The Kwara State Government and former Senate President Bukola Saraki are attacking one another over the recent distribution of instructional materials to public schools in Kwara Central.
The government argued that the materials were distributed directly to the schools from the Mandate Office of Senator Saraki as opposed to going through the Ministry of Education.
The government said that personal identities of the former Senate President were emblazoned on them, stressing that it was not aware of the distribution of the instructional materials.
But Saraki said the state government had misconceptions about the true picture of the processes involved in capturing “and implementation of projects of this nature.”
In a statement, spokesperson for the Ministry of Education and Human Capital Development, Yakub Aliagan, said: “The appropriate thing to do is to send those materials to the Ministry of Education, which has a statutory duty of vetting learning materials for quality control and then approve such for distribution. Not doing so was a violation of basic rule, which is key to strengthening our institutions and keeping standards.”
Reacting, the Director of Project and Empowerment, Mandate Office, Otukoko Olayinka Ibrahim, said: “The distribution of the instructional materials is a constituency project facilitated by former Senate President Saraki through the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC); that the constituency projects with UBEC are not limited to distribution of books, they include: construction of classrooms, provision of pupils’ and teachers’ furniture, distribution of customised notebooks and textbooks (as it appears in the UBEC documents), distribution of science laboratory equipment, distribution of Mathematics kits, distribution of computer systems and generators; that during the needs assessment conducted by the Mandate Office, the office of Dr. Saraki collaborated with the LGEA offices which are directly in charge of basic schools across the four local governments for capturing of schools with basic infrastructure and material needs and same was communicated to UBEC by Dr. Saraki’s office for implementation.
“That prior to distribution of the items, the Mandate Office informed the local government offices to invite the selected schools, as shortlisted by UBEC to mandate for collection of ‘approved’ items for their respective schools. So to say the state government is not aware of the distribution will throw many unanswerable questions to one’s mind.”
Nigerians, who lost their lives or property in South African attacks over the years, deserve our sympathy. So do Nigerian professionals, who are engaged in legitimate businesses there but who are being negatively stereotyped by some South Africans as sponges on their state. Special sympathy also goes to Nigerian children, who are bullied in South African schools.
The culpability of the South African government lies in its complicity in those attacks, as exemplified by (a) occasional hate speech by some South African officials; (b) the look-away attitude of the police in the course of the attacks; and (c) the unwarranted airport investigation delay of Nigerians being evacuated from South Africa last week.
True, as Professor Bolaji Akinyemi pointed out recently, the South African attacks violate international charters, including the African Union’s, and must be addressed as such. Nevertheless, it must be acknowledged that the Nigerian victims are paying dearly for for their country’s inability to create a suitable environment for them to thrive, leading them to seek livelihood abroad.
Accordingly, a two-throng approach must be adopted. On the one hand, the Nigerian government should assess the damage to the lives and property of the Nigerian victims and pursue diplomatic and possibly legal means of ensuring appropriate compensation for them.
On the other hand, as discussed below, special attention must be paid to our own domestic policy, which should focus on creating a suitable environment for all citizens to realise their potentials.
Given the long history of the South African attacks, it could be argued that the Nigerian government should have intervened much earlier. Nevertheless, its prompt three-prong response to the recent wave of attacks is commendable.
First, the government promptly stopped the reprisal attacks, which would have replicated the South African actions being condemned, while also disrupting local South African businesses, such as Shoprite and MTN, in which Nigerians are franchise owners or workers. Second, the government sent an envoy to South Africa to intervene and verify the nature and scope of the attacks. Third, the government offered assistance to Nigerians, who were willing to leave South Africa.
While the voluntary evacuation of Nigerians from South Africa might be good as a short-term solution, the prevention of the dispersal of Nigerians abroad is the most desirable solution.
However, before outlining the long-term solution, it is important to comment briefly on two trends in the ongoing discussion of the South African attacks on Nigerians that are not necessarily helpful in solving the underlying problem of a country that is unable to nurture the aspirations of its citizens.
The first is the don’t-they-know argument, which focuses on the contributions of Nigeria to the liberation of South Africa from apartheid. The category of South Africans involved in the attacks knew little or nothing about the Nigerian contributions. They were either unborn, too young, illiterate, or had limited access to information during the apartheid years.
Those in the political class, who should have known, are now too consumed in their newfound power to remember those who got them out of the woods. It is a lesson to the Nigerian government to desist from playing Big Brother and refocus its foreign policy in aid of its domestic agenda.
The second not-so-helpful trend in the discussion is the nostalgic reference to a glorious Nigerian past. This reference is useful only to the extent that it reminds us of that era. However, the goal now should not be to return Nigeria to that past, because the world has moved far beyond it. Rather, the goal is to make Nigeria competitive in a world of rapid socio-economic and technological changes.
The first step is to strengthen our institutions and make them work. Those in need of modification, such as the constitution and electoral laws, should be modified as appropriate. We have all the institutions of a modern state but they are disrespected and continue to be weakened by the political class and public servants. This downward slide should be reversed.
We need to move from governance failures to governance successes, by respecting the institutional framework of our democracy, including the rule of law. Achievable agenda to make Nigeria competitive in, say, 2050, should be set and implemented according to world standards.
In order to discourage the continuing exodus of Nigerians, we must fill the huge gaps in our infrastructure, especially roads, power, housing and necessary public utilities. The huge gaps in education, healthcare, and the agricultural value chain also have to be filled. These steps must be taken in order to create the necessary environment for industrialisation and manufacturing and to generate meaningful employment opportunities.
It is also necessary to fill these gaps in order to strengthen the country’s security architecture, while also making kidnapping, banditry, robbery, and cyber crimes less and less attractive. Retrieving guns and policing or militarising the roadways offer only temporary solutions. These crimes thrive in the face of high unemployment, increasing job losses, and abject poverty.
It must be realised that there are crucial gaps in our development. For example, we’ve been trying hard to take advantage of the fourth industrial revolution, characterised by the Internet and digital technology, without maximising the advantages of the third industrial revolution, characterised by the rise of electronics, telecommunications, and computers. This failure is due in part to the inadequacy of infrastructural facilities. Consequently, most of the few industries and manufacturing plants that came with the third industrial revolution collapsed before the fourth industrial revolution dawned on us.
Jobs disappeared with the collapse of the industries, while job seekers increased with population explosion. Some Nigerian youths responded by seeking financial succour abroad, while others embraced various crimes at home and abroad. At the same time, the disrespect for professionals by successive military administrations and the stifling of work environments led to gradual brain drain.
The result of these developments is a large number of Nigerians dispersed across the globe.
True, occasional mention is made about the exceptional contributions of Nigerian professionals abroad, Nigeria remains negatively stereotyped across the globe for cyber crimes and drug peddling.
This brings us back to the South African attacks, blamed on high rate of unemployment, job losses, drug peddling, and fraudulent activities associated with Nigerians and other foreigners. These problems also exist in Nigeria and must be addressed before the anger is turned on the government.
Tavershima Jebe, a Tiv man from Benue State, who lost his wife and three children in a fatal accident on the Nassarawa Eggon-Lafia road in Nasarawa State, has told The Nation how he received the news of the accident.
Jebe, who intermittently betrayed emotion and wept profusely at his David Jebe Street, Logo 1, opposite First Bank, Makurdi, home, said he drove his wife, Comfort and the three children, David Iorwuese, 10, Beauty Iwuese, seven, and Favour Dooshima, three, to Benue Links Transport Company park in Abuja.
He said after they boarded an 18-seater bus to Makurdi, he bade them farewell, not knowing that it would be last contact with his lovely family.
Jebe said after a short while, his wife called his phone, but it was raining heavily in Abuja and he was driving, so he did not pick her calls.
Jebe, who said his world had crumbled, told The Nation that when he later called his wife, the number was no longer going, “so I phoned Benue Links Company’s number and was told that the company’s vehicle from Abuja to Makurdi had a fatal accident and only one woman survived.”
He said he phoned one of his friends in Lafia, Nasarawa State, who rushed to the scene of the accident, while he also rushed to the scene in his vehicle from Abuja.
Jebe said when he arrived the scene, he found out that his wife and two children had died, while the third kid was alive, but sustained serious injuries and was in pains.
He said he took the victims (his family) in his car and with the help of his friend; they drove to Makurdi, adding while on the road, he phoned someone at the Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Makurdi to arrange for the treatment of his child who survived the accident.
Jebe said when he got to the hospital, he discovered that the gates were locked and was told that the doctors were on strike.
“I rushed to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Makurdi, but it was the same story. As I turned back in search of another medical facility, my kid died,” he said in tears.
Jebe described the incident as an act of God. “Who am I to question God? I thank God for everything.”
The Nation gathered that funeral is scheduled for today in Ushongo Local Government Area of Benue State.
Governor Samuel Ortom yesterday received and condoled with Jebe at the Government House, Makurdi.
Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq has sent the names of four women to the House of Assembly as commissioner-nominees.
They include 26-year-old Joana Nnazua Kolo from Edu Local Government.
AbdulRazaq has also nominated a former Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of FBN Mortgages Ltd, a subsidiary of First Bank PLC, Mrs. Folashade Omoniyi, as the new chairperson of Kwara State Internal Revenue Service (KW-IRS).
She will succeed Prof. Murtala Awodun, whose tenure expires at the end of this month.
Omoniyi holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from the University of Ilorin and Masters of Business Administration from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State.
She has years of leadership experience in the banking sector, marketing, information communication technology and business management.
Omoniyi has executive education in positive leadership from Michigan Ross Executive Education (USA); Market Driving Strategies from London Business School (UK); Strategic Uses of Information Technology from Stanford Business School (USA); and Senior Management Programme (SMP18) from the Lagos Business School (Nigeria).
She is from Irepodun Local Government.
Miss Kolo, the youngest commissioner-nominee in the state’s history, is a 2018 graduate of Library Science from Kwara State University (KWASU). A grassroots mobiliser, Kolo is an ardent advocate of community development.
If confirmed, she will be Nigeria’s youngest commissioner, taking the position from Oyo State’s 27-year-old Oluwaseun Fakorede.
Miss Kolo is serving as a National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member in Jigawa State, where she is teaching at Model Boarding Junior Secondary School, Guri.
Her screening will hold after she finishes national service in the next two weeks.
The three other nominees are professionals and grassroots politicians. They include Mrs. Sa’adatu Modibbo-Kawu, Arinola Fatimoh Lawal and Aisha Ahman Pategi.
A 1997 graduate of Economics from Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Mrs. Modibbo-Kawu also holds Masters in Business Administration from University of Ilorin and has certificates from Penn Foster Career School Scranton in the United States and Metropolitan School of Business and Management in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. A member of several professional bodies such as the Institute of Chartered Economists of Nigeria and Nigeria Institute of Management, Modibbo-Kawu is a co-founder of schools and learning centres.
She is married to the Director- General of the National Broadcasting Commission, Ishaq Modibbo-Kawu and will represent Ilorin South in the executive council (exco) if her nomination scales through the House of Assembly.
Arinola Fatimoh Lawal, a 1993 graduate of Catering and Hotel Management from Kwara State Polytechnic, is a top-rated player in Nigeria’s hospitality industry with experience as chief executive officers of firms, including Batool Nigeria
Every country can count among its citizens – the good, the bad and the ugly. Usually those in the last two categories are a minority. Nigerian Correctional Service figures from 2015 show that there were just over 56,000 prison inmates in the country.
Even if we make a generous provision of one million persons for those who ought to join them behind bars, the bad eggs amongst us would still be a minute fraction of our over 150 million people. On second thought, one million might just be a terribly conservative estimate!
Despite being a tiny sample of the populace, the activities of the ‘ugly Nigerian’ now define us across the globe. This is because boorish behaviour and criminality generate more headlines than civility and honesty.
In most places you travel to in Africa, the stereotype of the loud Nigerian hangs around us like bad body odour. We are perceived as aggressive, dishonest, criminally-inclined, lacking in humility and attention-seeking show offs.
Many of these adjectives don’t describe me, just as I am sure they don’t apply to the vast majority of our people. Unfortunately, there is enough in those words that speaks of what we are becoming as a nation.
The recent episode of xenophobia – or more pointedly Afrophobia – in South Africa has received deserved condemnation. Still, it provides a window of self-examination for us.
If Nigerians are being set upon, we should ask ourselves why we are so hated. Whether in South Africa, Kenya or Ghana, we are not exactly flavour of the month.
I found part of the answer in a comment section of a story about how Nigerian-owned businesses had been burnt in parts of Johannesburg. The commentator, obviously a Kenyan, was far from sympathetic. He talked about how we are everywhere in Nairobi, selling drugs and messing things up.
As for our numbers which we often proudly cite as making us the ‘giant of Africa’, that, he felt, was part of the problem. We are too many and should try birth control!
Truth be told, the gradual collapse of our national economy over the last two decades, has meant that there are not enough opportunities for our teeming millions.
For many of our young people, living in this country is a fate worse than death. That is why despite the well-advertised perils of travelling through the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean to reach Europe, they are willing to take the risk.
In fact, many who were repatriated after horrible experiences in Libya, started talking about returning the moment their plane touched down in Lagos. They extolled the virtues of their hosts while blaming their travails on the excesses of their countrymen.
The very pressures that have sent hundreds of thousands of our citizens fleeing to the four corners of the world, are also prevalent in places like South Africa.
There is massive unemployment and poverty among the black population. Little wonder that the poor are venting their frustration on the equally black and foreign poor, who have come to compete with them for the crumbs their country offers.
It is virtually impossible to stop people from seeking a better life elsewhere. But it is a privilege when any country opens its doors to a foreigner. The problem is we used to be known for our oil exports, today we’re becoming infamous for exporting criminals. No country would accept that.
Nigeria’s Ambassador to Burkina Faso, Ramatu Ahmed, just revealed that over 10,000 underage girls from this country had been forced into prostitution in the country by traffickers who have promised to get them to Europe.
Very reliable government sources say there are over 10,000 Nigerians currently in South African prisons. A couple of weeks ago, the FBI arrested 77 Nigerians accused of participating in a variety of fraud and money laundering schemes. I am trying to recall the last time I read of over 70 citizens of one nation being held – in one fell swoop – for criminal activities in another country.
I am not sure how much of the online crime market we control, but our people have cornered the romance scam – so much so that in many places it is known as the ‘Nigerian love scam.’
In Italy, Nigerian crime gangs have become controllers of the prostitution and human trafficking business in parts of the country. In Sicily, spiritual homeland of the Mafia and other organised crime legends – they are now acknowledged as key players.
A couple of months ago in nearby Ghana, our people were pointedly being accused of causing a spike in kidnapping cases.
As unacceptable as crime is, people can live with it when the perpetrators are locals. But when foreigners set up shop as crime bosses, all hell is let loose. Imagine for a minute that the Chinese or Ghanaians were the ones running the lucrative kidnapping franchises in Nigeria!
When we emigrate many don’t shed some of our less attractive national traits. So we export our penchant for lawlessness and vulgar exhibitionism to places whose people are more restrained and we stick out like thumbs.
Some of the Nigerians arrested by the FBI were filmed at a party spraying dollar bills like confetti. Net even Warren Buffet or Bill Gates does that!
Nigeria blew her God-given opportunities to build a modern, prosperous nation that could sustain the bulk of its people. A succession of leaders chose to plunder the commonwealth and left a mess that people are fleeing from.
It is not too late to start rebuilding a country that poor, desperate South Africans and others would think of emigrating to. Part of that requires urgent action on how to handle our exploding population.
It is a disgrace that we can’t even conduct an acceptable national census without tying ourselves up in ethnic and political knots. We don’t even have a clue how many we are and have to depend on dubious estimates.
If we cannot grow the economy at a pace that it can cater for the majority, then we have to device means of reining in our reproduction rate.
The pressure on what resources we have now is becoming unbearable. The consequences of inaction are unpredictable.
Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal CourtFatou Bensouda has appealed against the shocking acquittal of former Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo over post-electoral violence that killed around 3,000 people.
Gbagbo, the first head of state to stand trial in The Hague, and his deputy, Charles Ble Goude, were both cleared of crimes against humanity in January and released the following month.
“The appeal will demonstrate that the trial chamber committed legal and procedural errors, which led to the acquittals of Gbagbo and Ble Goude on all counts,” Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda’s office said.
Judges had cleared the pair “without properly articulating and consistently applying a clearly defined standard of proof,” said Bensouda.
Ivory Coast’s former Prime Minister Pascal Affi N’Guessan, who heads Gbagbo’s Ivorian Popular Front party, condemned the appeal.
“These are judicial delaying tactics and political doggedness to keep Laurent Gbagbo and Charles Ble Goude as far away from the country as possible to prevent them from participating in Ivory Coast’s political life,” he told AFP.
Georges Armand Ouegnin, the head of a pro-Gbagbo coalition of political parties and civic groups, echoed him.
“I am deeply disappointed but I’m hopeful,” he said, adding that the pair “are innocent”.
“It’s important that they come back to Ivory Coast for national reconciliation,” he added.
Belgium agreed to host Gbagbo, 73, after he was released in February under conditions including that he would return to court for any prosecution appeal against his acquittal.
Ble Goude is meanwhile living in the Netherlands under similar conditions.
Gbagbo faced charges of crimes against humanity over the 2010-2011 bloodshed following a disputed vote in the West African nation.
Prosecutors said Gbagbo clung to power “by all means” after he was narrowly defeated by his bitter rival – now president – Alassane Ouattara – in elections in the world’s largest cocoa producer.
However, judges dismissed the charges, saying that the prosecution “failed to satisfy the burden of proof to the requisite standard.”
The prosecutor had previously indicated in January that she intended to appeal but had to wait until the court’s full written reasons for the decision came out in July.
Ouattara has refused to comment on the acquittal on crimes against humanity of his predecessor Laurent Gbagbo at the International Criminal Court while insisting investigations would continue.
“No reaction from me, it’s an ongoing trial…” Ouattara said in an interview with Radio France International in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, where he was attending an African Union summit.
But he added: “Someone must be responsible for the 3 000 deaths. I hope that justice will shine a light on that, it is what the victims are asking for.”
A photography outfit, Pixels Photography, has unveiled a loyalty scheme aimed at rewarding its teeming customers across the country.
According to the Chief Executive Officer of Pixels Photography, Ms Omolaraeni Olaosebikan, the move is in line with its vision of satisfying the needs of people in the photography industry with a mind of bringing a new dimension to the way the business is conducted.
To mark its 16th anniversary, Pixels, which was founded in 2003 in Ile-Ife, Osun State, has also unveiled a Wifi value for customers to enjoy unlimited Internet experience while at the company’s premises.
She told journalists that the company would be offering a unique loyalty card for patronage which offers customers discount on business.
“For us at Pixels Digital Photography, it’s about creating value for our customers. We are very passionate about what we do. Every customer that has walked through our door can attest to this. We deliver photographs that would not only keep the memory of the events but will also capture the savour, beauty and royalty of the activities, environment and guests.
“With the customer loyalty card, when customer transact business to the tune of NGN10,000, he or she is entitled to the card. The more they shoot, the more the point, you earn yourself which is 5% of your spend. This accumulates and when it reaches the worth of NGN20,000 we announce to you and you make a decision on what you want to enjoy with your bonus”, she said.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is fighting to hold on to power, as voters go to the polls in one of its closest election races in years.
He called the snap election after failing to form a governing coalition in the wake of an election in April.
Polls forecast his right-wing Likud party to tie with its main challenger, the centrist Blue and White party led by former military chief Benny Gantz.
Smaller parties could, therefore, have a big say in the final outcome.
Netanyahu lashed out at Facebook (FB.O) yesterday after the social network blocked a “chatbot” from his right-wing Likud party’s account for violating election day rules.
“They took a 100 kg hammer and brought it down on a fly, because it is a Likud fly,” Netanyahu said in a video posted on social media.
“They shut down our means of communication with our voters.”
Israel’s leading YNET news website said the chatbot, a type of automated software that is able to simulate a conversation with a user, had posted results from an election poll yesterday while Israelis were out voting, a contravention of election rules.
The problematic posts were apparently taken down and no longer appeared on Netanyahu’s Facebook page.
Negotiations on the formation of a new coalition are expected to start as soon as voting ends at 22:00 (19:00 GMT) and exit polls are published.
Likud and Blue and White came away with 35 seats each in the 120-seat Knesset.
Netanyahu declared victory and it appeared that he would be able to secure a majority with the backing of smaller right-wing and religious parties. But after several chaotic weeks, the attempted coalition-building collapsed into recriminations.
On the surface was a dispute over Israel’s secular versus its religious character, says the BBC’s Tom Bateman in Jerusalem.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) and Belema Oil on Tuesday signed a dispute closure agreement in Abuja yesterday. With this, operations are expected to resume at the Oil Mining Licence (OML) 25 in the next 10 days. ROSEMARY NWISI, who has followed the crisis for over two years, wonders if peace has finally come
SPDC, Belemaoil agree to restore operations in OML25
Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike, in June, directed all parties in the dispute relating to the Oil Mining Licence (OML) 25 to resolve all issues and reopen the oil facility in seven days. The deadline lapsed with Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) and Belemaoil Limited still at loggerheads. But, if the deal sealed on Tuesday in Abuja is followed through, the end of the crisis is here.
The sleepy oil-bearing communities of Offoin-Ama, Belema and Ngeje in Akuku-Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State have been in the news of late. All thanks to the controversy surrounding the continuous shut down of the OML-25 flow-stations.
The three Kula communities, Offion-Ama, Belema and Ngeje, share hosting rights to the flow station located in a part of the island Kingdom of Rivers State.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), SPDC and Belema Oil signed the dispute closure agreement in Abuja yesterday. Operations at the oil well will take off in the next 10 days.
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Chief Timipre Sylva, while signing the agreement, thanked all the parties stressing that the step signified the beginning of a new chapter in the industry.
Sylva said the aim of the ministry was to ensure an oil industry that worked and operated in harmony and in unity.
“When I came into the office, the issue was one of the problems that came on the table; there were so many letters from communities complaining about the problem.
“I just decided to invite Shell to hear its own part of the story but fortunately, the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mele Kyari, had intervened in the matter.
“So, I have the honour now to thank him for this great intervention. And also thank Shell and Belema for cooperating to ensure that there is closure to this matter that has bedevilled the industry for so long,” he said.
He said one of the aims of the petroleum industry was to ensure zero loss in the industry and production got to destination.
According to him, zero loss is not loses from pipelines but lost to the country, especially with assets that can produce but for some reasons bug down by leakage issues.
He said that the biggest beneficiaries of the agreement were not the companies but the communities, especially those in Belema who had been suffering since the beginning of the dispute.
The minister commended the NNPC, Shell and the Belema Oil for agreeing to resolve the dispute.
Kyari said the development was a big achievement for the corporation.
The NNPC boss said the dispute around the OML 25 had been on for over two years, adding that the end result was that communities lacked peace with the disruption of property and social lives in the area.
“For us, the most important aspect of the dispute resolution is that, at least, the communities will have their peace restored.
“At the back of it, you are aware that there is a complete stoppage of petroleum operations around the OML 25 and adjoining blocks.
“What this means is shut down of production of over 35,000 barely of oil every day in the last two years and that is an enormous economic loss for all stakeholders, Nigeria and the communities.
“This is why we engaged all stakeholders and we are happy to announce today that the closure has been obtained.
“It means that the communities will have their peace back and also commence operations with the OML 25.
“That means that there is prosperity for the community and also some returns to shareholders of Belema Oil, NNPC and Nigeria at large,” he said.
Kyari commended the Belema Oil for its role and assured full engagement of the communities, adding that all the parties would be taken care of.
The NNPC boss also said that all opportunities found would be shared equitably for overall peace and development of the country.
He commended the minister of petroleum for his support and assured that the operations would soon commence in the area.
Also, the Managing Director of Shell, Osagie Okunbor said that the dispute had been for two years but “we are happy that we concluded on resolving the dispute.
“I want to convey my deep appreciation to the GMD of NNPC for the intervention to bring this issue to a closure.
“When dispute of this nature happens, everyone suffers, especially the immediate family, recipient community not to talk of investors like ourselves.
“We have been in discussion with communities and Belema Oil and sometimes under the auspices of government.
“We are very pleased that we have finally brought this to a conclusion, to work on some agreements with communities to achieve speedy return to operations on that facility,” he said.
He said to meet the plight of the host communities, Shell had paid in the Joint MOU account, over N300 million to restart community efforts it had not done because of some issues.
Okunbor said that under the joint MOU framework money would be paid into communities’ accounts to execute projects to ensure that employment opportunities get to the people.
He noted that SPDC remained the operator of the OML 25 but assured commitment to ensure that all parties would derive from the benefits.
Belema Oil President and Founder Jack Rich-Tein also said the agreement signalled that stakeholders shared common interest and value of lifting the country high and strengthening relationships.
“What has been resolved is that, we have agreed to work together, SPDC and Belema Oil.
“Belema Oil is now going to be able to create a lot of employment opportunities for the communities under operations and maintenance part of the operations.
“SPDC remains the operators because they still have the licence, the communities will be happy because we will employ them and they will be able to work with SPDC.
“The key thing there is getting back to work and creating jobs for the local communities, everybody will be happy.”
He said Belema Oil with 7.7 per cent asset would provide the operation maintenance and employ the community members through that platform.
The founder said Belema Oil Producing Limited would work with shell to ensure that the development needs of the people were met.
“We have agreed that less than 10 days from today, we will visit the communities and appeal to them and then, we go to work,” he said.
The operation in OML 25 stopped since in 2017 when the host communities sent SPDC away from operating in the facility over issues of unemployment and underdevelopment among others.
Host communities’ grouses
The multinational oil giant has operated in the environment for almost 40 years. Despite these long years of operation, the communities said they have become poorer while the oil giant gets richer.
Members of the communities decried alleged gross neglect, marginalisation, impoverishment, enslavement, maltreatment, environmental devastation; failure to comply with the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) it signed with the host communities, among others necessitated the shutdown of the facility by women and children of the communities.
But the company denied the alleged neglect, insisting that the welfare of their host communities remains paramount to it.
The SPDC is operating the flow station as a consortium with 32.3 per cent stake on behalf of SPDC, Total E&P and Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC), in Joint Venture with the NNPC, which controls 60 per cent stake while Belema Oil Producing Limited has 7.7 per cent participating interest in the facility, which it inherited from Chevron Nigeria Limited.
To attract the attention of wider society to the deplorable state of the oil-rich communities, their chiefs and leaders held a news conference at Offoin-Ama and the flow station in July. They also conducted reporters drawn from local and international media round the communities for on-the-spot assessment of the areas and to verify the claims by the oil firm on the developmental state of the communities.
From Offoin-Ama to Belema down to Ngeje communities, the sights and sounds are the same tales of woe, lamentation, impoverishment and high level of poverty among the people. There are no signs of social amenities in the communities visited. There are no hospitals, good schools, no habitable houses and power supply. Houses in the areas are all shanties, made of polythene bags and trampoline. The rich among them built their houses with woods.
Hunger, poverty, hardship and total and criminal neglect of the areas are prominent features of the areas and these are etched on the faces of the residents. There is a complete lack of government’s presence whatsoever in the places visited despite their huge financial contributions to the state and federal government coffers.
They also lamented lack of jobs, business and no artisan workshop anywhere in the area. Apart from a small patent medicine store at Offoin-Ama which apparently serves as health care facility to the people, the other shop in the communities is a beer parlour shop at Belema community.
Analysts put the estimate of revenue so far lost by the governments in the two years the business has been shut down to over $2 billion.
The communities accused Wike of meddlesomeness, stressing that the governor had no business interfering in matters of oil and gas, insisting that he lacked the statutory powers to preside over any meeting on the dispute.
The governor set up a committee led by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Dr. Tammy Danagogo, and gave him seven days to resolve all disputes, reunite parties and re-open the facility within one week.
The host communities boycotted the meetings convened by the government where a Memorandum of Understanding was purportedly signed to re-open the oil facility.
The Chairman of Kula Supreme Council of Chiefs and the Amanyanabo of Kula Kingdom, His Royal Highness Kroma Eleki was in the meeting and signed the GMoU. But he told the participants that the rightful stakeholders were absent and that his signing the agreement would not guarantee the vacation of the facility by the women.
He said: “I really did attend the meeting by the state government to broker peace between Shell and the host communities of OML25, flow station. As a government recognised monarch, I am supposed to attend such meetings and to advise the government on the way forward.
“I did attend and there was settlement agreement to sign and I did sign, but before I signed, I told the government and the public that the signing of that agreement do not lead to the opening of the OML 25 flow station.
“In any case, Shell has owed us for several years and we needed that money. So, signing the document was for us to access the money and, again, I also did tell them that the people with who they were negotiating at the meeting are not in the position to ensure the opening of OML25 and that the real stakeholders were not in the meeting.
“I advised them to be patient until they meet with the main stakeholders and that there is a need for them to pay a visit to Kula Kingdom and the host communities to see things for themselves before they will be able to broker peace.”
Speaking on his position in OML- 25, he said: “Since Shell began operations in Kula, they have not done any significant thing for the communities. So, I stand with the people of Kula Kingdom, because of the suffering we are going through.
“I will not like Shell to come back to operate OML 25, it should give the right to other operators, if possible, to Belema Oil. He is our son. If on the other hand Shell feels that it has gotten a licence, they want to operate, Belema Oil has a stake in that the partnership he should be given the operatorship of that stake, so that whenever they want to sell, he should have the first option of refusal before they can sell it.”
The spokesperson of Belema Central Women Association occupying the OML 25 flow station, Mrs. Belinda Nokiman relived their ordeal to reporters.
She decried the poor state of the communities, adding that they do not have good drinking water in the area.
At Offoin-Ama, Chief Ibiosiya Nath-Sukubo said: “Offoin-Ama is a co-host to OML-25 and bellies the six and eight inches delivery lines, a myriad of oil wells, the Sego Creek manifold, riser, Eastern Gas Gathering Lines (EGGS I) and NCTL among others. It is a principal oil-producing and pipeline community and a contributor to over 200,000 barrels of oil and over 1.5 million standard cubic feet of gas (mmscf).
“We are prone to serious ecological hazards such as earthquake and Tsunami, among others. The people’s natural source of income which is fishing has continued to diminish.”
Nath-Sukubo reiterated the failure of SPDC to take seriously the welfare of its host communities in the area. He urged them to divest the flow-station to Belema Oil, maintaining that Shell will never be allowed back to the area.
In the heat of the brouhaha, Shell insisted it had high regards for its host communities in the Niger Delta.
“Shell JV’s committed to the welfare of its host communities in the Niger Delta remain unshaken, even as we debunk every allegation that we neglected the development of communities in Kula Kingdom and Belema.,” the company said.
Will the agreement engender peace?
Will the agreement entered into yesterday by the oil firms, NNPC and Sylva be acceptable to the host communities? The outcome of the meeting the operators are supposed to have with them in the next few days will tell.
