Finance in Abuja on July 16, last year.

    She said: “We are losing revenue; 400,000 barrels of crude oil are lost daily due to illegal bunkering, vandalism and production shut-ins. I have to clarify that it is not as if the entire 400,000 barrels is stolen, no. What happens is that whenever the pipelines are attacked and oil is taken, there is a total shut down. All the quantity of oil produced for that day will be lost because it means government cannot sell it and it means a drop in revenue.”

    The Managing Director, Financial Derivatives Company Limited, Mr. Bismarck Rewane, sounded a note of warning, saying a further revenue drop could hurt the nation’s economy beyond repair.

    Rewane said: “If indeed about 400,000 barrels of crude oil are lost every day, that’s about 20 per cent of daily oil production. Remember, crude oil is the mainstay of Nigeria’s economy. If they take away 20 per cent of your salary, you know how that will affect you. Nigeria cannot survive on what will be left if that amount of revenue is lost every day.”

    Rewane’s stance makes more sense when juxtaposed with the fact that although the government has repeatedly maintained that it is committed to measures to diversify the economy, oil export still accounts for more than 80 per cent of nation’s revenue and 95 per cent of the foreign exchange income.

    Many in the Niger Delta are poor and the pollution of their land and fishing waters have contributed to their woes. This state of things is said to be responsible for the massive theft in the area, which has, however, further worsened the pollution in the land.

    One of those leading the campaign for the legalisation of these refineries is Edward Oforomeh, a lawyer and former police superintendent.

    This is his argument: “We have been reading every day, every day that they have been destroying the refinery, destroying the refinery. And they come back. Is this not a vicious cycle? We are just going around the periphery of the whole issue. Solve it by legalising them, licensing them so they would be able to contribute to the coffers of the government.”

    This argument obviously does not take into cognisance the other side of the coin. It also raises posers. Will someone who is sued to stealing fuel for free want to buy from government? What are the health hazard of this crude method of refining fuel? Does legalising the practice bring about no harm to the environment? Are we sure this will curb the loss of much as $1 billion a month to oil theft? What about environmental impact assessment? Will the untold pollution associated with the unrefined method stop?

    We dare say to regularise the illegal market will contribute to impunity.

  • Delta 2015: I’m the solution to zoning, says Oyibode

    Delta 2015: I’m the solution to zoning, says Oyibode

    Amid the agitation for power shift to the north senatorial district of Delta State and the determination of the Urhobo of Delta Central determination to win back the power they lost in 2007 when Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan became the first Deltan of non-Urhobo extraction to govern the state since 1992 when Delta State was created, Ambassador Gabriel Chukwuma Oyibode has emerged as a possible candidate to assuage the feelings of both sides.

    The real estate mogul is one of the dark horses in the race. Born by an Urhobo mother from Kokori, Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta State to late Chief Sampson Oyibode, Ogwu of Ezionum Kingdom in Ukwuani Local Government Area, Oyibode stands well placed in the ethnic and zonal scales. The young ambitious politician entered into the cluttered field of contenders and pretenders in the race to the Government House in 2015 with a declaration: “I am not afraid to declare support for whichever platform I want to support nor afraid to declare to the people the party (that) I am interest in. I am a member of the PDP; I believe in the ideology of the PDP. So far, I know there are challenges and many odds.”

    How he uses his expertise as a dispute resolution specialist to win the Urhobo – his maternal kinsmen – and the Delta North from where is father hails is yet to be seen.

    Born in April 1968, the University of Massachusetts, Boston-trained Alternative Dispute Resolution also has an accounting diploma, HND in Estate Management, BSc in Business Administration and nearly a dozen certificates in conflict/dispute resolution as well as others.

    On his plan for Delta State, he said: “I will ensure infrastructural renewal and expansion because these are the backbone of growth both in business and social development. I will also provide free technical education and revitalise the agriculture and build agro-allied industries. I strongly believe that technical education holds the key to Nigerian industrialisation.”

    Beyond that, Oyibode vowed to lead and economic and industrial revolution in the areas of seaports and transportation to harness the drive and entrepreneurial spirit of Deltans, adding, “By the grace of God, I see industrial revolution across Delta state.”

    On his plans for the state, he said his programme include attracting Deltans from all over the world to invest and partake in the growing of the state economy and the attendant profit and development that could result from it.

    “We will provide world class health care and eradicate travelling abroad for medical check-up. Besides, the drain it puts in our economy through capital flight, going to India and other parts of the world for medical tourism does not tell well on our country. It portrays us as a people not yet able to cater for its citizens and we are determined to stop that.”

    He has also been involved in youth empowerment programmes. He has organised several events and promotion that have endeared him to the youths.

    “We, the youths, see him as one of us and an example of the generational change we have craved since the present political dispensation. If Nigerians and Deltans truly desire a breath of fresh air, we should support young, vibrant men and women who aspire to political offices,” Mr Dan Amraketa of the Delta Political Patriots, said.

    How far is laudable programme and his auspicious background can take him in the race to the Government House, Asaba remains to be seen but there is no doubt about his capability and zeal for the race ahead. If he fails, it will not be because of lack of determination. For while his counterparts are yet to declare their intention, Oyibode had crisscrossed the length and breadth of state; he has met traditional rulers from all the zones, consulted with various groups and planted his billboards on all corners of the state.

    On the downside, many doubt that the young politician can survive the murky and atrocious fight that the race could turn out to be, particularly within the ruling PDP, which has ruled the state in the past 15 years.

    An insider in the PDP told our reporter that Oyibode “is mostly seen as an outsider and he is not one of those being considered by the governor and power brokers for 2015.”

    It was also gathered that the aspirant’s efforts to curry the favour of Uduaghan have attracted very little success.

    Others in the party see him as one of those flying a flag with the intention of “getting something at the end of the day” to step down for another candidate.

    But one of his close associates debunked that theory, stating: “Oyibode is not prepared to play the politics of settlement. He has said it severally that he is not in the race in order to withdraw for somebody to settle him or promise him a political appointment. If the people reject him, he will go back to his private practice and re-strategise. For him, it is not a do-or-die matter because his intention is to serve his people.”

    How long his propitious background and easygoing, down-to-earth disposition takes him in the race can only be determined by time. Now he is on the spotlight is enjoying his form.

  • Amnesty trainee’s body returned to Nigeria without brain, heart

    Amnesty trainee’s body returned to Nigeria without brain, heart

    Nearly 10 months after the death of Deck Cadet Godwin Ezebri, an amnesty trainee, in Panama, South America, his remains are still lying at the morgue of the Military Hospital, Ikeja, Lagos.

    The young, promising seafarer’s burial is delayed by the suspicion that he may have been murdered. There is also the delay in returning some of the vital organs removed from his body during an autopsy carried out in the South American country last year.

    The young man, popularly called Akaba or Bribinya, was described as very bright and promising. He carried the hopes and aspirations of not only his family, but of his community and kinsmen as well as of his country.

    The bubbly 27-year-old left Nigeria in 2011 to study at Gdynia Maritime University in Poland as part of the Federal Government’s amnesty programme. He was one of the first set of beneficiaries of the divisive programme.

    Ezebri was aboard the maritime vessel MV Green Guatemala as part of his training in maritime technology when he died abruptly. Medical records obtained by our reporter indicated that he “slumped and died”, ostensibly from heart failure, on June 6 (or 7) 2013.

    Some of his relatives, who spoke with Niger Delta Report shortly after his death, said they were not convinced by the story of his death, adding that they suspected foul play.

    “We are curious because just hours before his death, as claimed by the crew, he had chatted with his brother on Facebook. He wanted his younger brother’s bank details so that he could send some money to Nigeria. Only for us to be told that he had died from heart attack. It is suspicious,” a family source told our reporter.

    More intriguing for the grieving family was that the incident occurred when Godwin was the only Nigerian aboard the vessel. Two other Nigerian cadets who were also attached to MV Green Guatemala had left the boat just days earlier.

    His remains were ferried back to Nigeria in July – barely a month later. They came without the heart, brain and other organs, much to the chagrin of his family members.

    Attempts to repatriate the missing organs, it was gathered, have dragged on for several months. Expectedly, the delay led in gaining the parts and inability of the family to bury the young man led to tension between them and the agents to the shipper.

    The accompanying autopsy and, later, a coroner’s report signed by Dr. Omar A. Zapata Coroner Coordinator of the Legal Medicine and Forensic Science Institute, Province of Colon, have failed to assuage the angst and suspicion of the Ezebris.ore worrying for the family and the amnesty office was conflicting report about the time of death and reports that Godwin had indicated his will to disembark at the nearest seaport.

    The crew master of the vessel, Capt L. Sapelevics, in his report, said he said he wished to “sign off/disembark at the next port”.

    What happened between the time he expressed that indication and his death are contentious, at least for the family.

    He reported exclusively obtained by NDR stated: “Two hours before his death the master of the crew ordered a check of his blood pressure, pulse and temperature which were all normal.”

    Two hours later, though, he “slumped and died”.

    A family source told this reporter that as soon as the body arrived Lagos, agents working for Green Reefer, owners of the vessel, made an offer of “N500,000 financial assistance” to assist his family with his burial.

    The family said they rejected the offer because they felt “there was more to the death than the company was revealing”.

    The family’s protestation delayed his burial – first by days, then by several weeks and now by nearly a year.

    The family, led by Pax Ezebri, demanded a fresh autopsy to ascertain the actual cause of death. He also protested perceived shoddy handling of the death of the promising 27-year-old by the Office of the Special Assistant to the President on Niger Delta

    The aggrieved family expressed their displeasure in a petition to the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), over the matter. The petitioned raised posers about the conflicting time of death contained in the reports of Sapelevics and the coroner’s.

    They also slammed the amnesty office, saying it never at any time officially informed them officially about the death of their brother but were “only requested by phone call to come to Lagos to receive the remains of their brother and the sum of N500,000.00 for burial assistance.”

    NIMASA waded into the issue, leading to the performance of a fresh autopsy by a team of experts from a reputable hospital (names withheld) in Lagos.

    “When they opened his skull, they found that his brain was removed and replaced with a towel, which we think was a ploy to fool us. His entire heart was also missing, while other organs were sliced and shredded,” a relative of the deceased told our reporter.

    Series of meeting were held at NIMASA office in Lagos, where OSAPND, the vessel owners represented by a renowned legal firm, and Global Oil Service, which handled the placement of the deceased on the vessel.

    At one of such meetings at NIMASA office on Burma Street, Apapa Lagos on Friday, November 8, all the parties attended the meeting with a team of medical experts.

    Rather than make headway, it was reliably gathered that the meeting was rowdy and almost degenerated into a physical conflict between some of the parties.

    A source at the meeting said one of the brothers, identified as Ebiakpo Ezebri, who is a former councillor in Burutu Local Government Area, wondered why the committee was still bothering about report of the autopsy when it was clear that his brother was killed.

    Speaking further, Ebiakpo reportedly stated: “What happened was clearly a murder in Panama. What we want to know is why was our brother murdered?”

    Our source, who attended the meeting, said the family, also demanded the return of all the missing body parts. “The lawyer told the chairman of the committee that other organs returned along with the body were slashed and cut to pieces.”

    Also expressing displeasure with the situation, Pax Ezebri, the deceased’s older brother reportedly slammed the Amnesty Office for its initially handling of the messy situation, noting: “If we had taken the corpse and gone to bury as the Amnesty Office wanted, we wouldn’t have known about missing brain and other body parts.”

    It was further learnt that the family warned that they have options on how to avenge the death, adding that they were only waiting and hoping the government got to the bottom of the matter.

    “At the end of the stormy deliberation, it was resolved that other amnesty trainees aboard the vessels be brought to the next session slated for November 22, to tell the committee what really transpired,” our source stated.

    However, four months after that meeting, Niger Delta Report authoritatively learnt that the missing parts have been neither returned nor any headway made in the investigation to unravel the incident that led to Ezebri’s death.

    Our findings showed that the Green Reefer told the family that they could not secure agents or airlines willing to repatriate the organs to Nigeria.

    In one of the communications between the company and NIMASA, the shippers said: “Regarding repatriation of the organs, most airlines simply refuse to carry same considering it as human waste, even though same would be sent dry packed which means they would be basically dehydrated.

    “The travel agent is still working with courier companies however this is proving very difficult,” the email, which was obtained by our reporter, added.

    Contacted, Pax Ezebri confirmed the development in a telephone interview with our reporter on Saturday morning but added that he had received assurances through an email from the legal representative of the shipping firm that the organs would reach Nigeria by Wednesday (two days ago).

    “They sent me an email yesterday (last Friday) that they have secured an airline willing to bring the organs. So we are expecting them. Our doctors and the professors who will conduct the autopsy are prepared. We want to know what happened so that we can get it over with once and for all,” Pax Ezebri added.

     

  • Bayelsa dangles the carrot to promote Ijaw culture

    Bayelsa dangles the carrot to promote Ijaw culture

    Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson has never hidden his passion for Ijaw culture. His zeal to create cultural awareness for the third most populous ethnic group in the country at the beginning of his administration was seen by some as having a secessionist agenda.

    His efforts have produced an anthem, a coat of arm and a flag as identifying marks of the Ijaw nation. So, it is not out of place to see Ijaw flags hoisted and flying beside the Nigerian flag in most public institutions including the Government House. The Ijaw cultural flag is also embossed on the governor’s Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) each time his long siren-blaring convoy sets out for any journey.

    Though the Ijaw anthem is not popular, the nation’s attire has significantly stood out. Dickson does not pay lip service to Ijaw attire. He wears it, especially in all his public outings. Nobody has ever sighted the governor in suit or any corporate outfit. How he will look in a pair of trousers, shirt and tie only exist in one’s imagination.

    Dickson once directed that all civil servants and government appointees must wear Ijaw attire to work every Friday. The governor frowns on anybody who flouts the order.

    The Commissioner for Culture and Ijaw National Affairs (a novel ministry created by Dickson himself), Dr. Felix Tuodolor, has vowed to enforce the directive which is within the jurisdiction of his ministry.

    Therefore, last Friday Tuodolor set out to observe the level of compliance of the governor’s pronouncement. His monitoring team chose the Ministry of Energy. They paid the ministry a surprised visit.

    But he was dissatisfied. He observed that some persons dressed below the expected standard. He was, however, happy that the Commissioner in charge of the ministry, Mr. Francis Ikio, stood out. He decorated him with the state emblem and gave him an umbrella.

    Others who were encouraged with similar gifts are the Permanent Secretary, P. E. Gede; Head of Petroleum, Christmas J. Brass and Human Resources Director, John Diepreye Appah. They were adjudged the best dressed in the ministry.

    But persons whose outfits were said to be of partial compliance were denied the two gifts. The commissioner encouraged them with either the emblem or the umbrella. Ronima Joseph of the Accounts Department received an umbrella while Monday Godfrey of the commissioner’s office got an emblem.

    Tuodolor reiterated that he was in the ministry to assess the level of compliance of civil servants to the subsisting order on Friday’s dress code. He asked Bayelsans to be proud of their culture, their language, dishes and cuisine.

    “Since it is a directive, we don’t want to inform anybody in advance that we will come. And to encourage those that are traditionally dressed, we prepared little reward for them. We always give the best five we come across in any ministry these gifts”, he said.

    Felix further observed that people in the state had not been sensitized enough on the need to wear the Ijaw outfit. He said more awareness would be created in the state.

    He said: “I believe what we are doing today will further sensitise the people and further make them know it is good to be proud of their culture. We had radio jingles even on television on these issues, advertising it and telling people to be culturally compliant to their culture, be proud of their language and cuisines and so on. We think it is not enough, we need to do more”.

    He said the action was not designed by the governor as a witch-hunt but to encourage people to love their culture. He said apart from civil servants, Bayelsans must develop longing for their attire and export same to people within and outside the state.

    “We want to encourage all Ijaw people to comply with this little directive, it is not a witch-hunt. It will encourage many facets of the economy. The local textile industry will grow. Cuisine industry, the hotels, the food and the arts and culture will grow. If we put more effort, it will be exported which can generate revenue.

    “We are complete when we have our hat and working stick. Culture does not only mean the dressing but also your language and dialect. Encourage parents to speak Ijaw language to their children. Encourage those who have not been complying to comply”, he said.

    Ikio appreciated his culture counterpart for the surprised visit. He said it had become part of him to dress in Ijaw attire every Friday even when outside the state.

    Gede also said he appreciated the directive and said he was so in love with the attire that he wore it throughout the week.

    He emphasised the need for civil servants and the Ijaw to be proud of their culture. While Brass said he would remain proud of nature, community and environment, Appah urged the commissioner to continue with the surprised visits.

  • ‘Paralysed’ Corps member: I’m tempted to commit suicide

    ‘Paralysed’ Corps member: I’m tempted to commit suicide

    •Begs Dickson to fund N5m for surgery abroad

    She was knocked down by a fast-moving vehicle, sustaining multiple fractures of the hip, separation of the pubic symphysis and multiple open fractures at the distal half of the left femoral bone, just above the left knee joint  

    Her friends turned down the offer to help the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) register voters in 2011. But she accepted it out of her love for her country. Perhaps, in the spirit of the old saying that one good turn deserves another, Miss Ekade Oyintarila now needs the help of her country.

    For now, nobody has come to her rescue. But she believes that if everybody eventually fails her, Governor Seriake Dickson, whom she describes as a humane gentleman and believer in youths, will come to her aide.

    All is not well with Oyintarila, a beautiful young woman, who hails from Tarakiri clan, Agbere Town, Sagbama, Dickson’s local government area. People knew her as a good sprinter. But for about three years, she has been quarantined.

    She is confined to a small room at Akenfa, a suburb of Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital. It is with difficulty and excruciating pains that the 27-year-old graduate of Economics at the Niger Delta University (NDU) carries her feet. Downcast and forlorn, she broke down in tears when the Niger Delta Report visited her.

    In fact, life has become so meaningless, hopeless and helpless that Oyintarila attempted suicide many times. “Sometimes, I even get tempted to commit suicide because of the situation I’ve found myself. I have tried suicide not once,”she sobbed.

    Her journey to tragedy started in 2010 when she was posted to Rivers State by the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) for the compulsory one year service to her fatherland. With accredited number NYSC/NDU/2010/188405, Miss Oyintarila’s dream of a better future as the first daughter and child of her father was rekindled. NYSC posted her to the Community Secondary School Akuku Toru as a place of her primary assignment.

    “When I became a graduate, I felt I had achieved one of my dreams in life. I got my NYSC letter and went to camp and came out . What I wanted to do after my youth service was to get a good job, be useful to the society, my family and myself”, she cried.

    But a decision she took to further serve the country in the capacity of INEC ad-hoc employee seems to have robbed her of her dreams. She worked for INEC as a registration official during the 2011 voters registration exercise. She registered voters at Abisa in the monthly exercise. But she was later called by INEC for a preview of her work.

    So, she obediently left for the last lap of the exercise. During the one-week preview, her travails started.

    “I had an accident. On the last day of the preview, we submitted all our computers, tools they gave to us and also collected our allowances. Actually, I was on the way to collect the allowances when I had the accident,” she recalled.

    Oyintarila was being conveyed to the place by a commercial motorcyclist. A bus hit them from behind. The impact was so much that she became unconsous.

    “I later discovered myself in an ambulance. I asked the man with me what happened. He told me it was an accident. He asked me of my people’s address. It was only my father’s phone number that was on my head then.

    “He called my dad immediately and I spoke to my dad. My father asked me not to worry, that I was going to be okay. That was the last thing I remembered. I went back into a coma”, she narrated.

    When she eventually regained consciousness, she found herself at Keme Hospital at Mile 1, Diobu. She was in a terrible state as the doctors battled to save her from bleeding to death. Her pelvic and right leg were all damaged. She went under the knife for series of surgeries and different types of iron were fixed on her by the surgeons. She spent about two months at the hospital.

    Oyintarila thought she had a glimmer of hope at some point. She found herself in the same ward with the former President of the Ijaw National Congress (INC). Being an Ijaw girl, she mistook it for a divine coincidence. But her hope was dashed.

    “I was at the recovery ward, the INC former President was even in the same ward and some government officials were coming to see the man. I tried to get their attention – to let them know what was happening to me and that I needed help – nobody was willing to help”, she said.

    From February 24, 2011 when the accident occurred, Oyintarila was catered for by the hospital. But on first week of April, she was discharged and she came back to her family in Yenagoa.

    Indeed, it has been a tale of woes since she came back home. Life has been tortuous. Even with various walking aides, she finds it difficult and painful to move beyond her room.

    There is, however, some silver lining in the sky. In his desire to make her daughter bounce back to her feet again, Deacon Gesiye Ekande, took her to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Yenagoa following referral by the Keme Hospital.

    After examining her, a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, Dr. Chibuzor Peter, wrote: “The patient was knocked down by a fast-moving vehicle sustaining multiple fractures of the hip, separation of the pubic symphysis and multiple open fractures at the distal half of the left femoral bone, just above the left knee joint.

    “She has had external fixation of the fractured bones with only little improvement. She still cannot walk unaided. She will benefit from total hip and knee replacement which we do not have facilities for here. Kindly grant her any necessary assistance due her to enable her do these surgeries abroad”.

    In the spirits of the recommendations, Ekande started hunting for for an orthopedic hospital abroad that could solve his beloved daughter’s problem. He took his search to India through inquiries and later settled for Aditya Brila Memorial Hospital. But he was shocked. He must raise N5million for the treatment. The hospital assured him that his daughter would walk again after the treatment.

    Without mincing words, Ekande and her daughter are at a crossroad. He has no money again having already committed about N2million to her daughter’s treatment. He, however, has optimism that Dickson, the governor of the state and other philanthropic individuals will come to his aide.

    He wrote a letter to the governor requesting for assistance. The letter dated July 29, 2013, appealed to the governor to assist her daughter walk again. “Since the accident occurred, she has been undergoing treatment and has not recovered even though l have spent over N1million for her treatment.

    “Therefore, l appeal for N5million to cover medical expenses for her and one attendant, visa expense, tickets and accommodation”, the letter begged.

    The governor received the letter and sent acknowledgement dated August 15, 2013 and signed by the Chief of Staff, Mrs. Dido Waltson-Jack, to the family of Ekande. Dickson further sent his Commissioner for Health, Dr. Anapurere Awoli to visit Oyintarila and assess her condition. The commissioner visited the family and rekindled the hope of the victim.

    But Oyintarila’s hope has been hanging. She has not heard from the governor despite the claims by the commissioner that he forwarded a memo of his recommendations on the victim’s condition to his office on August 21, 2013.

    In a letter dated November 12, 2013, Oyintarila thanked the governor for sending his commissioner to her. She reminded the governor that the file of her case had been sent to his table.

    She begged: “His excellency, l now have a renewed hope that l can walk again as my file is on your table for approval. I am a hard-working girl. I was serving my nation Nigeria on INEC assignment as a corps member when l had an accident.

    “But NYSC and INEC abandoned me at my critical time in hospital and now. Most of my colleagues are all working now but l am still on clutches. Please, sir, help me so that l can go for the final surgery in India to enable me work and contribute my services to the Restoration Agenda.”

    In fact, as contained in his letter, Oyintarila insisted that neither INEC nor NYSC had come to her aide. During her period at Keme Hospital, she said only NYSC Local Inspector identified simply as Sandra visited her.

    She regretted that the accident prevented him from familiarising herself with other officials of NYSC and discharging her duties at the place of her primary assignment.

    “Sandra was always coming around. Sandra was the one telling them what actually happened. After I came back home in Yenagoa, she came about three times. I asked what I was going to do with my situation.

    “She said they were working on my matter and they would see what they would do. But she stopped coming. Since then, NYSC has not shown interest anymore”

    While praising Keme Hospital for its efforts, she said the hospital treated her free throughout the period she was there. But she is optimistic that her benevolent governor in the spirits of the restoration agenda will restore her health.

    “I know the gov is not aware of my plight. He is a man with heart of gold. But he is not aware. I am appealing to the governor to help me to be able to walk again.

    “I feel so terrible. I feel so abandoned because I never believe that more than two years now, I can’t walk knowing full well that I was not at home when I got the accident. I was on duty for my nation.

    “I had some friends that did not do the INEC registration but I volunteered myself. Leaving me at my point of need is so frustrating, so painful. If my parents had the money to send me out, I would have been freed from this. That is why I am begging public spirited individuals and govt to help me.

    “Right now, I am just helpless. I am here like somebody who did not go to school. In the morning I wake up, eat and sleep. No help from anywhere. So it is frustrating. The psychological effect I am going through is unimaginable”, she lamented.

    Oyintarila is sure that the Indian hospital will make her walk again. “I know someone that had a similar problem after my own. The family was able to send her to India and she is back fit. I know that if I go, I will be bouncing back on my feet again.

    Also, the father of the victim appealed to the government, INEC and NYSC for assistance. He recalled that he as a politician played a crucial role in the process that led to the emergence of Dickson as the governor.

    Describing Dickson as his friend, he said they were so close that they fondly called each other by the title, Angadiowei. Identifying himself as a stalwart of the Ijaw National Congress (INC) Ekande said people should not abandon him at the time of his need.

    “The help I need from people now is to come to my aid to see how I came take my only daughter out of this country to India for surgery. She had this accident when she was serving the country – doing her NYSC. When she had the accident, she was on her NYSC uniform.

    “So I am calling on NYSC, INEC, Rivers State Government to come to my aid so that I can take her to India. I contacted clinics and hospitals in India and I have been assured that her case is what they could handle.

    “Her hip bone needs replacement because her bone is not growing to join. It is disjointed – it is growing out of proportion – one leg is shorter than the other leg.

    “The knee cap needs a replacement. The knee cannot bend. That knee cap is broken and it needs replacement. Doctors and specialists have indicated interest that they could do it.

    “From their profiles on the internet, I have seen cases they have done. I am convinced it is something they can do. So the constraint now is the fund. On my own, I wrote the bayelsa state governor appealing for assistance and and the governor has directed the commissioner for health to prepare a memo and send to him.

    “The file or memo is stuck in between the commissioner and governor’s office. I am appealing to the governor to graciously assist by asking for the file.

    “I am a peace-loving man. If it were some people, they would have gone to court, to let the world know what happened. I am using peaceful means to see how nysc, inec and state govts – bayelsa and river can assist.

    “I have spent over N1.3m for different orthopedic consultants, xray treatment. When she came back, she came back in a terrible condition where she had iron all over her body – stomach, leg and waist.

    “At her hip bone, you see iron there. We thank God. You heard what she said that she attempted suicide. I did not know that. If not I would have lost her.”

     

  • Oil spills in Bayelsa comparable only to Ogoni, says NOSDRA

    Oil spills in Bayelsa comparable only to Ogoni, says NOSDRA

    National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) has said environmental pollution arising from crude oil spills in Bayelsa State could only be compared to similar disaster in Ogoni, Rivers State.

    A team of NOSDRA delegates led by the agency’s Director-General, Peter Idabo, were in the state of President Goodluck Jonathan recently to assess spill sites in various communities.

    Though the Federal Government has yet to implement the report of the United Nations Environmental Protection (UNEP) on Ogoni, there were indications that the government would consider Bayelsa as a special case.

    Idabo and his team first visited Well 12 operated by the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) near Imiringi in Ogbia Local Government Area.

    “Pollution in Bayelsa is very rife, it is like what is happening in Ogoniland,” he said. He, however, observed that Well 12, where a truck discharged pollutants last year, had been cleaned.

    He said the visit of spill sites in the state was part of activities lined up by the agency in its tour of oil-producing states. He said the agency would consult and cooperate with the Governor Seriake Dickson to tackle problems of oil spills in the country.

    As part of the activities, he said the agency would hold town hall meetings with stakeholders on oil spill. He noted that the meeting would help the agency to identify other spill sites and their impact on the people.

    The state has witnessed many cases of crude oil spill in the Niger Delta region, most of which were the handiwork of saboteurs.

    The NOSDRA team reportedly visit Ikarama and Biseni communities in Yenagoa Local Government Area during its two-day tour of the state.

    Ikarama community has been described as one community that has experienced more oil spills than any other oil producing community in the Niger Delta region.

    The team which was later joined by the Chairman of NOSDRA, Major Lancelot Anyanya (rtd), paid a courtesy visit to Governor Seriake Dickson.

    Dickson called for a law with severe punishment against continual abuse of Niger Delta environment through oil exploration and exploitation. Describing pollution of the region as environmental terrorism, the governor said stringent environmental laws should be promulgated by a relevant legislative organ to protect and preserve the environment from such terrorism.

    He said oil companies were fond of abandoning crude oil spill sites without properly cleaning them. He said such sites had ravaged environment in the region citing Bayelsa State as the worst hit.

    He emphasised  the need for international oil companies operating in the Niger Delta region to protect the environment. He said an environmental summit would be organised by his administration soon to discuss ways of mitigating the effects of oil and gas exploration and exploitation in the region.

    He expressed his administration’s commitment to collaborate with NOSDRA to facilitate the speedy passage of the amended Act of the agency, which had undergone its first and second readings at the National Assembly.

    The governor explained that, health hazards arising from such environmental pollution were the reasons behind the establishment of the toxicology institute.

    He granted the request of NOSDRA for a functional office in the state and called on the agency to site its headquaters  in Bayelsa. He described the state as the host to the bulk of oil and gas operations in the region.

    As part of efforts to address environmental problems, Dickson proposed that the Federal Government should build receptacles to evacuate crude oil recovered from illegal refineries.

    Dickson while addressing members of NOSDRA said: “I have said it before that what has been going on in Bayelsa State, the Niger Delta and in all oil-producing areas concerning the levity with which oil companies treat the issues of the environment and the maintenance of environmental and health standards.

    “When you look at all of these and particularly listening to your chilly statistics, which I believe is only a tip of the iceberg, one is really left with no other conclusion than that, we are actually facing a case of environmental terrorism.

    “What has been going on in the Niger Delta since the discovery of oil; a situation where more than one spill takes place in Bayelsa every day, going by what your statistics is telling us and all these sites are treated with reckless abandon and the environment is left to fend for itself, the livelihood and in fact the lives of the people and the ecosystem are not attended to. What then is more of terrorist action than this?”

    He also asked the government to design mechanisms for effective and proper remediation of impacted areas.

    “This is an opportunity again for us to remind ourselves that we all have a duty to work together as government to government and it is also an opportunity for us to call on all stakeholders especially the oil companies, regulatory agencies and everybody to be alive to the need to protect our environment”, he said.

    In his remarks, Chairman of NOSDRA, Major Lancelot Anyanya (rtd), explained that the visit was aimed at strengthening the existing collaboration between government and the agency on efforts at curbing oil spills and its attendant effects.

  • Calabar, oh Calabar

    Calabar, oh Calabar

    The image of Calabar, the Cross River State capital, in my head formed out of my two visits is that of a great city. It is a beautiful place, with hotels in almost every nook and cranny. Its cleanliness charmed me.

    I have not been there in the last few years. But from reports, Calabar has not lost its hotels; neither has the cleanliness gone.

    The mention of Calabar conjures the image of a great place, where fun walks on all fours and where enjoyment is unlimited. The Calabar festival, for instance, become so popular that many, within and without, mark it out on their calendar and will not miss it for anything. Of recent too, many remember it as the home of EbonyLife Tv, that baby of the delectable Mo Abudu. The activities of General Electric have also put Calabar on the front burner in recent times. And to be candid, the state government has not been doing badly.

    I am, however, worried for Calabar. One of the sources of my worry is Tinapa Resort. Conceived as a resort and shopping centre of no mean repute, it held a lot of promise. It was planned as a place where families could come to for the weekend, have nice accommodation to sleep, have great shops to shop and leave with a great sense of fulfillment.

    About a month or so ago, the Area Comptroller of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) in charge of Akwa Ibom, Cross River and the Calabar Free Trade Zone Command, Bamidele Akande, visited the Cross River State Security Adviser. Akande, who had just resumed, wanted to familiarise himself with the state government. During the visit, he said businesses were dying in the state.

    He pointed out that with a viable seaport, businesses should be booming. The Tinapa Resort was one of the businesses he spoke about. Investors in the resort are bailing out because business has not been what they expected. Some of the traders in Tinapa say most times they stay from morning till night and see no customer.

    But what is the problem? I have been informed that the problems are not much. They are all about failing infrastructure. Topping the list are the shallow Calabar channel and the bad condition of the Calabar-Itu federal highway, which is a major link road linking the state to other states. The bad sections of the road are adversely affecting economic activities in the state. It has made businessmen from Abia and the neighbouring states to stay away from Calabar.

    The dredging of the Calabar Channel is another cause for concern. Those in the know say if something is not done about it urgently, things may go worse. The shallow nature of the Calabar channel has led to a situation where goods destined for the zone have to berth in Onne in Rivers State, a development which has created several logistic problems for business. The Federal Government must dredge the Calabar Sea Port; after all, others in the country are frequently being dredged.

    The Calabar Free Trade Zone has not played the role it was established for because of the Calabar channel’s challenge. People who bring in their goods or want to take out their goods go through hell. The Calabar Port, one of the oldest ports in Nigeria, which used to attract shipping lines, is a shadow of its old self.

    Major clients of the Calabar Port, such as Flour Mills, Unicem and Dangote, have been unable to bring full cargo to Calabar. Usually, they drop half of the load in Lagos before heading for the Calabar Port. What this means is that a cargo ship load that could have come at once per voyage ends up being conveyed to Calabar Port in two or three voyages. We all know this increases operating cost and by extension cost of the end product.

    Most of the businessmen in the Free Trade Zone usually have their goods coming either through Lagos or Rivers State ports. No shipping line is, in the real sense, operating this route because they say there is no adequate traffic, and thus cost is higher.

    It is like double jeopardy for the traders. One, the port is not fully functional and the road that could have helped out on the way from Onne Ports is also bad.

    The two major challenges crippling businesses in Calabar are not immediately within the reach of the state government. From information at my disposal, the intra-city roads are in good state. It is the link road (which is a federal road) that is in a sorry state. The non-completion of the dredging of the Calabar channel to 9.4m meters is also not the business of the state government.

    The drop in performance in general cargo and container volumes are purely caused by the non-completion of dredging and Maersk line’s pull-out of container services from Calabar. The withdrawal of Baco Liner Services from the Calabar Port means it is now completely without a container service. What this means is that all the cocoa exporters are trucking to Lagos. This is loss of revenue to the Cross River State, whose share of monthly pay-out from the Federation Account has dwindled like many others.

    These challenges and others have also made Tinapa not the viable business that Donald Duke conceived it to be. After years of being unable to kick off because of policy matters, it took off but bank facilities with which it was built had so built up that now the Assets Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) has taken it over and is shopping for new managers. One hopes this will yield a good fruit.

    In the meantime, this is my plea: the bad roads leading out of and into Calabar must be fixed and the dredging must also be completed. Both must be done at once so that the envisaged increase in container business may be realised. If the dredging alone is done, the bad road will still prevent the importers from the Southeast and Northcentral states from bringing in their cargo through Calabar. And if the road alone is done, container business will still be stagnant and Onne may be the beneficiary of this.

  • Multiple taxation killing businesses, says UniCem MD

    Multiple taxation killing businesses, says UniCem MD

    The United Cement Company of Nigeria Limited (UniCem), Nigeria’s third largest cement manufacturer, is located in Calabar, the Cross River State capital. The company recently announced plans to double its production capacity from 2.5 metric tons to five million metric tons yearly. NICHOLAS KALU met the Managing Director of the company, Mr. Olivier Lenoir, who spoke on this and other issues affecting the cement industry. 

    You recently announced plans to double your production capacity. Why did you decide to do this?

    Cement demand in the country has continued to grow. Nationally and regionally (south-south and south-east regions) the demand is currently growing at about 12% per annum. To meet the growing demand, we are investing N84 billion naira in an additional 2.5m metric tons (state-of the-art) cement line project to double our existing capacity to 5 million metric tons per annum by 2016 as well as consolidate our position as Nigeria’s third largest manufacturer in the industry. This project has a lot of economic and social benefits; creation of direct and indirect employment, growth of local economy and people development. UniCem has a strong commitment to develop local capacity. Through various initiatives such as the ‘UniCem Community Development Initiative’ (UCDI) and ‘Graduate Trainee Scheme’, we have been enlisting and training young people from the community as mechanical technicians and the training of young Graduate Engineers to fill the local manpower gap. Sinoma Group of China is constructing the 2.5m metric tons new cement line. The company is reputed for cement plant construction across the globe with track record of project delivery from previous projects handled around the world. The project includes the building of a new 45 megawatts Captive Power Plant (CPP) by Wärtsilä Nigeria Limited. Work on the project has already started. UniCem is getting technical expertise and support for this project from its shareholders who are global cement majors. The N5 billion 20km Cement Evacuation Road which we are building will be a support infrastructure to cater for the expected traffic increase and reduce the movement of articulated vehicles with the Calabar metropolis when the project is completed.

    Cement price per bag is between N1900 and N2000. What is responsible for the hike in price?

    Prices have generally been stable for more than a year and among the lowest in the country in Southsouth and Southeast. However, some External factors: Road levies, high cost of energy, poor road infrastructure with attendant impact on cost of transportation and general inflation in the country has resulted in the slide increase currently experienced. Demand and Supply balance have also a direct impact and distributors play a key role in retail prices.

    What is your view of the cement market in terms of growth and development?

    There is good demand, steady growth of 15 per cent in 2013, primarily driven by the need of housing and infrastructure. Total cement consumption has reached about 21m tons as at 2013 as against 9m metric tons in 2005. The backward integration policy of the government along with the strong support of Ministry of Trade, Industry and Investment has been a catalyst for the growth of the cement sector. It should be emulated in other manufacturing sectors as a role model. However, Nigeria’s per capita consumption per annum at 110 kg, is lower than many other developing countries. It has potential to grow higher to transform Nigeria into a developed nation. UniCem, as Nigeria’s third largest cement manufacturer and the leader in South-South and South East regions, is well placed to meet the growing regional demand, with its current capacity of 2.5 million tons and doubling to 5.0 million tons by 2016. UniCem is proud of its role in development of manufacturing in the region and recognition as Quality cement provider. The cement industry in Nigeria has a positive future.

    Dangote has announced the production of 52.5 cement grade; are you also thinking in that direction?

    UniCem has a state-of-the art, modern manufacturing plant with capability to produce quality cement of all types. All our products meet the SON requirements and are fully MANCAP certified by them. We produce cements of 32.5 and 42.5 strength grade to meet the customer needs for their various applications ranging from housing, commercial buildings to infrastructure projects like bridges and roads. UniCem is fully supporting free competition and product differentiation for the customer to choose based on his requirement. If there is a requirement to supply 52.5 grade cement in our region, we will do so.

    What is your view on the recent media reports on collapsed buildings and concerns of substandard cement in the market?

    First of all, conformity of all cement products to the Nigerian Cement Standard is mandatory by law (similar to NAFDAC certification for medicines) and fully enforced by the ‘Standards Organsation of Nigeria’. There is no substandard cement manufactured in Nigeria. All Cement Manufacturers (including UniCem) fully comply and are certified by SON. At UniCem, we take pride in our Internal Quality standards, which are very stringent. Since introduction of UniCem in the market, there has been no quality complaints linked to it. In fact, in his recent visit to UniCem, the DG of SON commended it on its quality products and standards. On the unfortunate occurrences of building collapses, the causes have been well stated and documented by leading experts: Poor or no design – most buildings in the informal sector are done by unqualified persons, who cut costs and do not involve qualified professionals, e.g. absence of soil testing and designing, leads to foundation failures in coastal regions.

    Poor construction practices– not following the correct construction methods and lack of proper supervision, e.g. concrete is properly mixed, inadequate formwork and scaffolding leads to building collapse during construction itself. A sad case is of the building collapse in Nsukka recently this month, where few persons lost their lives. A three-storey building collapsed during construction when the roof was being put up. As we are expecting the final investigation report from the experts (COREN/other), all pointers are towards the usual causes of collapses – lack of design and supervision & non-involvement of qualified professionals.

    As UniCem, we go beyond manufacturing and supplying high quality products. We are committed to play our part in ensuring sustainable construction through a two- pronged approach. Training and skills development-partnering with the SON, we run certificate programs for block makers and building artisans, imparting practical demonstration and training to them. This year we will cover 5,000 artisans within our selling region of south-south and south-east Nigeria. We also distribute free educational literature to them. Improvement of regulatory framework and practice in the construction sector.-we engage with government institutions (Ministry of Works/Housing, SON) and professional bodies. (e.g COREN, NSE, NIA and NISE) regularly through seminars and meetings to improve the building specifications and their enforcement.

    What are the challenges faced by UniCem as cement industry operator?

    Cement manufacturing is highly energy dependent- consistent and adequate supply of gas is a must. We experience frequent interruptions, leading to loss of production and increased cost. Poor infrastructure- The absence of rail and poor condition of Roads in our operating region is a big handicap – this result in slow and costly movement of incoming raw materials and dispatch of finished goods (cement) to the customers.

    Taxes in Nigeria are not harmonised. This exposes operators to multiple taxes over one product by government at different levels.

    Nigeria cement sector is relatively young, and lacks in skills and experience workforce. UniCem has a strong plan in place for training and development of its employees and also people from nearby communities to meet the challenge.

    As a key priority, we are also focusing on safety, putting in place best practices and standards at the plant. On road safety we are working with all stakeholders, especially the Federal Road Safety, our dedicated transporters and other in the promotion of road safety.

    Last September, the Cross River government introduced Road Maintenance levy which was highly decried b the industry operators in the state. Has the Government rescinded on that policy?

    Government has not changed its tax policy in this regard. We are confident; in the future this will change due to the impact of the policy on investment generally.

    What will be your advice to the government to support growth of the cement industry in Nigeria?

    They should take steps to address energy supply in the in the country. Nigeria will grow faster if energy concerns are addressed. Address infrastructure issues on priority-Roads, rail and promote water transportation so that transportation of bulk goods like cement can be made easy and harmonisation of taxes to reduce the current experience of multiple taxes in the country.