The Nation Newspaper

Category: Niger Delta

  • Head of Service challenges civil servants on patriotism

    The Presidency has urged federal civil servants to be patriotic in the course of performing their duties. This they could do by avoiding those who want to pull the country down.

    The Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Alhaji Bukar Goni Aji, who gave the advice in Port Harcourt when he held an interactive session with federal civil servants working in Rivers State also reminded them of the need to understand that it is not only by throwing bombs that one could destroy the country.

    Listing several examples of actions that could undermine the progress of the country, Aji said: “You are pulling the country down when you do not consider the necessity of self development by tuning to national network at 9:00 p.m. to listen to national news; if you do not read the newspapers to get knowledge or encourage children under you to listen to news or mentoring your subordinates well.”

    Represented by the Permanent Secretary, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Linus Awute, he also challenged them on the need to key into the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan by shunning corrupt practices.

    While encouraging them to embrace due process in the discharge of their duties and award of contracts, he stated that “nobody can circumvent due process now because unused funds are paid back into the treasury at the end of the year.”

    Another gain of due process, he explained, is that the tenure system has been ventilated because there is no way one could attain the position of a director and still have 30 more years to go in the civil service.

    Continuing, he said that due process has eradicated “selection system” while there is now an improved and efficient system of keeping records as well as consolidated ways of paying the welfare allowances of civil servants.

    He further used the opportunity to field questions from civil servants with a view to enhancing their efficiency and making them the “critical segment of the workforce” which they are envisioned to be within the ambits of the transformation agenda of the Federal Government.

     

     

  • NDLEA seizes 2m kg of drugs in Rivers

    The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has said over two million kilograms of illicit drugs have been seized in Rivers State within the past two years.

    The Rivers State Commander of NDLEA, Rachael Shelleng who made this disclosure, also said that a breakdown of the figure shows that about 1,888,900kg of cannabis sativa was seized, making it the predominant drug of choice consumed by drug addicts.

    Cocaine came second with about 4.624kg while heroine and psychotropic shared 0.577kg and 0.502kg respectively; thus bringing the total to about 1,894,603kg of illicit drugs confiscated in the state.

    Shelleng, who spoke in Port Harcourt during a Special Anti-Drug Abuse Sensitisation Campaign organised by NDLEA with support from the Rivers State chapter of National Association of Seadogs (NAS), also said that this huge volume of illicit drugs was found in the hands of 740 males and 79 females.

    The Rivers NDLEA boss also said that the category of youths within the age bracket of 16 to 35 years was mostly involved in drug abuse while those of ages 25 to 50 years were predominantly in the trafficking.

    While expressing concern that the situation portends grave danger and inimical to sustainable development, she, however, said that a total of 79 drug-dependent persons had been treated and re-integrated with their families during the period under review.

    Shelleng, who further lamented that the problem of illicit drug abuse and trafficking of controlled substances has assumed “a very frightening dimension and serious threat to the society” also attributed “the rising profile of wanton destruction with its attendant bloodshed, hostage-taking and all manner of criminalities dotting our landscape today” to high narcotic intake among youths.

    She, therefore, called for concerted effort from corporate organisations and other tiers of government to emulate the Federal Government in fighting the drug war, even as she commended the NAS for the support shown to her command.

    In a paper delivered by Ide Owodiong-Idemeko, leader of NAS entitled “Human Resource Development and the Sustainable Growth of Nigeria,” he observed that there is now an astronomical rise in the use of illicit drug.

    In Owodiong-Idemeke’s paper, which was delivered by a member of the NAS, Prince Onuoha, he lamented that “in every community you go to these days, you encounter a cluster of destitute who are wont to be often referred to as ‘Area boys.’”

    The NAS leader also said that investigations show that youths are prone to this illicit drug because of peer pressure, curiosity, ignorance, alienation, changing social structures, poverty and unemployment.

    He also said it was regrettable that these youths are “recruited as political thugs trained and armed with dangerous weapons to perpetrate mayhem during elections and rallies “only to be dumped as “decayed assets” afterwards.

    For want of better things to do with their lives, they “become ready-made agents for kidnapping, assassinations, human parts sellers, illegal bunkering, rape and armed robbery and, in extreme cases, agents of terror and suicide attacks on other innocent members of the society.”

    He then called on all well-meaning members of the society to join hands with relevant stakeholders to keep hard drugs off children and youths.

    The President of Nigerian Bar Association, Mr. Okey Wali, who was the chairman on the occasion, said that, apart from hard drug, internet and films are other things that are misleading children and youths.

    Wali, who was represented by the zonal manager of Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), Port Harcourt Mr. Emmanuel Dufegha advised parents and guardians to monitor the behaviours of their children, even as he urged individuals to always be ready to pin-point undesirable elements around them.

     

     

  • NOSDRA to tackle oil spills

    The National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) has activated the National Oil Spill Contingency Plan (NOSCOP), to curb the effects of oil spill across the country.

    The activation took place at the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) corporate office in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital. It followed a mock demonstration exercise for stakeholders in the management of spills in the country, including sister oil companies.

    The Director-General, NOSDRA, Peter Idabor, said the drill was aimed at ascertaining the effectiveness of collaboration of oil companies and stakeholders in responding to both internal and cross border spills.

    Idabor said , “We are here to carry out an exercise, which is the activation of the National Oil Spill Contingency plan(NOSCOP). It is a drill and we are doing it in collaboration with SHELL Companies in Nigeria.

    “The essence is to find out how prepared oil industries are to effectively respond to oil spill in the Country.

    “Secondly, to find out the effectiveness of inter-agency collaboration/stakeholders, the army, Navy, Customs among others in the event of Oil spill in the country.

    “We have selected a scenario which started playing out this morning, and effectively we are passing through a 48 hours period for the activation of this National oil spill contingency plan.

    “it is not a real scenario and we are just playing out to see how effective this plan will be considering what role required to be played by all concerned. We are also looking at the possibility of handling spills that might cut across from other countries into our country, what could be done to immediately meet up/address the situation.”

    In his reactions, the chairman of the governing board of NOSDRA, Major Lancelot Anyanya (rtd), who is also a participant in the training lauded NOSDRA for its level of readiness in curbing oil spills and expressed the hope on the demonstrations carried out in the exercise, to addressing the problem of all forms and degrees of spills in the country.

    “This exercise is necessary because, except oil companies and other stake holders were proactive, they would be overwhelmed if spills occur suddenly. What we are actually doing in this exercise is to test the effectiveness of NOSCOP to effectively manage oil spill whenever it occurs anywhere across the country.

    “it is the first exercise of this nature NOSDRA has carried out and by what I have seen there is major improvement from the first one they have had, and judged from the lessons, the agency also is dealing with real incidence of spill and the idea is to monitor the capacity of the agency for continuous improvement, its relationship with other stakeholders.

    “What we are doing now is a mock thing, we are using it to test roles of stakeholders and the effectiveness of NOSDRA at managing tier 3 (large), spill when it occurs.

    “We are confident with what we have seen so far by these demonstrations, that should we have a scenario like that, the stakeholders are very ready to respond quickly and effectively to it.”

     

  • Kokori: Return to familiar path

    Kokori: Return to familiar path

    Once again, troubled Kokori was a battlefront last week as armed youths engaged JTF troops in a fierce battle for control of the Urhobo town. SHOLA O’NEIL, who visited the town three days after the confrontation, reports on the wanton destruction and imminent humanitarian crisis.

    When Niger Delta Report visited troubled Kokori on Monday, the restive Urhobo town in Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta State was a ghost town. It looked like a town ravaged by hurricane and firestorm: window sills, doors, roofs and buildings were smashed. Carcases of burnt cars, motorcycles and household items like fridge, TV etc littered roads. Even by its standard, the scenes were pitiable and disturbing.

    The Egba Shrine, which had survived several bloody clashes, was denuded. The walls were pulled down; trees that shaded it and gave it the impregnable aura were hacked down and were smouldering.

    Thousands of inhabitants have fled the town; it was completely deserted, except for a handful of very old men and women and children, too old or frail to flee the wanton destruction. Even animals and livestock went underground. A lone dog barked incessant near poultry from a section of the town. As the hours passed, its barks became erratic and sounded like a cackle.

    A petite, teenage-looking mother, who simple identified herself as Oke, and her two naked children peered from the comfort of their home near the home of the temporary palace of Agbon monarch, as soldiers march through the town to secure it from recalcitrant youths.

    She clasped her youngest son of about a year as she leaned on the door frame. Her older son, wearing nothing but a pair of blue pants, stood beside her. Their faces were masks of fear. In spite of assurances from the military men that they were safe, they stood poised to bolt at the slightest sign of trouble.

    “I don’t know anything about what is happening here because I don’t live here,” Oke told our reporter. She went to the town to help her aged, sick father, she said.

    One of the few inhabitants left, Chief John (surname withheld), chose his words carefully as he spoke, ostensibly to avoid saying anything that could offend the youths or soldiers who watched proceedings from a distance.

    While denouncing youths’ temerity in confronting troops, he said it was obvious that they could not engage federal troops in a fight and win. “I do not support what the boys are doing. There is nobody in the town, nothing to buy, no food and there is nothing at all, which is bad. I advise that the authority should allow soldiers to leave the down.”

    The octogenarian said his wife fled along with others, adding that he had run out of food and basic supplies.

    Reports that could not be independently confirmed claimed that two innocent persons were felled by stray bullet during the incidents. JTF official source said only one person, a suspected militant was killed. The corpse of the deceased was handed over to the Isiokolo Police Division.

    The confrontation between troops of the Sector 1, Joint Task Force ‘Operation Pulo Shield’, was long in coming. The arrest of notorious armed robbery and kidnap suspect, Kelvin Ibruvwe failed to restore sanity to the trouble town, where he gave the Federal Government 60-day deadline on September 18.

    Remnant of his ragtag ‘army’ known as the Liberation Movement of the Urhobo People (LiMUP) seized the town by the jugular. They gang was initially led by late Rufus Ovwigho (Don Jazzy) and one Commander Kelly before they were both killed by the JTF. Yet, the image of Ibruvwe loomed larger than life in Kokori, where he is mostly seen as a hero rather than a criminal.

    Those who had different views about his activities are afraid to express them because of the deadly repercussion suffered by those chose to speak out.

    Prior to his last arraignment in court, sources in the town told our reporter that a section of the community’s leader who had visited their embattled Agbon Kingdom monarch, HRM Mike Omeru, Ogurime-Rime Ukori 1, following the attack on his palace, received a midnight visit from members of Kelvin’s gang.

    They were rudely awakened from their sleep by rattling of gun on their doors and ordered to travel to Abuja for Kelvin’s trial on November 27. “Not only that, they were asked to stage a protest at the court premises to demand his release,” a source in the town revealed.

    Earlier, Chief Fred Emufo, a member of the council of chiefs, was abducted in broad day light by armed youths who took him to their hideout and ordered him to recant on the apology to the monarch.

    Previously on several occasions, semi-naked women and youths have staged protests calling for the soldiers to leave.

    In one of the buildings located off Market Road a sign written on the wall warned “Amy (Army) to live (leave) Kokori or face dead (death).”

    However, on Monday when our reporter visited, soldiers have assumed vice-like grip on the town: checkpoints manned by no-nonsense looking soldiers were planted at all strategic locations of the town, particularly along streets where troops face stern that they battled for control of the area.

    The troops are however accused of looting shops and houses abandoned in the wake of the town. One of alleged victim, Mr Victor (surnames withheld) told our reporter that he got report from his tenants that troops smashed through doors, windows and even set houses on fire.

    “I don’t live in Kokori,” Victor said, “but the report I am hearing is that soldiers are on a wanton destruction of houses and property in the town. I do not know why they would start doing a thing like that.”

    The Commander, 3 Battalion of the Joint Task Force, Lt. Colonel Ifeanyi Otu, said it was not true that his troops destroyed and looted property. “It is an attempt to rubbish the good work the troops are doing in Kokori aimed at restoring law and order in a community that hitherto drifted towards anarchy.”

    Otu said when they youths failed to reclaim control of the town they destroyed and burnt properties within their reach as they retreated.

    “The allegation of destruction and looting by troop is not true. Troops deployed to Kokori are fed three times daily and their operation allowance paid at the end of every month. The daily administration is closely supervised by five officers.”

    His position is buttressed by cars set ablaze and used to barricade the road, ostensibly by the fleeing armed youths in their attempt to impede the soldiers. The car of a man who drove his spouse or girlfriend to the town was among those burnt.

    While the JTF has succeeded in chasing out criminal gangs and armed youths terrorising the town, the insignia of destructions left behind by the confrontation will remain with the people for years to come.

    Only time and the withdrawal of troops will tell if the eerie silence in Kokori at the time of this report on Tuesday night is the return of peace or the peace of the graveyard.

     

  • Rivers of troubled water

    Rivers of troubled water

    The Rivers State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Felix Obuah, fired the first salvo, when he accused Governor Rotimi Amaechi of insincerity in the water projects across the state’s 23 local government areas, especially in Ogoni’s four councils.

    The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Report on Ogoniland was submitted to President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja in August 2011, but the recommendations are yet to be implemented, with UNEP raising the alarm over water pollution/contamination and presence of cancer-causing benzene in the drinking water in Ogoni.

    The UNEP Report recommended many measures to help ameliorate the sufferings of the Ogoni people, following the contamination of their environment and the groundwater in Ogoniland, as a result of crude oil spills.

    Ogoni people in Khana, Gokana, Tai and Eleme local government areas, particularly those residing in Ogale–Eleme, pleaded with the Federal Government to quickly address the water pollution and other recommendations contained in the UNEP Report, since they could not trust the Anglo/Dutch oil giant, the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).

    Shell was sent packing from Ogoniland in 1993. The renowned environmentalist, Ken Saro-Wiwa, and eight other Ogoni activists, were hanged at the Port Harcourt Prisons on November 10, 1995, during the regime of the late Gen. Sani Abacha. This led to a crisis, which made Ogoni people decide that Shell would never return to their land. The oil company is yet to return to the area 20 years after.

    The UNEP Report stated: “ The most serious case of groundwater contamination is at Nisisioken-Ogale in Eleme Local Government Area, close to an NNPC (Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation) product pipeline, where an 8 cm layer of refined oil was observed floating on the groundwater, which serves the community’s wells.

    “The drinking water from the nearby wells in Nisisioken-Ogale is contaminated with Benzene, a known carcinogen (cancer causing), at levels over 900 times above the World Health Organisation (WHO) guideline.”

    In the Amaechi’s administration’s determination to proffer solution to the water challenge in Ogoni, pending when permanent solution would be found, the Rivers state government decided to be sending water in tankers from Port Harcourt, to the various communities in Ogoni, especially the mostly affected areas.

    Obuah, however, expressed shock over the development, saying: “How can Amaechi be sending water in tankers to Ogoniland from Port Harcourt, in spite of the far distance, instead of ensuring permanent intervention through massive water projects? Rivers people can now see their governor’s deceit and lack of commitment to a just cause.”

    The Rivers Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, however, admonished the peace-loving people of the state not to take the PDP chairman seriously, but to ignore him and his politics of desperation.

    Semenitari insisted that Amaechi, who is also the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) remained committed to the development of the state, describing the Ogoni water intervention as temporary, since permanent solutions were being worked out.

    In August this year, Amaechi inaugurated in Ogoniland, $4.5 million Eleme Regional Water Project, financed by the SPDC, which the oil giant said was in response to one of the recommendations contained in the UNEP report, to remedy the benzene contamination of the groundwater.

    Shell’s spokesman Joe Ollor Obari said in Port Harcourt on December 4 that: “The Eleme Regional Water Project was funded exclusively by the SPDC and executed by the Rivers State Ministry of Water Resources.”

    Speaking at the inaugura

    tion of the water project at

    Alesa-Eleme, Amaechi said the scheme, which covers 43 communities in the five clans of Ogale, Alode, Agbonchia, Alesa and Aleto in Eleme, would provide potable water for the Ogoni people, as part of the measures to save lives, following the dangers enumerated in the UNEP Report.

    The Rivers governor also lauded the SPDC, which he said, supplied potable water to the people of Eleme, saying: “UNEP Report recommended eight emergency measures, including immediate provision of potable water to the impacted communities, to mitigate health risks.”

    In spite of the efforts, the leadership of the PDP is still critical of the Amaechi’s government, accusing it of not showing enough commitment to give Rivers people potable water.

    The NGF chairman, on December 2, at the Government House, Port Harcourt, while receiving the members of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Water Resources, accompanied by Executive Directors of the Niger Delta Basin Development Authority was also unsparing of his critics.

    Amaechi urged the federal lawmakers to summon the Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and Minister of Water Resources, Stella Ochekpe, and investigate the circumstances surrounding the seizure of the World Bank and African Development Bank (ADB) loans, approved by the National Assembly for the provision of potable water for the people of Rivers State.

    He noted that the Rivers government had fulfilled all the requirements to receive and benefit from the loan scheme with the World Bank and ADB, stressing that his administration was ready to allow the finance minister to award the contract to any person of her choice, to provide potable water for Rivers people.

    The NGF chairman said: “The people who are dying and deprived of the potable drinking water are Rivers people, who do not have water in their homes.”

    “In fact, if you whisper to those agencies (World Bank and ADB) that she (Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala) has refused to sign-off, a woman of that international standard, maybe she wants to join the fray of quarrel. It is like two wives quarreling over a husband.

    “It is embarrassing; completely embarrassing for somebody who has been Managing Director of the World Bank to neglect the impact water has on the citizenry. We are prepared to allow the Minister of Finance (Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala) to award the contract to any person she wants. We are only interested in the provision of potable drinking water for our people.

    “The National Assembly has approved it and we have fulfilled all requirements with the World Bank and the ADB. We are now at the point of release of the funds for execution of the water projects for our people, and she (Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala) has refused to allow the release of the funds to us.

    “The Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, is using her position to undermine the safety and health of the people of Rivers State. I cannot afford to give all Rivers people bottled water, but all I can assure you is to ensure the provision of potable drinking water and the Minister of Finance has refused to release it. They want Rivers people to die.”

    The Rivers governor also stated that his administration could do an assessment of the people who had been infected with water-borne diseases, if the finance minister wanted the Rivers government to do that, for her to see what she had been doing to Rivers people.

    Chairman of the House of

    Representatives Committee

    on Water Resources, Aliyu Ahman Pategi noted that members of the committee were in the state, as part of their oversight functions, to verify the execution of various water projects of House members and Senators and to ensure there was value for money.

    Pategi said: “We are also here to ensure that the Niger Delta Basin Development Authority (NDBDA) that is charged with the responsibility in ensuring the zonal intervention of projects of House members and Senators carry out its functions, not only in the best possible manner, but to ensure that the projects are not abandoned and are beneficial to our people.”

    While appreciating the people of Rivers State for their loyalty and commitment to the Amaechi-led government, Pategi lauded the Rivers governor on the giant strides and remarkable achievements of his administration, in the provision of world-class infrastructure and speedy development of the state.

    Pategi added: “Despite the challenges, we have noticed quite remarkable projects. We saw the monorail project and the dual carriage roads, which can only be found in Abuja, among other capital-intensive projects. I am proud of the projects in Rivers State.”

    The Rivers chapter of the PDP, however, alleged that the loan being sought by the Rivers government from the World Bank would not be utilised for the water project, but would be spent on the activities of the main opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), which Amaechi and four PDP governors had just defected to.

    The ruling party urged the members of the National Assembly and the Federal Government not to yield to Amaechi’s request for loan for water project, stressing that it would be diverted into politics.

    Rivers PDP, through the Special Adviser to the Chairman of the party, Jerry Needam, said: “Considering the financial strength of Rivers State, as one of the top beneficiaries from the Federation Account and the rising Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), as well as the Governor’s revelation of saving one billion naira monthly, the state should not be crying for loans to provide drinking water, to a point that Rivers people are threatened by water-borne diseases.

    “Amaechi has been in office for six years. If he regards water as a priority, he would have provided water for the people of the state, because he has been receiving enough funds to execute development projects in the state.

    “Amaechi has borrowed more money than all the past governors of the state put together and in addition, if truly the Rivers State government has improved in its internal revenue base, as claimed, then the governor has no justification to solicit loan from external funding agencies, for it to deliver development projects to the people of the state.”

    The ruling party also expressed displeasure over the over N1 trillion loan facility accessed so far by the Amaechi’s administration, from which he alleged that projects on the ground in Rivers state did not show such funds had been judiciously applied.

    It stressed that if the NGF chairman had actually been saving N1 billion monthly, the state ought to, in his six years on the saddle, have a reserve of N72bn, an amount that would not allow the state pant for loan to enhance service delivery.

    Rivers PDP also stated that it was aware that the Rivers government had annually been budgeting over N7 billion to the state’s Ministry of Water Resources, while demanding clarification on what the huge allocation was used for, stressing that all water taps in the state had remained dry.

    It said: “Rather than actual in

    vestment and application of the

    funds in water resources in the state, the Governor is seen to have preferred financing white elephant projects with questionable contract values in Rivers State. These projects include the Monorail, Justice Karibi Whyte Specialist Hospital, Greater Port Harcourt City and the Rainbow Housing Project, among others.

    “The Rivers governor has, rather than provide befitting development facilities and infrastructure for the people of the state, sold out or leased important institutions and state-owned ventures and assets for 30 to 50 years, to some officers and cronies in the name of Public Private Partnership, including Delta Hotels, Obi Wali Cultural Centre, Olympia Hotels, General Hospital, Port Harcourt, Njemanze Waterfront and Risonpalm etc.

    “We wonder what Governor Amaechi will be using the loan for, when he has not given proper account of the funds he has received from Internally-Generated Revenue and the previous loan facilities he has accessed, in the name of development of the state. Amaechi’s intention is to further impoverish and defraud the state of its resources and ensure that his successor inherits huge loans and other liabilities to settle on resumption of office.”

    Rivers Information Commissioner Ibim Semenitari, however, stated that Obuah and his co-travellers have simply displayed ignorance. She urged Rivers people to ignore them, maintaining that Amaechi remains focused on developing the state and would not be distracted by the enemies of progress.

    Dr. Okonjo-Iweala has denied blocking the loan, making not a few wonder where lies the truth. For now, what is clear is that many in Rivers do not have water to drink, despite being surrounded by water.

  • Home goal for BIUST’s VC Hilary Inyang

    Home goal for BIUST’s VC Hilary Inyang

    His early education was in Akwa Ibom State. He bagged his first degree in not so far away University of Calabar in neigbouring Cross River State. But he soon travelled to the United States for masters’ and doctoral degrees. Yesterday, this son of Akwa Ibom and citizen of the world was honoured by President Goodluck Jonathan for his contributions to the country, writes Olukorede Yishau

    After years of being celebrated abroad, the Vice-Chancellor of the Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST), Prof Hilary Inyang, was yesterday honoured with the Nigerian National- Merit Award (NNMA) by President Goodluck Jonathan. For the accomplished scientist, it is a home goal. He has scored several away goals in the past and is still scoring away goals.

    Inyang, who despite his involvement in the United States’ establishment, has not shied away from giving back to Africa and Nigeria was born on November 8, 1959 at Ituk Mbang Hospital in Akwa Ibom State to Chief Inyang Amos Inyang and Mrs. Abigail Inyang of Ikot Ubok Udom in Akwa Ibom State.

    He attended several primary schools, including the Primary School, Afaha Offiong; St Patricks’s Primary School, Ibiono; Odot Primary School, Odot; and Annang People’s Primary School, Ukpom Abak, after which he attended the Nigerian Christian Secondary School, Ukpom, Abak, Akwa Ibom State from January, 1973 to May 1977.

    He obtained six papers in the GCE O’level examinations in 1976 and left secondary school early to study Geology on Shell-British Petroleum scholarship at the University of Calabar (UNICAL), where he received a B.Sc. (Honors) in Geology in 1981. At the UNICAL, he excelled in academics and sports, especially soccer and triple jump. He left Nigeria on a Federal Government scholarship in 1981 to study in the United States, where he was also later selected as a United States Department of Energy scholarship recipient.

    He holds a Ph.D. with a double major in Geotechnical Engineering and Materials, and a minor in Mineral Resources from Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa; an M.S. and B.S. in Civil Engineering from North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota, USA.

    He is the author of Nigeria’s National Oil Spill Control Manual; the Environmental Management Framework for the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria; the Nigerian National Solid Waste Management Code of Standards; and the Nigerian National Technical Guidance Manual for Solid Waste, Landfills. He has been a major contributor to Nigeria’s national science and technology policies as well as studies and analyses of environmental pollution in Nigeria.

    His research on polymers, including those that he extracted from cassava starch, has provided fundamental physico-chemical basis for the use of starch in dust control to reduce health and environmental hazards worldwide. He was the first black person to be endowed as a distinguished professor in Environmental Engineering in the United States, as well as the first African immigrant to Chair a Committee of the congressionally mandated national science advisory body of a US agency. He has developed innovative materials, systems (including GEORAD Barrier Concept) and performance estimation tools for long-term (100-10,000 years) containment of contaminants and suppression of dust to reduce environmental and health risks in climatic zones, ranging from the hot/humid tropic to the frigid Arctic.

    Prof Inyang led and performed research expeditions to Jiangsu Province of China on mining subsidence and erosion; Siberia (Russia) on oil spills; Niger Delta on oil spills; Alaska on Permafrost degradation due to global climate change; and Minas Gerais region of Brazil on fugitive dust emission studies. He developed analytical frameworks, quantitative models and field-relevant data that have been used by agencies, researchers, private firms and students worldwide. He pioneered the incorporation of fundamental chemo dynamic mechanisms into contaminant leachability models for estimating emission source terms for materials under scenarios in which they are subjected to both load and environmental stresses.

    His models and experimental data on physic-chemical interactions between natural/synthetic polymers and lateritic soils have provided rational bases for aqueous polymer application in dust control to safeguard human health in many countries.

    Some of the several national and international environmental and economic development programmes he has contributed to are the Federal Government’s programmes on oil spills management; environmental hazards control in Africa; science and technology development in Africa; and research support.

    He was the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Energy Engineering of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), an associate editor/editorial board member of 27 international journals and contributing editor of three books, including the United Nations Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (Environmental Monitoring Section).

    The Vice-Chancellor of the Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST), Palapye served from 2001 to 2013 as the Duke Energy Distinguished Professor of Environmental Engineering and Science, University of North Carolina, Charlotte, USA. He has more than two decades of technical and policy contributions to regional and global sustainable development as an educator/administrator, researcher, corporate leader and government official.

    He is a former President of the African University of Science and Technology, Abuja and Founding Director of the Global Institute for Energy and Environmental Systems (GIEES) at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte.

    In 2008, he was a finalist for the position of United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Rector of United Nations University in Tokyo. He was the President of the International Society for Environmental Geo-technology (ISEG) and lead the Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction (GADR). In 2008, he was selected as a Technical Judge of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. From 1997 to 2001, he was the Chair of the Environmental Engineering Committee of the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Science Advisory Board, and also served on the Effluent Guidelines Committee of the National Council for Environmental Policy and Technology.

    Prior to his position at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, he was DuPont Professor/University Distinguished Professor at the University of Massachusetts, where he helped establish the Graduate School of Marine Science and Technology of the University System, while serving as the Founding Director of the Lowell-based Center for Environmental Engineering, Science and Technology (1995 – 2000). He taught previously at the Purdue University, George Washington University and the University of Wisconsin-Platteville and has helped to establish research institutes and operate educational programmes in Brazil, Japan, Korea, India, Canada, Nigeria, Ghana, United Arab Emirates and China, where he was an Honorary Professor/Concurrent Professor (CUMT and Nanjing University) since 2004 and 1999, respectively. He served on more than 100 technical and policy panels of governments and professionals.

    Before the merit award presented by Jonathan, Prof Inyang has received several professional honours, including selection as a Fellow of the Geological Society of London, the 1999 Chancellor’s Medal for Distinguished Public Service of the University of Massachusetts, Lowell; 2001 Swiss Forum Fellow selection by the American Association for the Advancement of Science ; the 1996 US National Research Council Young Investigator Selection; 1992 Eisenhower-Jennings Randolph Award of the International Public Works Federation/World Affairs Institute that was instituted to honour the international achievements of former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower; the 1991 American Association for the Advancement of Science/USEPA Environmental Science and Engineering Fellowship; and election (by eminence) as a Board-Certified Member (BCEEM) of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers (2006). On October 2, 2002, he was honoured in Washington, DC at a ceremony organised by the U.S. government to honour 10 environmental scientists for technical contributions to the United States through the USEPA.

    Now, back in Africa, he is busy promoting the BIUST as the vehicle to achieve scientific and technological freedom for Africa and its people.

     

  • Delta’s ‘crude oil grave’

    Delta’s ‘crude oil grave’

    Just weeks after Amnesty International accused Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) of manipulating information about spill from its facilities in the Niger Delta, a fresh crisis is brewing between the Anglo-Dutch oil firm and one of its host communities in Delta State over the resurgence of crude oil buried in the swamp of Odimodi.

    Initial reports have blamed “unknown persons” for the environmental crime. The people of Boutubo, a sub-clan of Odimodi community in Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State, are holding Shell responsible. They said the company or its agents deliberately buried the spill with the intention of avoiding proper clean-up and payment of compensation to the community.

    The crude oil “grave” is located around mangrove vegetation and natural ponds between the company’s 24″ Trans Ramos Trunk Line, which conveys crude oil from facilities in the Brass Creek through the Forcados River to the company’s terminal and Boutubo.

    The community reported the matter to the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) around August 2011-three years after the incident reportedly occurred in 2008.

    The petition led to a Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) of the agency, Shell and representatives of Odimodi community to the impacted area on October 24, 2011. Documents obtained by our reporter revealed that three sample pits dug during the JIV all confirmed the presence of crude oil in the area.

    A nine-page report by SPDC on the JIV tagged 715845 stated:  ”Investigation of the incident site showed that there is residual impact on site requiring further works.”

     

  • Environmentalists make case for Ogoni

    Environmentalists make case for Ogoni

    Environmentalists have described the impact of oil spills in Ogoni land as devastating, urging the Federal Government to right the wrong, writes
    PRECIOUS Dikewoha

    One of the major causes of several protests in Ogoni land in recent time is the degradation of the environment and non-prevention of health-related issues affecting the people; especially children who are worst victims.

    Diseases and deaths are regular occurrences in most communities in Ogoni land; a situation that has forced citizens to live in pains as a result of polluted environment.

    Recently, environmental activists from Germany and other African countries were shocked when they arrived in Bodo community. The visitors who could not hide their feelings, said the failure of the Federal Government to implement the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) on Ogoni land is an act of wickedness against the people.

    The environmental rights groups that visited Bodo community included Ogoni Solidarity Movement (OSF), Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), Social Action, Right Livelihood Award Foundation and Oil Watch Africa.

    Mr. Agbeinbel Mkpee, a fisherman who interacted with the activists said he was one of those who are indigenous to Bodo community in Ogoni who have suffered so much as a result of the devastation on Ogoni environment.

    He also said he paid with the life of his two-month-old son who died recently after inhaling the harsh odour from oil-polluted river.

    The 55-year-old Mkpee, who has lost his fishing business due to pollution in the area, told the visitors that he had nothing to hold on to for survival except begging.

    He further told them that most of the members of the community; especially children, are being affected by all kinds of skin diseases. He said many children like his son died when their body system could no longer cope with the harsh weather.

    Mkpee said: “My son died last month after the mother brought him outside to breastfeed him. He became ill. The doctor told us that he died because of the polluted air from the spill which affected his brain. Our people have become regular patients at the hospitals.

    “Most of us here have lost children as a result of diseases. We have no clean water to drink, wash and to cook. We use contaminated water from the nearby stream. Our boreholes have been declared health risk by Shell. To be frank, sometimes, we go crazy to scramble for water by all means, thereby ignoring the warning at the signpost.

    Reacting, the group said that what they saw at Bodo and other communities in Ogoni was nothing but genocide. They called on the Federal Government to immediately implement the UNEP report.

    They said oil spill has destroyed the future of the people, even as they noted that if nothing is done to redeem the lives of the people, what is happening in Northern part of the country would be trivial compared to what will happen in Ogoni land in future.

    “If Kenule Saro-Wiwa and those who have continue from where he stopped are using peaceful means to fight their cause, would it be possible that after this generation, the next generation of Ogoni people will apply peaceful struggle?

    With what I am seeing here today, I can see the true picture of what tomorrow will look like. The style of the struggle may change and if there is any time to address this issue, it is now,” Dr. Monika Griefahn of Right Livelihood Award Foundation said.

    Dr. Monika, a former Minister of Environment in Germany also advised Ogoni people to support new government that will be favourable to them.

    “I think the people should adopt a new campaign strategy by partnering with parliamentarians who think in the same direction with them to see if they can push for a new government that will consider their plight,” she said.

    Rev. Nnimmo Bassy, Executive Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), said Ogoni environment has been sentenced to death and nothing is alive including mankind.

    “The people are suffering. The water, crops, air and the entire environment have been poisoned.  Nothing is working in Ogoni land.

    “We are going to support Ogoni people to win their battle. The problem of Ogoni people is the problem of Niger Delta. So, we cannot allow the environment to remain the same. Shell must clean Ogoni land whether it likes it or not,” he said.

    Celestine Akpobari, the leader of Ogoni Solidarity Forum (OSF) remarked that everything about a man is tied to his environment.

    “When you destroy his environment, you have destroyed his life, livelihood and future,” he said.

    He said efforts are on to ensure that plans by government and Shell to sweep the UNEP Report under the carpet are frustrated by all lovers of justice and those who have stood against the continued rape of the Ogoni environment.

    He said recently stakeholders from all walks of life gathered to deliberate on the way forward in their struggle to ensure a better idea of the struggle.

    “We have agreed that, with the UNEP Report and the suffering of the Ogoni people which resulted from the deliberate refusal to implement the Report and clear connivance of Nigerian government and its agencies with Shell, we call for an immediate and urgent implementation of the UNEP Report.

    “The Hydrocarbon Protection and Restoration Project (HYPREP) created in disregard of the recommended Ogoni Environmental Restoration Agency should be disbanded. It is fraudulent, diversionary and a complete betrayal of the yearnings of Ogoni people for urgent remediation and restoration of their environment.

    ”The delayed remediation programme as recommended by the UNEP Report has increased the mortality rate of the Ogonis and adjoining communities of the Niger Delta. While plans are put in place to clean up Ogoni, Shell and the government of Nigeria should, as a matter of urgency, provide better healthcare system for the people to ameliorate the deepening health challenges resulting from years of pollution and neglect in implementing the UNEP Report,” the group said.

     

  • Beauty queen distributes books to pupils

    Beauty queen distributes books to pupils

    Miss Blessing Ubi Christopher’s story is appalling. Her parents died on April 26, 2011. They were among the victims of the bomb blast that rocked the United Nation’s building in Abuja. However, that experience did not dampen her spirit.

    The 18-year-old girl was determined to succeed.

    Though born and bred in Abuja, the unfortunate incident that claimed her parents made her relocate to Ugep in Yakurr Local Government Area of Cross River State to live with her grandparents.

    Through her firm resolve and belief, she recently emerged as winner of the Miss Leboku 2013 beauty pageant. Her present position affords her the opportunity to look beyond her own difficulty to offer helping hand to the society.

    Having noticed that students from her community in Yakurr lacked adequate books, the young beauty queen, the eldest of four children, resolved to seek partnerships that would enable her fill this gap.

    Her search paid off when she struck a deal with Educational Standard Revival Initiative (EDUSTAR), a non-governmental organisation. Through the partnership, she has facilitated the distribution of books to pupils of primary schools in her locality, a novelty since the inception of the Miss Leboku pageant.

    Though she finds joy in her new assignment, she still regrets the death of her parents.

    She said: “My parents’ death has not stopped me. I had a passion for modelling right from when I was little and I told myself that one day, I will wear the Miss Leboku crown. When we came to Ugep in 2007 and I was admiring the queens then, my mother told me that I was going to become a winner when I get older. Unfortunately, when I won the crown, she was not around to jubilate with me.

    “She died on August 26, 2011 in the UN Building bomb blast in Abuja. It has been so difficult for me to cope with our challenge in life.

    “I am the eldest among four children and we are with our grandparents in Ugep. They are just farmers. That is what they do to sustain us.

    “I have plans to further my education. Although my parents are not alive, it is not really bringing me down. I know when I step forward, people come to assist.”

    On what motivated her to provide books for students in her locality in spite of her challenges, she said: “When I take my younger ones to school, I noticed that most of the students use one or two books. It is what we really need to look into. I also intend to continue providing writing materials for school pupils. I would keep meeting some other people that would assist me in giving out the writing materials to students in Yakurr.”

    Executive Director of EDUSTAR, Prof. Owan Enoh, who provided the book entitled: Reading Companion for Primary Schools, was delighted to see a youth take interest in the development of education.

    He said: “Having the passion to give to society what she has not even gotten herself, we felt we should give her all the support. She has come back to Yakurr to make the young ones better. That is something we must give a chance.

    “I believe her reign would find more enduring achievements. Others think about other flamboyant issues which add to their own personalities, but she is thinking about the children to make their own better. There is no better gift than what she is doing. So, we stand here to partner with her. We are always ready to partner with her.”

    Charles Uwa of the Cross River State Tourism Bureau said it was the first time the pageant seemed to be having a vision as hitherto nothing significant was heard by previous winners after claiming their prizes.

    He said that for someone from the community on her way to the top to think of carrying other people along, was a gesture that is commendable, even as it should be encouraged.

    Chairman-elect of Yakurr Local Government Area, Ikpi Akpama, promised to do his best to ensure that her objectives were achieved.

    He said the gesture gave more meaningful dimension to the pageant, adding that during his tenure, winners of the pageant would embark on meaningful gestures as Blessing has done.

     

     

  • Video of cook’s survival broken by The Nation now viral

    Video of cook’s survival broken by The Nation now viral

    The story was broken by The Nation’s Shola O’Neil. It was the story of how a cook, Harrison Odjegba Okene, entombed at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean in an upended tugboat for three days begged God for a miracle.

    A video of the cook, who survived by breathing an ever-dwindling supply of oxygen in an air pocket in May, has gone viral on youtube. The video was posted on the Internet more than six months later.

    As the temperature dropped to freezing, Okene, dressed only in boxer shorts, recited the last Psalm his wife had sent by text message, sometimes called the Prayer for Deliverance: “Oh God, by your name, save me. … The Lord sustains my life.”

    To this day, Okene believes his rescue after 72 hours underwater at a depth of 30 meters (about 100 feet) is a sign of divine deliverance. The other 11 seaman aboard the Jascon 4 died.

    Divers sent to the scene were looking only for bodies, according to Tony Walker, project manager for the Dutch company DCN Diving, who were called to the scene because they were working on a neighbouring oil field 120 kilometres away.

    The divers had already pulled up four bodies.

    So when a hand appeared on the TV screen Walker was monitoring in the rescue boat, showing what the diver in the Jascon saw, everybody assumed it was another body.

    “The diver acknowledged that he had seen the hand and then, when he went to grab the hand, the hand grabbed him!” Walker said in a telephone interview Tuesday.

    “It was frightening for everybody,” he said. “For the guy that was trapped because he didn’t know what was happening. It was a shock for the diver while he was down there looking for bodies, and we (in the control room) shot back when the hand grabbed him on the screen.”

    On the video, there’s an exclamation of fear and shock from Okene’s rescuer, and then joy as the realisation sets in. Okene recalls hearing: “There’s a survivor! He’s alive.”

    Walker said Okene could not have lasted much longer.

    “He was incredibly lucky he was in an air pocket but he would have had a limited time (before) … he wouldn’t be able to breathe anymore.”

    The full video of the rescue captured by divers was released by DCN Diving after a request from The Associated Press. Initially, a shorter version of the rescue emerged on the Internet. The authenticity of the video was confirmed through conversations with DCN employees in the Netherlands. The video showing Okene was also consistent with additional photos of him on the rescue ship. The AP also contacted Okene on Tuesday who confirmed the events.

    Okene’s ordeal began around 4:30 a.m. on May 26. Always an early riser, he was in the toilet when the tug, one of three towing an oil tanker in the oil-rich Delta waters, gave a sudden lurch and then keeled over.

    “I was dazed and everywhere was dark as I was thrown from one end of the small cubicle to another,” Okene said in an exclusive interview after his rescue with The Nation.

    He groped his way out of the toilet and tried to find a vent, propping doors open as he moved on. He discovered some tools and a life vest with two flashlights, which he stuffed into his shorts.

    When he found a cabin of the sunken vessel that felt safe, he began the long wait, getting colder and colder as he played back a mental tape of his life — remembering his mother, friends, mostly the woman he had married five years before with whom he had not yet fathered a child.

    He worried about his colleagues — 10 Nigerians and the Ukrainian captain, including four young cadets from the Maritime Academy. They would have locked themselves into their cabins, standard procedure in an area stalked by pirates.

    He got really worried when he heard the sound of fish, shark or barracudas he supposed, eating and fighting over something big.

    As the waters rose, he made a rack on top of a platform and piled two mattresses on top.

    According to his interview with The Nation: “I started calling on the name of God. … I started reminiscing on the verses I read before I slept. I read the Bible from Psalm 54 to 92. My wife had sent me the verses to read that night when she called me before I went to bed.”

    He survived off just one bottle of Coke, all he had to sustain him during the trauma.

    Okene really thought he was going to die; he told The Nation, when he heard the sound of a boat engine and anchor dropping, but failed to get the attention of rescuers. He figured, given the size of the boat, that it would take a miracle for a diver to locate him. So, he waded across the cabin, stripped the wall down to its steel body, then knocked on it with a hammer.

    But “I heard them moving away. They were far away from where I was.”

    By the time he was saved, relatives already had been told the sailors were dead.

    Okene kept faith with the psalm he recited, that promises to “give thanks in your name, Lord,” at a service at his Redeemed Christian Church of God.

    He was rescued by a diver who first used hot water to warm him up, then attached him to an oxygen mask. Once free of the sunken boat, he was put into a decompression chamber and then safely returned to the surface.