The Nation Newspaper

Category: Niger Delta

  • INEC exceeds accreditation time

    Presiding officers in the ongoing governorship election in Anambra State have been forced to extend the time allotted for accreditation of voters.

    Most voting units visited in Aguata Local Government complained of similar challenges.

    In a voting centre at the Civic Centre in Umuchu Ward 1, accreditation was said to have started a few minutes to 11am.

    The development made is practically impossible to end the exercise by 12noon for voting to begin, it was learnt.

    Progressives Peoples Alliance (PPA) governorship candidate Godwin Ezeemo said the presiding officer in Civic Centre Unit 001 asked him to return anytime from 2.30pm when voting will start.

    “The Independent National Electoral Commission officials told me voting will start by 2.30pm because materials arrived late.

    “The Presiding officer said there were delays. But it’s still early in the process for me to suspect any foul play.

    “Reports I have received from other places also show that materials arrived late in various centres.

    “In my unit, accreditation started by 10.58am,” Ezeemo said.

     

  • Ovia’s sloppy bridge of deaths

    Ovia’s sloppy bridge of deaths

    Ovia Bridge has recorded more accidents and claimed more lives than many others. SHOLA O’NEIL reports

    Motorists, especially commercial bus drivers who ply the Benin-Ore-Shagamu-Lagos routes, know that one of the most dangerous parts of the course is the point which starts from Iyera, just after the Ogbemudia Farms, to Ofumwengbe village, a community located in one of the hilly parts towards Ekiadolor.

    Although barely five kilometres, hairpin bends, high rising and steep, dipping slopes, unprotected chasm and gigantic gullies on either sides of the highway, especially on the ascent towards Iyera town, make it a death trap. The valley of death is arguably the Ovia Bridge, at the feet of the two hills.

    Apart from warning lights recently placed on descent towards the bridge from Lagos, there are no signs to alert drivers, especially first time users of the road on the dangerous condition ahead.

    Road safety officials, police and community leaders in Iguowa, Ugbihiehie, Ofumwengbe Azaka and Iguiye blame the dangerous course for thousands of accidents over the past 38 years.

    Our investigation revealed that about 20,000 persons might have died at the notorious spots since the road was built by French construction giant, Dumez Nigeria Limited in 1974. Financial losses to accidents on the bridge are put at several billions of naira in the past two decades alone.

    “That section is very bad,” a driver with one of the popular transport lines in Benin City said.

    “But the worst place is the bridge. Although that bridge is very small, there is more to it. It is a ‘wonderful’ bridge. Every driver, who knows this route, will advise you to pay careful attention when getting near it,” our source, who appealed that neither his names nor his employer’s should be used in this report, stated.

     

  • How a UNICAL graduate is coping with ASUU strike

    How a UNICAL graduate is coping with ASUU strike

    On Wednesday, last week, a non-governmental organisation, Foundation for Partnership Initiative for Niger Delta (PIND) took reporters on a tour of the United Ufuoma Fish Farmers Association’s cluster of fish farms in Ekpan, Delta State.

    The visitors were amazed by the size and scale of activities of over 500 farmers.

    The Mr Fischer Ogugu, President of UUFFA and members told exciting stories of their travails and triumphs.

    However, there was no story as gripping as that of a final year statistics student of the University of Calabar. When our reporter met Emmanuel Umukoro on that sunny Wednesday afternoon, he was obviously worn out from a hard day’s work. With his customary red cap perched on his head, he smiled and exuded satisfaction that spread through a striking face atop his muddy, weary body

    He was one student who is making the best out of a bad situation. He has spent the past four months, since the Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU) embarked on strike doing what he was doing on that Wednesday afternoon – earning valuable extra money that could take some burden off his parents shoulder.

    “My mum is a petty trader and my dad is a tailor,” he said. “Sometimes I don’t even think about my parents when I want to pay my house rent. I don’t disturb my parents because the money is like change to me, so I pay it on my own. Not that they cannot pay it, I just decide to do it on my own because as we say in Warri language, ‘na small small them de follow this thing’ (In life, it is easy does it).”

    The young energetic man had been doing what he was doing that day for the past four years. But as he recalled, the journey did not start very smoothly. “I can remember vividly the day I came to this place. I (had) just finished my secondary school in 2008. I said instead of staying idle, let me come here and find something to assist myself.

    “I found out that so many activities are happening here. After a hard day’s work I and my younger brother managed to make just N350. I told myself I would never come back,” he recalled with a gentle smile that lit up his dark skin.

    “I came again in 2009, a friend brought me back this time and after that day’s work again I was paid N3,500. I was so excited. And I said that money is really good.

    “There are so many things to do here, like packing of the fish, carrying loads. Carrying loads pay more; it pays quickly and very well, too.”

    In spite of his fortunate position, Umukoro was concerned that there were students and other able-bodied youths like him who do not have such opportunity.

    He said his relationship with the NGO has been particularly eventful and interesting. “I have worked with PIND. The first (demo) pond they started, I was the person that stocked it. I remember the doctor (PIND official) that started the pond, he was a UNICAL graduate, and when he met me, he was very happy and said I would be the one to stock the pond. The first fish they used I was the one that carried it and when they harvested, I was the person that sold the fish.

    Reflecting on the lecturers’ strike, he said: “This place has really helped financial so many times. I have been here for the past four months since the ASUU strike. I make an average of 1,500 daily and about 45,000 monthly.”

    But what really does he do? A lot, he said. With over 10 tons of catfish harvested and sold daily, there are so many things for Umukoro and dozens others like him to do at the farm. Hundreds of fish sellers, hoteliers and caterers from with the town, Warri and environs as well as from neighbouring and faraway states troop to the farm daily.

    Our checks revealed that about 100 youths from Ekpan and other parts of the twin cities of Effurun and Warri are engaged daily in the farm and similar ones in Ekpan, New Layout and Ugboroke area of the city.

    “My work here has really helped me in the sense that I don’t have time for negative thoughts. I can’t imagine myself thinking of evil things. When I leave here I go to help my parents and by the time I get home around 10 or 11pm, I am usually too exhausted to think of anything.

    “I am comfortable when compared with my counterparts from similar background who do not have this kind of opportunity to work. I was speaking with a colleague the other day and I asked him what he was doing, he said he was teaching. I asked how much does he earn and he said N7,500. I joked that he should just come here and I would pay him without doing anything and we laughed over it. He (his friend) said that I was speaking as someone who has made money. And when I told him the minimum money I make monthly is N30,000 he was really surprised.”

    This young man’s story is an example of how self-help projects in the Niger Delta with support from government and NGOs can help provide employment and reduce youths restiveness.

    With the UUFFA intervention and other similar projects across the region, PIND has started on the right track.

     

  • How foundation is fighting poverty in Niger Delta

    How foundation is fighting poverty in Niger Delta

    The Foundation for Partnership Initiative in the Niger Delta, as its name implies, is foundation with a development template that emphasises supporting socio-economic growth through partnership with stakeholders and donor agencies. It is a future-looking partnership with the US-based Chevron-sponsored NDPI.

    PIND recently organised a four-day workshop and field trip to show case its achievement in the past two years. The workshop was aptly tagged ‘Towards the Promotion of Proven Development Models for Pro-poor Socio-economic Development in the Niger Delta’.

    Project Director, Mr Sylvestor Okoh, said it was necessary for development agents to critically look at the areas they plan to affect before plunging in.”For you to do development work and get it to succeed and affect the people positively, you have to first of all go down to the root cause of the problem. Most times development intervention coming from anybody will be addressing the symptoms and not the root cause.”

    Using the outbreak of cholera in some parts of the country to make his point, Okoh, an ex-staff of Shell Petroleum Development Company, said agencies should not start treating the symptoms without first identifying and tackling factors that gave rise to it. He said identifying the source first was the only way to ensure that the epidemic does not resurfaced after being treated.

    He said PIND was set up by Chevron to provide support for socio-economic programme in the region. He was it was focused on achieving the set objective of ensuring sustainable growth by bringing in resources, building human capacity and collaboration and coordination of public, private and civil society organisations within and outside the region.

    To do this, the PIND activities are separated into four different programmes, which although work separately, is aimed at the same objective of assisting the poor and helping them development after identifying the root of the problem.

    One of the main focus is the Economic Development Programme strategy, which is geared towards facilitating opportunities for the poor. The so-called pro-poor approach targets poor and less privileged people in rural and urban areas, particularly women and youths, identify and support their strength and help them overcome areas of weakness.

    Already, PIND has identified three agriculture value chains namely aquaculture, cassava and palm oil and has fashioned out ways to help farmers. Okoh said the foundation’s intervention in the areas include market analysis focussed on addressing constraint faced by operators using market analysis and research studies (14 in 2012).

    Thereafter, PIND carries out pilot (demo) projects to show its target beneficiaries how it is done and upon successful completion of that phase, it scales up and increase production, but not after first identifying markets and demand.

    “The strategy is backward integration scheme; we don’t go into production until we identify a market. We don’t increase production we also build capacity,” Mr Olufemi Ojo, a staff of USAID, one of PIND’s international partners said.

    Ufuoma United Fish Farmers Association in Ekpan, Delta State is a case where PIND’s value chain project has succeeded in creating economic opportunity for large numbers of farmers and increasing incomes of households in the area. With over 500 members farming on about 2,000 ponds, the foundation has imparted best practices in fish farming and help boost members’ feed selection, pond preparation, how they stock with fingerlings and how to management the quality of water to ensure best yield etc.

    As a result, the quality and quantity of fish produced from the area has increased since 2012. The chairman of the UUFFA, Mr Fischer Ogugu, and other members of the union told newsmen that their incomes have increased since the partnership with PIND. They were also given training to boost their capacity, proper record keeping etc.

    Similarly, through the Cassava Value Chain Pilot Project, the foundation research revealed factors militating against farmers in the essential cash crop farming. Some of the factors include lack of adequate information, wastage of harvest; insufficient input supply, weak farm extension service, lack of access to credit to enable them expand and others. It is now assisting them to overcome these barriers.

    One of the greatest beneficiaries of the cassava initiative is the Edo State Cooperative Farmers Agency, which President, Mr Nosa Amayo said members have benefited from training and linkage to market, particularly the Thai Farms, to which it has made three shipments of cassava so far.

    Under the partnership facilitated by PIND and USAID, Amayo and other members have been trained and turned into trainers. “We now try to add value; we are not just farmers but we are now agro businessmen,” he said.

    Amayo said the training have also helped in reversing ugly trend where youths sell land for temporary gain. He said they now cultivate their lands and make more than they could have made from the sale of the lands within a short period.

    Speaking on USAID’s involvement in the project, Olufemi Ojo of the agency’s market 2 initiative, revealed that 3,000 hectares of land were being opened up in Ekpoma, Sobe and Uhumwonde area of the state.

    At the time of our visit last Thursday, it was learnt that bulldozer were set to start opening up the land for the project, which is being executed in partnership with the federal and state governments.

    Farmers will be provided with high quality cassava stems to be supplied from Thai Farms, while USAID and PIND will provide training for the beneficiaries of the project.

    The farmers are only expected to supervise and ensure that the farm is prepared and planted properly, apply fertilisers and chemical etc. At the end of the harvest, output will be sold to the ready market provided by Thai Farms. The farmers will get the profit after the cost of production is deducted.

    He particularly noted that the local method of slash and burn hamper production, stressing that it was difficult for the farmers to break even, even though they sold at higher price to local market.

    Meanwhile, the foundation is enthusiastic about the prospect because of the huge market for cassava. Thai Farms, located in Ogun State, has a demand for 300tons daily and also has promised to bring in a partner from abroad. The partnership is extended to see demand hitting 150metric tons per annum.

    In the area of funding, PIND is working with LAPO Agricultural and Rural Development Initiative, from which farmers have benefited from training and a unique funding strategy, which ensure that farmers get access to fund for expansion without receiving loans in cash.

    In the area of palm oil, it is working with the Nigerian Institute for Palm Oil Research (NIFOR) in Evboneka, Edo State to train local fabricators on new equipment for processing palm oil.

    Dr. C. E. Ikuenobe, NIFOR Director in charge of partnership with the foundation, revealed that it recently trained five fabricators from Imo state. He said the training was a form of technology transfer, which ensure that quality of oil from local producers is increased so that they stop losing money.

    “The fabricator trained at our expense fabricated a set of mill that is installed around Oguta, Imo state. PIND is set to commission that mill very soon,” Dr. Ikuenobe added.

    It may yet be too early to fathom the full benefits of these partnerships on farmers in the nine states, 185 local government areas of region, but officials of the foundation are full of confidence that it would open up vistas of opportunity and provide access to assistance and partnership that would be far more rewarding for people of the region.

    In fact, it was gathered that the success of the 3,000-hectare project might have given birth to a far bigger partnership with USAID for the cultivation of 50 hectares of cassava farm in every local government area of Edo State.

     

     

  • MOSOP begins rallies to force Fed Govt to implement UNEP Report

    MOSOP begins rallies to force Fed Govt to implement UNEP Report

    THE Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) is commencing non-violent actions, with Saturday’s expiration of the ultimatum given to the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan to fully implement the recommendations contained in the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report on Ogoniland.

    The umbrella organisation of Ogoni people also accused the Federal Government of practising genocide against the peace-loving people.

    The President of MOSOP, Legborsi Saro Pyagbara, spoke in Bori, the traditional headquarters of Ogoni people and seat of Khana LGA of Rivers State, at the 18th anniversary of the hanging of a renowned environmentalist, Ken Saro-Wiwa, and other Ogoni activists.

    Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni activists were hanged at Port Harcourt Prisons on November 10, 1995, during the regime of the late Gen. Sani Abacha, while the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) was sent packing from Ogoniland in 1993 and yet to return.

    The UNEP report was released on August 4, 2011 and submitted to President Jonathan in Abuja on August 11 of the same year, but yet to be implemented.

    Pyagbara stated that the 18th anniversary was to honour the heroes of Ogoni struggle: Saro-Wiwa, John Kpuinen, Chief Edward Kobani, Chief Albert Badey, Chief S.N. Orage, Dr. Barinem Kiobel, Chief T.B.Orage, Nordu Eawo, Paul Levura, Saturday Dobee, Felix Nuate, Baribor Bera, Daniel Gbokoo and Dr. Garrick B. Leton.

    MOSOP said: “On August 4, 2011, UNEP released the report of its multi-year study of the Ogoni environment, which had presented in some scientific detail, the destruction of the Ogoni environment and the unprecedented pollution of the Ogoni water system.

    “The stunning silence of the Nigerian government two years and some months after the release of the report had confirmed to us that the government, as alleged by our heroes some years ago, had been practising the crime of genocide against the Ogoni people.

    “This government wants us to continue to drink the poisoned water and die. This government wants us to continue to breathe the poisoned air and die and this government wants us to continue to live on the polluted lands and die.

    “The Dr. Goodluck Jonathan administration is presiding over the final liquidation of the Ogoni nationality and we would not accept it. As the ultimatum we issued to the Nigerian government expired yesterday (Saturday), in the coming days ahead, we invite you to join us as we embark on series of non-violent actions to demonstrate our total disapproval of the government’s handling of the implementation of the report of the environmental study of Ogoniland.

    “We wish to also inform you that we would be invoking the provisions of the Genocide Convention against the Nigerian government. We must all be ready to challenge those who are daily erecting barriers to our sense of common humanity and equality and this is the time.”

    The Ogoni umbrella organisation also reiterated that a few months ago, it launched the Ogoni Project 2015, which it said called on the political parties and other sympathetic groups in the country to give the Ogoni people the opportunity to produce the next governor of Rivers State.

    After a thorough analysis of the current situation in Rivers state, particularly on the issue of political marginalisation, which it described as one of the issues for which their leaders paid the supreme price, MOSOP stated that it decided to launch this campaign to reduce the level of Ogoni marginalisation in Rivers state, pending when the people would have their own state.

    MOSOP said: “The occasion of this anniversary is also an opportunity to remind our politicians and political office holders that during this period, regardless of political affiliations, we must do everything within our powers to ensure that we strive for unity and peace among our people.

    “The bickering and divisions among the political class must end for the common good of the Ogoni people. The spirit of Ogoni, the entire Ogoni people and our heroes that we remember today (yesterday) expect the political leaders to demonstrate that they stand for the overriding interest of the Ogoni people, by speaking up for them and joining them in their campaigns.

    “This remembrance provides us with yet another unique opportunity to unite in ways that we have never before. We may disagree sometimes over strategies and views, but there is no question that we should be able to unite on the most crucial points that drove our fallen colleagues to draw up the Ogoni Bill of Rights.”

    The Ogoni umbrella organisation also urged the marginalised people in the four Rivers LGAs of Khana, Gokana, Tai and Eleme, to identify and recommit themselves to the core values for which their heroes laid down their lives.

    While also speaking, the representative of the Rivers Southeast Senatorial District, Magnus Ngei Abe, described the non-implementation of the recommendations contained in the UNEP report, as an act of wickedness against the people of Ogoni by the Jonathan’s administration.

    Abe revealed that all the efforts made by the elected representatives of the people of Ogoni to get the Federal Government to implement the UNEP report had not been successful.

    The Senator said: “I have said it before and I want to repeat it here that the non-implementation of UNEP report is nothing other than wickedness on the part of the Federal Government. I want to acknowledge the contributions of all our heroes, those that marched, those that were killed, those that shouted, those that wept, those that carried placards.

    “Before now, when I talked, I was saying it was the Rivers state government that made the UNEP report possible, but I have come to realise that that is not entirely correct. We worked the physical work as at the time when the UNEP report was being put together, but without the struggle of all our heroes past, the Federal Government would not have even called UNEP to come and do anything in Ogoniland. So, every Ogoni person has contributed to the realisation of the UNEP report.

    “What has happened to the report? Before UNEP began its assignment, the late President Umaru Yar’Adua called us to a meeting in Government House, Port Harcourt and we agreed and gave a condition that we would not allow the Federal Government to come and do a study for the sake of a study, that we would write an undertaking that once the report was out, it would be implemented.

    “President Yar’Adua directed the then Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) to write the letter. One week after the meeting, the Federal Government wrote to promise Ogoni people that the report would be implemented once it was ready.”

    Abe also lamented that when the UNEP report was eventually released, Yar’Adua had died, but it was submitted to Jonathan, without any action taken on it for over two years, which he described as very unfortunate.

    a peaceful way of prodding the government into dialogue and action. The Bill noted that although crude oil had been extracted from Ogoniland from 1958 they had received nothing in return.

    “A total clean up of Ogoni land will take a life time or about thirty years at the least. That is the length of time UNEP estimates it would require to clean up the water bodies in the territory. And it would require an additional five (5) years to clean up the land. How is that a lifetime? Well, life expectancy in the Niger Delta stands at approximately forty-one years.

    “At the eve of the first anniversary of the presentation of the UNEP report, the Federal Government hurriedly cobbled up an outfit incongruously named Hydrocarbons Pollution Restoration Project (HYPREP). The project was set up basically to hoodwink the Ogoni people into thinking that action was being taken to implement the UNEP report. A year after the setting up of HYPREP under the Ministry of Petroleum Resources – a major polluter of Ogoni land – the only visible acts of implementation of the UNEP report has been the planting of sign posts at some places informing the people that their environment is contaminated and that they should keep off. You could almost laugh, but this is sad and serious. Keep off your environment! No options given. The people still drink the polluted waters and farm the polluted lands. Seafood is still being scrounged from the polluted waters and community people still process their foods in the crude-coated creeks.”

    On October 4, the people vowed to compel the Federal Government to implement the report . At a sensitisation rally in Baen, Khana Local Government Area of the State, the President of KAGOTE, made up of Khana, Gokana Tai and Eleme Local Government Areas, Dr. Peter Medee, said: “Whether the Federal Government likes it or not, we will force them through legal means to implement the recommendations of UNEP on Ogoni environment, ” adding “What is the Federal Government doing, two years after the report was submitted? Federal Government ignored the report so that Ogoni people will all die.

    “We will not support any government that is wishing the people of Ogoni death. The minister of Petroleum, Deizani Alison-Madueke, has decided to torment the people of Ogoni. Tell her that if UNEP report is not implemented, she will fail.”

    He said the Ogoni people would continue to support the administration of Governor Rotimi Amaechi and everything that will lift Ogoniland higher. “We are ready to fight for Amaechi because he is fighting the cause of the Ogoni 2015 project and bringing development to us,” he said. . The Public Relations Officer, Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP), Legborsi Esaen, declared that no amount of threat would stop the people of Ogoni ethnic nationality from producing the next governor of the state.

    “We have spoken; it is project 2015 and no going back on that. We are used to security intimidation but we are not going back on 2015,” he said.

    The Deputy National President, Nigeria Civil Service Union (NCSU), Menele Nzidee, said those opposed to the administration of Governor Rotimi Amaechi were doing so because of the governor’s resolve to have an Ogoni as a successor come 2015.

    Rivers State Commissioner for Works, Chief Victor Giadom, said construction work would soon commence on the Saakpenwa-Bori-Kono road project, which was recently awarded by the Amaechi-led administration. He added that the present administration in the state was committed to ensuring that development gets to the nooks and crannies of Ogoni land.

    Chairman of Khana Local Government Area, Gregory Nwidam, in an earlier remarks, said the rally was to sensitise the people of Khana on government programmes, insisting that elected officers from Ogoniland have not failed the people as he assured that they will continue to stand by the administration of Amaechi in the state.

     

     

     

  • Tales of woes, agony on Calabar-Itu road

    Tales of woes, agony on Calabar-Itu road

    Last weekend, the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) in Cross River State embarked on strike, plunging the state into the agony of fuel scarcity.

    Their reason: the deplorable state of the Calabar-Itu Federal Highway, especially the Odukpani axis, which is the main road in and out of Calabar, the Cross River State capital.

    NUPENG’s action did well to bring the state of the road to the front burner as it appeared the terrible the road had all but been neglected by relevant authorities, despite its huge significance to the economy of the state.

    Knotty traffic gridlocks due to the collapse of heavy duty trucks at the bad spots have become regular occurrence on the road over the past years. Motorists and commuters being forced to spend several nights on the road for days have also become frequent occurrence.

    It was learnt the road which was constructed over 30 years ago had been neglected by the Federal Ministry of Works over time and with no one seeming to attend to it, is likely to become impassable.

    Road users and residents of Calabar and other parts of the state fear that this could be a big blow to the state because the road is considered to be its backbone as it links Cross River with the other Southsouth and Southeast states.

    It has borne the burden of carrying heavy duty vehicles conveying granite from the numerous quarries in Akamkpa Local Government, cement and fuel as well as foodstuff from Cross River to and from the neighbouring states.

    The road had even become a cause of contention between the state and federal government as the state accused the federal government of refusing to refund money it had used to rehabilitate the road over the years.

    An official of the NUPENG said: “”We are going on strike to call the attention of the government to fix that road. And we will continue until something is done about that road.

    “Just yesterday a truck fell down along that road causing serious traffic jam. We had to go and get it up and away and this costs us money. And that is what happens to tankers on that road on a daily basis. I’m not even talking about accidents that claim lives and spoil people’s vehicles all the time.”

    Transport operators and commuters who ply the road often were also full of tale of woes.

    A businessman, who uses the road often, Kenneth Obi, said: “I don’t know if this is another of their punitive measures. This state has been suffering from the hands of the Federal Government over the years. The state does not have much but the only road leading into it is almost impassable. I have slept on this road severally and it is affecting my business seriously. In fact, this road which I would say is the only main road to Calabar is killing the economy of this state.

    “I beg the government or whoever is responsible to come to the rescue. The road has suffered from state and Federal governments. What this road needs now is a total reconstruction but as a remedial measure, let them see how they can patch up the collapsed places.”

    Another businessman, Bitrus Nwafor, said: “Cross River State government should have intervened to save this road, whether Federal or not. It can always ask for a refund. This all-important, but terrible road can cripple the economy of this state. Look at the farm produce in those trucks rotting away. How will those poor women who slaved to buy them recover from such huge losses?”

    A commuter, Emmanuel Effanga, said: “Is there anything like government again? The tourism industry in Cross River is threatened. Do you know the number of man-hours wasted on this road? People who would have come to Calabar to do business cannot come and even those within Calabar cannot travel out to the neighbouring states. How can you be talking of tourism and Calabar festival when the roads are bad? This is not a matter of Federal roads. The state government should rise to the occasion and mobilise contractors to the major bad spots in Odukpani for urgent repairs. One would leave his house for a two hour journey and eventually spend 24 hours on the road. It is not right at all. The government is insensitive to the plight of the populace and is only in Nigeria that this kind of thing would happen and everyone goes to sleep. We pay tax, yet there is nothing to show for it”.

    Last year, the Federal Controller of Works in Cross River, Mr. Chinwuba Agbara, assured that the contractor handling the rehabilitation of the bad sections of Odukpani-Itu road would be finished early this year.

    But, the condition of the road now suggests otherwise, while residents of the state wonder how the influx of people – those coming in by road – expected as the famous Calabar Festival approaches would fare.

     

  • Kokori: A community replete with abandoned projects

    Kokori: A community replete with abandoned projects

    One of the oil wells in Erhoike-Kokori community of Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta State is reputed to produce the second best grade of crude oil in the world. This reputation was earned by the 52-year-old oil well after laboratory analysis carried out in Vienna, Austria. The test also proved that crude oil from the facility has the least cost of production because of the shallowness of the well.

    But, it was the activities of a suspected kidnap kingpin and leader of the controversial militant group, Liberation Movement of Urhobo People (LiMUP), which brought unwanted focus to the Urhobo community.

    The people of Kokori, a sub-clan in Agbon Kingdom, said with 35 other oil wells they expect that their fortune should reflect on face of the town in the form of abundant government presence, infrastructures and other basic amenities. However, our finding revealed that the reverse is rather the case. Leaders of the community told our reporter that Kokori has been abandoned by successive federal and state governments.

    “What could be seen as blessing to other oil bearing communities in and around the country has turned out a mere pipe dream in the case of Kokori community. We produce the second best oil in the whole world do not have a single development to show. In spite of the huge sums of money the federal government is mining from this land every second of the day,” one of the leaders said.

    In fact, a tour of the Kokori community with some members of the Council of Chiefs and Elders revealed the appalling state of affairs. Dozens of abandoned projects litter the community. Apart from the major road reading to the town, all streets and roads are either completely impassable or propped by broken blocks and pieces of wood.

    It was a stark contrast to the picture painted in one of the national dailies by a top government functionary. The impression created by the politician (names withheld) was so contrasting that our reporter asked the community leaders if there was another Kokori.

    The cry of neglect, marginalisation and the call on both the state and federal government by the community youths, women, elders to change to the plight of the people has been raucous. They called for development to be brought closer to the people in order to meet the yearnings of both the old and the young.

    “The community today has suffered a lot of pains that emanated from the gas flaring and oil pollution, thus, causing farmers not to have good harvest and depriving fishermen of their livelihood since the rivers in Kokori have been destroyed by oil pollution and no aquatic lives can dwell in them. Yet the state and federal government have never seen the agony the Kokori people are passing through,” our source lamented.

    Our findings revealed that projects that were said to have been awarded by state agencies, Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC) others were either left at the foundation stage or abandoned without completion by the contractors.

    One of such project is the construction of Ofuoma/Anaka/Kokori road, awarded to Wokson Construction Company. Two aged women were said to have drown in their attempt to cross a wooden bridge constructed by the community because of the bad road. They were returning from their farms when they met their untimely deaths.

    Leaders of the community, chiefs James Eyefia, Fredrick Eumofo, Pleasure Ogbe, Sunday Onochodjare, Chairman, Community Development Committee, Chief Ochuko Umukoro, Chief John Irikefe and Chief John Oghenejobor, who led the tour, said the pipe borne water which is the least basic amenity every community should enjoy do not exist. Although there are three water projects, none was producing at the time of our visit.

    The Secretary of the Kokori Council of Chiefs and Elders, Chief Pleasure Ogbe, listed the abandoned projects to include fencing of Ibruvwe Grammar School, Samagidi, Kokori at N15m; Delta State Integrated Rural and Industrial Programme at the cost of N45.5m; Co-operative shopping center at the cost of N25m; Reinforcement of Electricity/Installation of Transformers from Egbogho to Ikhukhu at N94m.

    Others are provision and installation of transformers and changing of wooden electric poles to concrete poles at N86m; construction of modern markets at N105m; construction of ring road at N12m; Construction of Kokori/Oshesheri/Okpara lnland road at N105m; construction and fencing of Youths Development and Skill Acquisition Centre at N85m; Women Training center for N20m and Kokori township roads at N32m.

    Similarly, there are the construction of Oria-Abraka, Egbo-Kokori/Eku-Imodje road for N650m; Construction of Concrete Drain along Kokori/Eku road at N50m; Kokori/Ugono/Orogun road at N200m; Construction of Emeyese Crescent at N45m; Renovation and fencing of Kokori Grammar school at N80m; Renovation and fencing of Egbo Grammar School at N40m; Construction and Equipping of Public Library in Kokori at N30m; Construction of Ofuoma/Anaka/Kokori road at N200m; Installation of Street lights at N50m; Rehabilitation of Pipeline extension of Water scheme in Kokori at N50m and so many others that have either abandoned or not started at all.

    Ogbe said the people of Kokori community do not need to cry out before they would be developed and provided facilities like higher institutions, standard hospital, pipe borne water, good roads network and most importantly relocating the host community, Erhoike from its present location and to give them a facelift because of the Gas flaring and the oil pollution in the area.

    The President General of Kokori Progress Union, Chief Gabriel Avwunudiogba, said when he assumed office as President General, he moved round the community and that surprisingly he did not see any presence of government in Kokori at all.

    Avwunudiogba said: “We are appealing to the state and Federal Government to come to our assistance over some of our needs like College of Education, polytechnic, College of Agriculture. We also need standard hospital equipped by government and good road network. Another one is the building of the new boys secondary school, which we have provided a land and had surveyed it as requested by government with all and all the papers we have submitted to the state government but till date the children still trek about four kilometers every day to Egbo for school because their parents, who are peasant farmers, cannot afford the outrageous school fees fixed by the Catholic mission since they have returned the Kokori Boys Grammar School to Catholic mission school which is today know as St Kelvin Boys Grammar School. They cannot afford to live like this.

    Throwing light on the issue of water, Chief Avwunudiogba explained that though there is water and swamp around them but that the water are no longer drinkable because of pollution caused by oil exploration.

    He also said their fishing swamp where their people go for fishing are no more and particularly decried the failure of the Federal Government to relocate them from the direct impact of gas flaring as planned decades ago.

    Avwunudiogba stated that government cannot continue to ignore the geese that lay the golden egg.

     

  • DESOPADEC trains 350 Urhobo youths

    DESOPADEC trains 350 Urhobo youths

    The Delta State Oil Producing Communities Development Company (DESOPADEC) has trained about 350 Urhobo youths on entrepreneurship skills acquisition as part of the commission’s human capital development initiative.

    The trainees were picked from the eight local government areas of the state’s central senatorial district.

    The chairman of Host Communities of Nigeria (HOSTCOM), Dr. Peter Ogedegbe, who facilitated the training through his Petascon Integrated Company, said it is targeted at unearthing and nurturing the hidden potentials of the trainee.

    Dr Ogedegbe, who spoke at the closing ceremony of the 10-day programme, held at the Delta State University, Abraka, expressed hope that the trainees would become useful as a result of the skills and knowledge they acquire during the period.

    He said, “There are high expectations from the beneficiaries. We never minced our words that it is for our benefit. We felt that there is need to take the bull by the horn to address the problem of unemployment.

    “It is sad that our young men and women can’t find job after their university training. With this training, we are sure that they would become useful in life.”

    For her part, DESOPADEC representative at the ceremony, Mrs. Dick Duvworhovwon, commended the participants for their patience and understanding during the training, assuring that the management of DESOPADEC was determined to improve the lot of the people.

    She said: “DESOPADEC is poised to transform its made areas and the board is doing everything possible to achieve this.”

    Mrs Duvworhovwon also commended the management of DELSU Investment and Consultancy service for making the program a reality.

    Nevertheless, a peaceful protest by the trainees marred the closing ceremony. The protesters were unhappy that they were not given starter packs to help them set up their businesses after the training.

    One of the protesters told our reporter that the essence of the training would be defeated by the situation, noting: “We are still very fresh with the ideas now, what will happen when we go back home and sit down with nothing to do for the next months?”

    However, Dr Ogedegbe assured them that they would not be forgotten. He said efforts were being made to reach out to the relevant authority to facilitate the provision of the needed packs for them.

    “Some persons showed great enthusiasm in their trades, they must not regret it at the end of the day. You may be leaving here with you pockets empty, but your heads are full with the knowledge and skills you have acquired during this training..

    “Whatever the challenges are, they can be surmounted. We will not forget you; we will get back to you and we have all your details. It will be evil that at the end of the day you are abandoned and not remembered,” he stated.

     

     

  • G-7 governors can’t stop Jonathan’s reelection in 2015, says Bayelsa PDP chair

    G-7 governors can’t stop Jonathan’s reelection in 2015, says Bayelsa PDP chair

    Bayelsa State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Col. Sam Inokoba (retd) speaks to MIKE ODIEGWU on the activities of the breakaway members of the party and Jonathan’s reelection in 2015.

    Most Nigerians are criticising President Goodluck Jonathan over what they described as poor performance. Don’t you think Jonathan has betrayed the expectations of Nigerians?

    I am one person that will stand out to say Jonathan has performed much better than any other president in this country. Have you read Jonathan’s two years records? As journalists, I want us to be fair. If you have taken time to read Jonathan’s performance in two years, you cannot ask me this question. Not because I am a Bayelsa person, but looking at his records, there is no other president that can be compared with him.

    Could you specify the things that he has done?

    How long has your railway been dead? Under Jonathan, they are now in place. I remember when I was in the cadet, I used to enter railway, train during holidays. It carried me to Kaduna, but all those things have been dead for how long. But see they are back to life under Jonathan. Those people who are now joining others who vowed to make life unbearable for him if they lost election are all enemies of Nigeria. Otherwise, God is the one that makes kings. Authority does not come from man. If you wrestle the hand of God to get authority, you will die in the process or something serious will happen to you and you will ever regret. We have living cases.

    So, do you believe that the insecurity in the country was orchestrated by some persons?

    It is all envy, jealousy. For how long have they dominated the leadership of Nigeria? For how long? For how long has the place where President Jonathan came from fed those people unconditionally? Do you think God is a fool. God is not a fool. For how long have those people eaten our wealth. In the military, they ate it alone, under civilian after civilian, they ate it alone. When I was in Port Harcourt, I knew some Alhajis who were sitting down in Hotel Presidential, doing nothing but lifting crude oil without any checks and our people were going to beg. You think God is sleeping. He does not sleep, he fights for those who do not have tails.

    It is believed that Jonathan was elected to develop this region even with bias. What has he done to deserve this region’s support in 2015?

    Jonathan was not elected to develop Niger Delta. That is a myopic way of looking at it. Jonathan as the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of this country is the father of the whole nation. He is subject directly to God just like Obama is subject to God. There is no difference between America and Nigeria.

    We are all nations subject to God. Jonathan is there as a father of the entire nation. He is not looking at Niger Delta. Niger Delta is small. You know that Jonathan’s former boss, Musa Yar’Adua, started a good thing for Niger Delta. When Jonathan came, his duty was to make sure the programme continued.

    Today, we do not have boys carrying guns and destroying oil pipelines. So, our crude sales have risen and we are making so much money and that money is not only coming to the Niger Delta but it is shared among the 36 states and FCT. He cannot go there and say he wants to develop only the Niger Delta, he will be offending God.

    You know the massive road works that is going on even in the Northern states. The man is doing it in a way to prove to the whole world that he belongs to all; they are all his children. Niger Delta roads got started even before Jonathan came in. He is barely following what was on the ground.

    As a nation, sometimes, you run out of funds vis-à-vis the number of projects that are on ground. Nation management is not an easy thing. I am a trained public administrator. I am impressed because today you do not have anything to fault him.

    Jonathan is facing stiff opposition even within his party, dont you think that the activities of the G-7 governors will affect his chances in 2015?

    For where, how many are they? Seven governors. Even in their states, they are not in control. Their states are burning. Is it because elections have not started? Let them dare come and stand even under another platform, we will see. Their states are burning except you are not reading the writing on the walls. They have lost control of their people.

    Are you saying they are inconsequential?

    They are. People are saying they are going to the APC. Let them go to the APC. PDP is waiting for them. All of them making a noise are enemies of Nigeria. Let me ask you, has the South-South produced a president before? Go into history to know where and where our president has come. God in his own infinite mercy said, I gave oil to these people to feed the whole nation since 1956. We did not complain. Now go and look at the place (Oloibiri) and see how it is. Who is bothered?

    But don’t you think Bamanga Tukur stance is fueling the crisis in your party, especially as some are claiming that he has a northern agenda?

    Bamanga Tukur is an astute administrator. He does not compromise discipline. Go to his records when he was the boss of NPA, you will hear about him. He was briefly a governor of a state, you will know about him. Look at his age. He is a man who is ready to say, let Nigeria go forward. Enough of rigmarole.

    You cannot bribe Tukur; he has made it. You cannot bribe me, I make bold to say it, with my age and exposure. What have I not seen? Nigerians are not a disciplined nation, so once one strong man of discipline comes to the fore, he is saddled with battle here and there. So, I will expect you to sympathise with Bamanga Tukur.

    Those people criticising Tukur are those who have been leaders and want to bring in their children or brothers to take over from them. We do not have discipline. That is the basis of our confusion. We should emulate the Azikiwes, Awolowos, Balewas and aspire to beat them.

    For Jonathan to come back in 2015, it is expected that the people of the region must speak in one voice, but there is division in the region. We do not have problems in the region.

    What about your state, Bayelsa, where the new Peoples Democratic Party was formed?

    I was in London after the last convention. I passed through some sleepless night as chairman of the party to conduct the convention and it was beautifully conducted. The governor said, Mr. Chairman, go and rest. I was in London when I heard about the breakaway PDP in Bayelsa. I screamed, my Bayelsa, no way. I had to cut short my rest and ran down and said who are the enemies? Who are the cankerworms? Who are the caterpillars? I am a more caterpillar than they are.

    I opted to see them eye-ball to eyeball to know the role they played for Bayelsa and after our coming into being. So, I was coming down with that belief that there is another battlefield for my God. Thank God, when I came, I learnt they had run away.

    There is a saying that he that runs leaves to fight another day. Don’t you think their activities will have a far-reaching implication on Jonathan’s 2015 bid?

    There is no far-reaching implication. The court of law has already completed the matter. The apex court has declared them null and void. So, if they go beyond that and do anything, then they are contravening the laws of the land and they will be taken up as such. Jonathan has no problem. He can go to rest. He has no problem. He is not there on his own. For the people of Nigeria to say this is the man we want at that point in time, you and I know that it is the finger of God. So anybody who is doing this is just wasting his time. Whether they like it or not, even if Jonathan is not ready, they will call him back to complete his tenure. Have you made efforts to reconcile aggrieved members of your party? Have you not been hearing the crossing over?

    What about the loyalists of the former Governor Timipre Sylva?

    A lot of them have crossed and they are working with us. We have been making noise. We do not blow our trumpet. They look at the character in place. Right from Rivers State, we Ijaw people in Bayelsa, we know ourselves. Even if Sylva comes back today and say you are my people, accept me back, we will accept him back. Have you heard that the government probed Sylva? If we so hated him, we would have probed him.

    But there was Timi Alaibe committee’s probe against Sylva

    It was not to probe Sylva but to know what is here and there. It was to guide the government to perform better. If Alaibe’s committee was to deal with him, since that time, has Dickson done anything to him? Our mandate is to carry Bayelsa to the next level and it is a task that must be done.

    Since getting involved in the current administration called Restoration Government, how will you describe the Governor, Mr. Seriake Dickson?

    Dickson has the spirit to move the people forward. He has that might, that physical power and everything you need before even finance. I am happy he has gone through the National Assembly. His background being a lawyer, we felt he could help us. We are not regretting today. His works in the last one year could speak for themselves compared to those who spent four years and additional year.

    The present administration is called government of restoration. When you are restoring, a lot of things need to be destroyed. I know it is not easy for our own people. Our people do not have that endurance spirit. Thank God that they have accepted the fact that the man we have been looking for is available.

    I do not regret. Because like I have told you, we have been friends, but he never gave me the impression he wanted to be governor. That Dickson was able to coin the word ‘restoration’ into his government is one of the attractions that I have as a servant of God.

    Without casting any aspersion on anybody, our movement as a state has been very slow. When he came and said this government is restoration, I was attracted to it. I am working with a man who is here to restore, there is bound to be peace. For God’s sake, when we started up to the moment, nobody has heard any negative report about the party. Destruction of a government normally comes from the party or from the house of assembly.

    The sky is Dickson’s limit to carry us to the next level of glory. Once there is peace, there will be development. We are working hard to ensure there is peace.

     

  • Home support mounts for Jonathan

    Home support mounts for Jonathan

    As expected, people are now assembling, gathering themselves into groups. Their aim: To drum support for President Goodluck Jonathan’s reelection in 2015.

    The groups are insisting that the Otuoke-born President in Ogbia Local Government Area, Bayelsa State, must fight to retain the juiciest seat in Aso Rock beyond 2015.

    Curiously, the Jonathan-must-contest groups appear to have chosen Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, capital as their base of operation. They are holding meetings and sweating profusely to convince people on why Jonathan whose administration is fraught with challenges should be allowed a second term.

    One of the groups, Nigerian Youth Project for Goodluck Jonathan (NYP) 2015 recently met at the Ijaw House, Yenagoa. The state Coordinator of the group, Mr. Justice Alakiri, said the forum was formed to unite the youths across the country to support Jonathan.

    “There are 101 reasons why Jonathan should come back as the President. Despite existing challenges since he assumed office, he was able to perform well”, he said.

    He claimed that Jonathan was the President to have ruled the country. He called for a united Nigeria and said there was no need for division ahead 2015.

    Alakiri delved into some of the controversies facing Jonathan’s administration. According to him, the National Conference proposed by the President was a good development. “It is an avenue to discuss ethnic differences and challenges facing us and to work for solution”, he said.

    He dwelled on the crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), an expected Jonathan’s platform for 2015. But he consoled his members that “there is one PDP”.

    “There is no other party known as the new PDP. There is only one party which is the PDP. It is the best party that can produce the right result for this country”, he claimed.

    The Deputy Director-General, NYP, Alhaji Aliu Suleiman, named uniting the youths across the country and drumming support for Jonathan as the two objectives of the group.

    “We have seen Jonathan’s work and all the youths should give him maximum support and allow him to come back for a second term. Even the north are in support of him”, he begged.

    Before the NYP’s gathering, another group consisting mainly of Jonathan’s kinsmen had begun to visit notable persons in the state to garner support for their kinsman.

    Wari-to-Wari (House-to-House) for Jonathan 2015 insisted that Jonathan had done a lot to merit a second term. Its Director-General, Mr. Ogidi Benjamin, said the aim of the group was to mobilise 60 per cent of Nigerian youths for Jonathan.

    While visiting the Deputy Majority Leader of the state House of Assembly, Mr. Tonye Esanah, in Yenagoa, Benjamin said Jonathan had done well through the Subsidy Reinvestment Programme (SURE-P), scholarships to indigent students, establishing new universities and building schools for Almajaris in the north.

    But, Esanah used the opportunity to deride the north and said no region or zone had the monopoly of power in the country. He reflected on the claims by Niger State Governor Babangida Aliyu that Jonathan signed a single-term pact with the governors and raised some posers.

    He said: “Does power belong to one ethnic group in this country if we consider ourselves as brothers and sisters? Do we see that just one part of this country has the sole right to rule this country? If we are operating a constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the law said that any other law that contradicts the constitution remains inconsistent, can a gentleman agreement supersede the Nigerian constitution?

    “Can a party agreement supersede the Nigerian constitution? Aliyu should produce a document signed by Jonathan containing an agreement that he should not come back for a second term. If he produces that we will all will campaign against Jonathan.

    “I know Jonathan so well that if he had gone into such agreement and signed a document, he would have honoured it. But do you know what we discovered, governors within themselves signed and gave him one tenure.

    “But some of those governors are no more governors. Some of them are in the Senate now. Since those governors decided to give him one tenure, other governors now can still come and decide to give him another tenure.”

    His logic attracted applauses from members of the group. But he was not doe yet. He insisted that a single term was not enough for any President to turn the fortunes of the country around considering the rot that had existed in the state for over 50 years.

    “Are we thinking that it is going to be automatic to turn round the fortunes of this country for four years? How can Nigerians think that Jonathan will turn round the fortunes of the country under four years. We should try him for another four years?” He queried.

    He added: “Power solely comes from God. In Bayelsa, if it is by population, a man from Otuoke wouldn’t have won any election. But the wisdom of God, a man from a small community was chosen to lead this country.

    “We have been so neglected for several years and God appointed a man from Otuoke to rule this country. This is a region that has been feeding this country and you are saying that a man from such place is not worthy to be our President. It is not fair.”