A possible exit strategy from Nigeria by Shell would be to sell its total assets. Who would buy? A Nigerian consortium or possibly Sinopec or China National .

OIL giant Royal Dutch Shell could sidestep tougher restrictions on foreign companies in Nigeria and constant violence against its workers by selling its onshore assets in the turbulent African country in deals that would deliver the company an estimated £3bn.

Shell yesterday declined to comment on reports that it had already put some of its Nigerian assets on the block.

The Anglo-Dutch group, which this year outlined its concern about safety for oil workers and property in Nigeria, has reportedly instructed Ann Pickard, Shell’s highest ranking Nigeria-based executive, to explore avenues for disposals.

In the running to pick up the oil fields are Sinopec, China’s state-owned oil company, as well as Nigerian group Oando and London-listed Afren.

Any exit from Nigeria would pre-empt moves by the government there to extract more from foreign fuel companies by forcing them to pay company tax for the first time and a new hydro carbon tax.

Shell has just signed a huge deal in Iraq to develop the Majnoon oilfield. It will be interesting to observe the safety issues faced by Shell in Iraq. Only last week a pipeline running between Kirkuk and Turkey was blown up.

Today is the start of a landmark court brought by four farmers from the Niger Delta against Shell Oil.

The Nigerian farmers and fishers, who lost their livelihoods after oil from leaking Shell pipelines streamed over their fields and fishing ponds, are claiming compensation from the Anglo-Dutch oil giant. They also want Shell to clean up the oil which remains in the land, so that they can return to farming and fishing.

The four victims of the leaks are from three Nigerian villages.

They have subpoenaed both Shell’s subsidiary in Nigeria and Shell’s Dutch headquarters. They allege that as the result of Shell’s negligence, agricultural lands have been devastated, drinking water polluted, fish ponds made unusable and the environment and health of local people harmed.

Continue reading the case here

Links : Shell Guilty

A meeting of civil society organisations, lawyers, media, academics in Port Harcourt to discuss the future of oil in the Niger Delta and it’s impact on climate change and sustainability have issued a strong militant statement to the Federal Government.  The meeting was chaired by Nnimmo Bassey, the Director of Environmental Rights Action who described the comminuqe as

117 organisations signing on to the most militant statement of its sort
I’ve yet seen – formidable!

The Comminuque is published below.
Global warming and other grave environmental hazards are primarily a
result of extractive activities, particularly oil extraction.

Over five decades of oil extraction in Nigeria have not impacted
positively on the citizenry and particularly the people of the Niger
Delta, whose livelihoods have been eroded because of regular pollution
of farmlands and rivers.

Women, children and other vulnerable persons in the Niger Delta and
other resource-bearing communities across the country have been made
vulnerable due to resource conflicts and are exposed to severe human
rights abuse.

By failing to halt gas flaring in the Niger Delta, the Nigerian
government has demonstrated a lack of preparedness to committing to
reduce the effects of climate change even as it joins climate talks in
Copenhagen

Violent conflicts and criminality in the Niger Delta region and
particularly in oil-bearing communities are direct results of corruption
rooted in the operations of oil industry.

Life expectancy in the Niger Delta has continued to decline yearly as a
result of environmental pollution in the region and today stands at an
appalling 41 years.

There is flagrant disregard for international standards in the oil
industry particularly the non-observance of Environmental Impact
Assessment (EIA) on projects with far-reaching impacts on local communities.

The Federal Government’s planned deregulation of the downstream oil
sector will only benefit a profiteering cabal in the country and not the
vast majority of the population.

The Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) as currently prepared by the Federal
Government is fundamentally flawed and is anti-people as it neither
allows for communities to be notified of risks nor seeks their
endorsement for environmental management plans. In addition to numerous
gaps, the PIB does not offer sufficient penalties to deter infringement
of its provisions.

Nigeria’s oil industry is still rife with oil theft and inaccuracy in
volumes of oil extracted and what is actually made public, and makes a
nonsense of governments touted policy on transparency and accountability

The amnesty programme of the Federal Government is yet to address key
human rights and developmental challenges in the Niger Delta and may
fail with unimaginable consequences.

Ecological funds meant for remediation have been regularly diverted to
other uses that do not have a bearing on impacted environments.

Massive land grabs promoted by agribusinesses and oil corporations erode
traditional farming practices on the African continent.

The Nigerian government is yet to demonstrate sufficient commitment to
growing the national economy by failure to fund research and qualitative
education in addition to poorly thought-out policies that promote
disruption in the educational sector.

There is low awareness on environmental issues in the country.

Participants therefore strongly recommend that:

All new oil finds must be left in the ground. The planned exploitation
of bitumen should be halted as the extraction will inflict unmitigated
disaster on communities and raise new levels of conflicts.

The Leave Oil in the Ground message should be popularized.

Gas flaring is a violation of the rights of Nigerians to life as is
enshrined in the constitution and must end today

The Federal Government must take steps to ascertain and publish the
volumes of oil extracted daily in the nation. As a follow up to this, it
must take immediate steps to stop all forms of oil theft.

A need exists for mass awareness and mobilization of local communities
to resist gas flaring and other unfriendly environmental practices in
the Niger Delta and other parts of Nigeria where resource conflicts are
a growing reality.

The authentic Petroleum Industry Bill must address genuine concerns of
the oil-bearing communities by seeking their endorsement on
environmental management plans. It must also proffer sufficient
penalties for infringement of the provisions.

Any provision in the Petroleum Industry Bill that is aimed at
expropriating land and resources from the people must be abrogated.

Political leadership of the Niger Delta must judiciously use the
resources of the region for development.

The amnesty programme of the Federal Government should address the real
issues of underdevelopment in the Niger Delta and open channels for
genuine reconciliation of all aggrieved people of the region.

The Nigerian state must fund qualitative education and indigenous
research to address challenges of development.

Women and the vulnerable in the society must be protected from the
fallouts of resource conflicts while identified cases of violation of
their rights must be adequately redressed.

All stakeholders-communities, civil society groups, government agencies,
the media, among others, must work collaboratively to expose unsound
environmental practices and mobilize for laws that will reverse the trend.

In conclusion, we are united in our opposition to new oil blocs and call
on all progressive-minded peoples and organizations to support our call
that new oil finds be left in the ground and bitumen left in the soil.

Signed:
Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria
Host Communities Network (HoCoN)
Nigerian Environmental Study/Action Team (NEST), Ibadan
Social Action, Port Harcourt
Nigeria Cassava Growers Association
African Centre for Leadership Strategy and Development, Abuja
Environment, Health and Communication Initiative
Persons with Disabilities Action Network (PEDANET)
United Action for Democracy (UAD)
Conflict Resolution Trainers Network (CROTIN)
Grace Fellowship Africa
Students Environmental Assembly
Campaigners for Justice, Equity and Fairness (CJEF), Benin City
Society for the Rights of the Girl Child
Women Environmental Programme
Journalists for Democratic Rights (JODER)
Council for Leadership and Development (CLD)
Society for Empowerment and Self-Reliance (SESER)
Youth Empowerment and Child Labor Elimination Project (YCEP)
Foundation for Conservation of the Earth (FOCONE)
Green Concern for Development (Green Code), formerly ABGREMO, Calabar
Centre for Rural Integration and Development
UGREEN Foundation
Development Information Network (DEVNET)
Child Health Organisation
Concern for Habitat Development
LEAP Foundation
Nigeria Tobacco Control Alliance (NTCA)
Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group
Children Initiative
Centre for Development Communications (CENDEC)
National Point Newspapers
Foundation Against Social Trauma and Environmental Ravage (FASTER)
Wildlife Preservation Trust
Trade Network Initiative (TNI)
Centre for Socio-Economic Development
HRJPF
Movement for Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP)
CEHRD
Oruma Community
Ogoni Solidarity Forum
Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law
HEDA, Lagos
People Against Drug Dependence and Ignorance (PADDI)
Gender Awareness and Development Associates (GADA)
Centre for Development Support Initiatives
CUAED
Nurses Across Borders
Institute for Dispute Resolution
Kebet Kache Women Development and Resource Centre
Environ-Green Integrated Initiative
Alfred Ozo Foundation
Social Development Integrated Centre (SDIC)
Centre for Human Empowerment, Advancement and Development
Association for Promotion of Human Development, Gombe State
Bamidele Aturu & Co
Women and Children Life Advancement Initiative, Katsina State
Foundation for Sustainable Development
Care for Youth Initiative
Future of Our Environment
CIC Benin
Centre for Development Support Initiatives (CEDSI-Nigeria)
OGDEMOVE
Centre for Social and Corporate Responsibility (CSCR) Port Harcourt
Hand of Hope Foundation
Friends of the Needy and Oppressed Foundation (FONAO) Foundation
Centre for the Advancement of Children and Women Rights
Centre for Creative Arts Education, Port Harcourt
Goodwill Homage Foundation
Green Earth Links
The Olive -Child Foundation
Mag Foundation for Women
Freshfields Solicitors, Port Harcourt
Our Niger Delta
River Ethiope Trust Foundation
Gender and Development Action
Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO)
Peculiar People Foundation
Impact and Systems International, Abuja
Justice Development and Peace Commission (JDPC), Ijebu-Ode
Centre for Constitutionalism and Demilitarisation (CENCOD), Lagos
Imo Mass Movement
Women in Technology Education and Employment
Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Abuja
Basic Rights Action
Legal Hands, Benin City
Rural Women and Youth Development Initiative, Ikom, Cross Rivers State
Koyenum Immalah Foundation (Publish What you Pay)
Save Earth Nigeria
Peace and Development Projects
Neighborhood Environmentwatch Foundation
Organisation for Sustenance of the Nigerian Environment
Ijaw Council for Human Rights
Association for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) Gombe
Women Centre for Quality Living and Practice, Benin City
Campaign for Democracy
Gender Environmental and Sustenable Development Initiative (GENSDI)
ANPEZ Centre for Environment and Development
Peace and Development Projects (PEDEP)
100. African Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ)
101. D.U Akamakusi & Associates
102. Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS (GYCA)
103.Niger Delta Coastal Communities Development Association
ND-COCODA
104. Christars Global Development Foundation, Port Harcourt
105. African Center for Sustainable Livelihoods (AFRICSUL)
106. Iwherekan Community, Delta State
107. Africa Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR)
108. Community Forest Watch (CFW), Iguobazuwa, Edo State
109. Singles & Success Organisation
110. Academic Foundation Network, Ete Community
111. Gender Action Group
112. Climate Change Network Nigeria (CCN)
113. Niger Delta Development Initiative (NDDI)
114. Environmental Outreach Magazine, Yenagoa
115. FISHCAREPLUS
116. Oilwatch Africa
117. Publish What You Pay

Senators, SSEPU want MEND to extend ceasefire

Amnesty failing, Clarke warns

FG denies US aid on Niger Delta crisis

President Yar’Adu is reported to be preparing a full major offensive against Niger Delta as soon as the ceasefire declared by militants ends on tomorrow, September 15th.

And this time, Nigerian military forces will be using special warships, helicopter gunships and troop transports, and unmanned drone intelligence planes and ships sold to Nigeria by Israeli, Malaysian, Singaporean, Dutch and Russian companies.

Israeli and Russian instructors have been providing specialised training to Nigerian Navy and Air Force sailors and pilots in how to operate the ships and helicopters over the past few months, and some of these instructors may help operate them during the offensive.

This is despite the  amnesty offered by the Nigerian government which is not due to end until October 4th.  If the offensive takes place it will be the second in 6 months when the Gbaramatu Kingdom in South West Warri was attacked and bombed by the Joint Task Force.     Towns and villages were destroyed in the attacks leaving thousands displaced. The exact number of dead is not yet known.   Thousands of women and children remain in refugee camps as I write, many of whom have been preparing to return to their homes in the next few weeks.  If previous offensives are anything to go by, the attacks will be indiscriminate with thousands of civilians being killed, displaced and their homes and farms destroyed.   Those foreign governments supplying the weapons and training to Nigeria are also culperable in the offensive as they are fully aware of the intended targets.

And this time, Nigerian military forces will be using special warships, helicopter gunships and troop transports, and unmanned drone intelligence planes and ships sold to Nigeria by Israeli, Malaysian, Singaporean, Dutch and Russian companies.

Israeli and Russian instructors have been providing specialised training to Nigerian Navy and Air Force sailors and pilots in how to operate the ships and helicopters over the past few months, and some of these instructors may help operate them during the offensive.

Links:

Into the heart of the Niger Delta oil war By Michael Peel Published: September 12 2009 01:26 | Last updated: September 12 2009 03:42 A woman dries cassava in the heat from Shell waste gas flares As our speedboat casts off from Yenagoa, in the heart of the Niger Delta, I feel as if I am being propelled into a more welcoming world. A bracing wind replaces the humid closeness of the town, a monument to disorder clustered around a single, thunderous main road. The foliage on either side of the water is thick and lush, with oil palms peeping over the top of the tree line. The river traffic – mainly canoes loaded with goods such as fish, wood and plantains – clings to the banks to avoid being capsized by our wake. I am travelling with a few guides and a fellow journalist, Glenn McKenzie, in search of the Niger Delta’s main militant movement: the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or Mend. The organisation had attacked oil installations and kidnapped dozens of oil workers, prompting the big companies to send non-essential staff home and shut down hundreds of thousands of barrels a day of production. Members of Mend. The white flag signifies the Ijaw god, Egbesu Soon we pass a village where a long white flag flutters from a post. It’s a symbol of Egbesu, a water spirit central to the culture of the Ijaw people, the largest ethnic group in the region. Simeon, one of the guides, explains that white flags represent peace; red, fighting spirit. If you are killed in battle, it means not that Egbesu has failed you, but that you have violated its laws. As Simeon puts it bluntly, “You oppress, you steal, you will die.” For the western oil majors, long used to a bit of heat, the security crisis was as bad as they had known. By this summer, estimates of Nigerian ­production ranged from 1.6 million barrels a day to as low as 800,000 barrels a day, all far distant from the 4 million barrels-a-day target for 2010. In July, an increasingly desperate government announced a two-month amnesty in an effort to tempt the militants out of the creeks. Mend has since threatened to resume hostilities from September 15. It all reminded me of a similar amnesty five years earlier, when I’d first started to chart the Delta militancy that now rivals scam e-mails as the phenomenon most defining Nigeria in the eyes of the world. Then, as the FT’s west Africa correspondent, I’d been awoken to the dark story of Nigerian oil through a series of encounters with a flamboyant militant leader known as Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari. In 2004, he’d sent tremors through world oil markets after his threat to launch an attack known as “Operation Locust Feast” against industry installations in the Delta. His activities – abruptly curtailed when he was imprisoned for alleged treason – helped propel the world oil price above $50 for the first time. The Delta’s torments – pollution, corruption and widespread poverty, despite decades of oil exports worth hundreds of billions of dollars – had continued to multiply since 1995, the year that the execution of Ken Saro Wiwa and eight other activists first brought the region to the world’s attention. The situation had grown more venal, more violent and more desperate. Foreign oil interests were now being confounded by the turmoil that their own behaviour over decades had helped create. . . . A Nigerian army river patrol About an hour from Bayelsa, the boat’s engine is suddenly cut. Our guides all raise their hands in the air, prompting Glenn and me to follow suit. We are approaching a checkpoint of the Mobile Police: they are notoriously trigger-happy and are likely to be especially skittish at this volatile time. Two officers beckon us to a jetty, from where we clamber up to meet them. Glenn and I are asked a series of questions: is the state government aware of our visit? Where is our security? What did we think about the 2007 national elections held the previous week? We evade and lie, saying we have all the permissions. They seem satisfied. The whole process has a half-hearted feel, as if the officers’ main purpose is to cover their backs should anything happen to us. After a ride of another hour or so, the weather begins to change for the worse. The wind strengthens and it starts to spot with rain. A speedboat appears from a tributary to our left and zips across our course. Looking to our right, we see other signs of life: a line of men on the bank, all naked. About 15 of them are waiting to go into the water, where half-a-dozen others are already splashing around. They are all Mend fighters. The speedboat pulls up alongside us and a young man greets our guides. One of them, Godson, produces a bottle of Chelsea gin, from which he has been taking nips during our journey. Our visitor takes a swig, then sprays the gin to the left of our boat’s stern, as if in blessing. The new man introduces himself to us as Mend commander Timi Freeman, although his dress seems more suited to a day on the golf course than a militia war. He wears a visor and a mauve-and-white Breton-style striped top. Instead of a string of onions round his neck, he’s got a Nokia headset. Freeman – “Fineboy” to the others – is a youthful 30, his face still round with baby fat. He tells us we are now in a zone under the total control of Mend; the government soldiers garrisoned in the area dare not approach. “They fear,” he says. “We don’t look for trouble. But if the military happens to come here, they are looking for trouble.” Under Freeman’s guidance, we change course and take a sharp left down another branch of the river. Some minutes later, we moor at the village of Korokorose, where the children welcome us by breaking into a chorus of “Oyinbo Pepe!”, a favourite greeting for white foreigners. A young man carrying a rifle leads us to a half-built house opposite a field of tall grass, where we are asked to wait for a Mend field marshal. When he arrives, he sits across from us, his face half-obscured by his hat. He listens to Simeon’s introduction and then offers us a drink. I take a non-alcoholic malt; many of the young men take Star beer. We sit and wait for the field marshal to speak, but he is as taciturn as he is hospitable. Soon he gets up to go. We are told we will see him again later, but we never do. It’s becoming clear that we will have little say in determining the course of the day’s events. We go back to the boat and are whisked away to a village called Ikebiri I. There, we wait again, this time in the darkened room of a dilapidated house, the dried mud on its walls crumbling away. Outside, a crowd gathers despite the rain. Children seem to be spilling in through every door and window. Slum dwelling in Lagos, a city built on oil wealth Eventually, an older man enters the room. After introducing himself as Francis Ododo, he launches into an account of how militancy in the Delta is fuelled by the people’s feeling that they have been robbed. He attacks Olusegun Obasanjo, the former military leader who ruled as civilian ­president between 1999 and 2007, over Obasanjo’s 1978 Land Use Act, which gave the federal government ownership of the region’s oil. “Now the Niger Delta man has seen that he is nowhere,” Ododo rages. “And that’s why any problem that you are seeing today is happening.” The result, Ododo says, is that many long-standing oil-producing communities such as Ikebiri I are becoming increasingly restive. People are unhappy because Chevron, which operates in the area, still flares its waste gas, causing acid rain and polluting the area with night-time light. Chevron doesn’t employ enough local people, and neither it nor the government have brought development: petrol in Ikebiri I, a prime source of oil, costs 150 naira a litre (60p), or more than twice the going rate elsewhere. There are no roads linking Ikebiri I to the main cities, so a trip to Yenagoa costs a prohibitive £10 return. Ododo talks about how Niger Delta youths have been “pushed to the wall”. . . . En route to our next stop, Freeman and I chat about his life, which has been shaped since his teenage years by conflict. He has been involved in four militant organisations since leaving school in 1994, including Asari’s Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force. I notice two scars on his hand – one long, the other in the shape of a cross. He says they were caused by a soldier’s machete. In 1999, Freeman says he was sent to prison after a shootout in which the military killed two of his men and he killed a soldier. He was held for five years without trial, and decided to rejoin the militants on his release. None of the underlying injustices he was fighting against have changed, he claims. “I became a militant because of the spoiling of my people. We have oil but no development. That is why I have said I will fight until my last bullet – until whoever will kill me.” When I ask him if he has a family, he smiles and replies that he has a mother and father. Is he married? No, he replies. Would he like to get married? He smiles charmingly, gives me a thumbs-up sign and says, “Yes”. I say that it must be difficult to find a wife when he leads the kind of life he does. He shrugs and says he sees no choice. We fall silent, and after a short time he gently taps me on the arm. “Before you marry,” he says, “you have money. I have no money. If I have money, I will marry.” 2006, Mend activists prepare to release Macon Hawkins, a US oil worker they had been holding hostage Freeman says his territory consists of three camps, each of which house between 100 and 200 men at any one time. The militants are armed with rifles, light and heavy machine guns, and even two rocket-propelled ­grenade launchers. One of these they bought, the other they seized from government soldiers. Asked who supplies the weapons, he laughs, a little coyly. “We buy them from the military.” Sometimes arms come from neighbouring Cameroon, he says, sometimes from countries further afield, such as Liberia. He claims that the weapons dealer they regularly use even has a supply line from Iraq. Asked where the men get the money to buy the arms, he pauses, weighing up how much to tell me. He finally replies that the militants take oil from the pipelines and sell it on the black market. They finance themselves by exploiting the very industry that has blighted their region for half a century. By now, we have travelled to the very limits of the Niger Delta, where the river meets the sea. In front of us, through a gap in the sandbanks, I can see the waves of the open ocean. Further still, I can see the gas flare of an offshore oil field. We veer away from the sea’s jaws and put in at the village of Kuluama I, another area where Chevron operates. As ever, the local leaders are ready with their case against the oil industry. Emmanuel Orumo, chairman of the Community Development Council, tells us that there are hundreds of jobless youths denied work by Chevron and then kept at bay by “uniformed men”. “We have graduates who go for interview,” Orumo says, adding that the company fails the community “woefully”. The multinational has declined to answer questions I put to it about the complaints in Kuluama I and Ikebiri I. We climb onboard the boat again to be taken to Kuluama I’s most alarming sight of all. A few minutes’ ride away is a sandbar where blackened mangrove roots twist as if in silent agony. A thin layer of seawater rushes in and out over the sand in rhythm with the waves. The encroachment of the sea, villagers tell us, is becoming greater and greater and will eventually wash the community away. They blame the problem on seismic activity by oil companies such as Chevron, whose offshore platforms are visible in the distance. It could equally be global warming, itself indirectly attributable to the global oil industry. People’s fear and anger at this apocalyptic prospect is visible and genuine. Reuben Wilson Clifford, a local man, holds his arm in the air like a weapon, and promises destruction if the village is indeed washed away. Someone else shouts out: “We will carry the gun to claim our rights. Since we have nothing – nobody cares for us.” It is an eerie echo of a conversation I’d had the previous week with an oil executive: he said the level of violence that had developed in the Delta was not surprising, as people there had nothing to lose. Whatever the cause of the sandbar flooding, there is something unsettling about this place where young men rage under the oil industry’s distant and baleful gaze. As we stand surrounded by the withered plant roots, the sand sucks in my boots and an incoming wave submerges them. Leaving, we pass houses on stilts surrounded by water, ready to be taken by the flood, if and when it comes. . . . Dusk is looming, and it is too late for us to go back to Yenagoa. Glenn and I decide to take up the militants’ offer to stay the night, although we don’t know where we are going or where we will sleep. We have long since lost control of this trip, if we ever had it in the first place. After a breakneck ride back along the main waterway, we plunge into the mangroves. The creeks here are narrow and claustrophobic. I can hear cicadas and then, more and more clearly, drumming and chanting. Godson tells me not to be afraid, as we are in the Lord’s hands. Ahead, two men with guns are perching in the mangroves, their faces part-covered with cloths. The boat stops next to them. Godson starts taking his trousers off, and Glenn and I are told to do the same. Then Godson and our fellow passengers step out of the boat one by one and into the deep creek water. They do not sink, and I see they are stepping on a cat’s cradle of mangrove roots that lies beneath the surface. A militant prepares for combat with a voodoo ritual By the time my turn comes, I feel close to passing out through a combination of nerves and hunger. I start to creep, slip and grasp my way towards the shore, willing myself to control my fear. Eventually, the riverbed becomes shallow enough to walk on. We wade in line to dry land, where a man is waiting with a blessing. As each of us passes, he flicks water at us, then sprinkles a white solution known as native chalk from a bowl he carries at his side. “You are holy!” he exclaims as he finishes. A few yards back from the shore, there are about 20 men dancing to the beat of drummers, one of whom strikes an old car exhaust with a stick. As we walk towards them, I have a strange sensation of being simultaneously the centre of attention and completely ignored. All around, the air is pungent with hashish and incense. I look round at the other dancing militants, whose appearance blends the whimsical, the spiritual and the surreal. Many are in their boxer shorts; some of these bear Tommy Hilfiger labels, while one pair is decorated incongruously with pictures of babies and flowers. Some of the men wear white or red cloths round their faces, and one has a white sheet on his head with holes for the eyes, like a fancy-dress ghost. Our travelling companions immediately join in the dance, as caught up in the rhythm as they had been in discussions of Delta politics earlier in the day. Standing a foot or so away from me, one man shouts that his men are going to continue to capture white people like me. He could tie me to a tree now, shoot at me and no bullet would enter, he says, because I have just been blessed with the spirit of Egbesu. He grabs my arm urgently. “We are jobless,” he says. “The best way is to catch you people, flog you. That is the way we live.” In the confusion, someone shepherds Glenn and me towards a small man with a white cloth around his face. He says he is called Commander Three Lions. He gives a rapid-fire talk about the history of the Delta, going back to the days of the ruthless Royal Niger Company set up under British rule, but the speed of his speech and the noise around us makes it hard to make out much of what he is saying. My notes on the conversation read like a stream of consciousness, perhaps mine as much as his: The whole Nigeria … the criminal governance … there is nobody can take our oil … I fight Nigerian government … I am prepared for death … you people go back and tell them … we are not fighting for resources now … we are fighting for our lives. As Three Lions speaks, two of the dancers hold up a large white cloth. A third man steps a few feet back from it, takes aim at it with his rifle and fires, making me jump. There is a cheer, and the two men holding the cloth raise it to show that it is unmarked by a bullet hole. It has Egbesu’s blessing. Later, I wonder how he did it. He could hardly have shot a live round into the crowd of dancers, yet if he had knowingly loaded a blank he would have been acknowledging that the Egbesu magic didn’t work. Encouraged by the militants, Glenn and I briefly and nervously join in the dancing. And then, as suddenly as we were propelled into this world, we are told we should leave. We scramble back across the mangroves. “It seems easier on the way back,” I say, seconds before slipping and almost plunging into the creek. No doubt Egbesu is punishing me for complacency. As we glide from the secret gathering, Freeman reflects on our encounter. His concluding comment seems to echo the precariousness of the entire Delta region and the sense of apocalypse just avoided – for now. “They wanted to tie you with one cloth and shoot you,” he tells me. “But I told them not to.” Michael Peel is the FT’s legal correspondent. This is an edited extract from ‘A Swamp Full of Dollars: Pipelines and Paramilitaries at Nigeria’s Oil Frontier’, published by I.B. Tauris. The book has been longlisted for The Guardian First Book Award 2009. To buy it for £14.39, plus £2.45 P&P, call the FT ordering service on 0870 429 5884 or visit www.ft.com/bookshop.

]]> http://nigerdeltasolidarity.wordpress.com/2009/09/13/into-the-heart-of-the-niger-delta-oil-war/feed/ 0 inemo samiama A woman dries cassava Members of Mend Nigerian soldiers on a patrol boat A man taking a bath in a slum community in Lagos Mend militants with hostage Macon Hawkins A militant performs a voodoo ritual http://nigerdeltasolidarity.wordpress.com/2009/09/13/open-letter-to-president-umaru-musa-yar%e2%80%99adua-on-the-niger-delta-by-tompolo/ http://nigerdeltasolidarity.wordpress.com/2009/09/13/open-letter-to-president-umaru-musa-yar%e2%80%99adua-on-the-niger-delta-by-tompolo/#comments Sun, 13 Sep 2009 10:02:49 +0000 Inemo Samiama http://nigerdeltasolidarity.wordpress.com/?p=285 ]]>

HIGH CHIEF GOVERNMENT EKEPEMUPOLO

IBE EBIDOUWEI OF IJAWLAND

2, Palace Road Oporoza Town Gbaranmatu Kingdom, Delta State.

24^th August 2009

OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT UMARU MUSA YAR’ADUA ON THE NIGER DELTA.

MR. PRESIDENT

I am Chief Government Ekepemupolo, referred to in good and odd times as Tompolo. I have played my insignificant roles religiously in the determined struggle of the Ijaw, nay Niger Delta, nationalities since 1993 against insensitive multinational corporations and the state. In 2003, I left the average God given comfort of my life without prompting and moved into our beautiful creeks of the Delta of the Niger (reversal mine) among others, to advance our divine and just cause. Till date, I do not plan nor envisage a return to the artificial cities of Warri, Port Harcourt, Lagos and Abuja with your response trend to our struggle.

The intellectual and political agitation of our people predates Nigeria’s independence hurried as it seems today; and the same fundamental and core issues remain unsuppressed and ever daring despite conscious attempts by successive regimes to simplify them through unending conference talks and committees without attending to the recommendations there from..

Reform proposals, from the Willinks Commission of 1958 through Gen. Ogomudia’s special Security Report to the Mitee Technical Committee, abound. Candidly, your committee on amnesty and its arm dealing with disarmament in content and operations are the same to the purified ramifications of our structured struggle. Who is deceiving who?

THE PEACE PROCESS

On assumption of office on 29^th May, 2007, MEND and the peoples of the Niger Delta greeted you with a unilateral ceasefire and opened a wide window for a peaceful resolution of the regional crisis. On 29^th June 2007, your Vice President Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan visited regional agitators in Camp 5 with a message of peace and process was agreed.

There from, I have spoken with lowly and highly placed in your government including yourself emphasing on the cardinal demands of our people. No armed confrontation of skirmishes had occurred between agitators and the Joint Task Force until 13 may 2009 amidst the traditional festival of the people of Gbaranmatu. Who is really deceiving who?

Your government and our people met severally in Abuja, constituted joint committees with your former SGF Babagana Kingibe, present SGF, Ahmed Yayale, cabinet ministers and Defence Chiefs serving variously with our representatives led by Elder T.K.Ogoriba. We agreed on a few fundamental areas of great concern with sub-committees constituted to engage stakeholders preliminarily in the region. We agreed on a presidential visit, declaration of development emergency in the region, release of Henry Okah and others detained in connection with our agitation, pilot withdrawal of the Joint Task Force from the region and composition of oil commissions by regional states, among others that would be discussed in a formal dialogue between government and regional elders and youth leaders.

What happened to these agreements? Why did the events of 13^th May 2009 happen instead of a gradual implementation of these preliminary terms agreed to whilst we kept our peace? Who exactly breached the peace and is transparently deceiving who?

AMNESTY AND DISARMAMENT

Your Excellency, your proclamation of Amnesty on 25^th June 2009 is only viewed by my ilk as part of the peace process, which was breached on 13^th May 2009. It is not viewed as the ultimate or that official act of oblivion or pardon on the part of your government to absolve without trial so-called offenders or group of offenders, intentionally forgetting or overlooking wrongdoings by same. We view the gesture as offer from nothing but it can be something with mutual sincerity and great will.

Why distort and simplify, as usual, our genuine struggle to crime and disarmament? Are crimes of kidnapping, abduction and hostage-taking synonymous to and with our region? Who kidnaps in Kaduna, Lagos, Kogi, Ondo, and the entire Eastern states of the country? Do the security agencies inform government correctly that 99% of crime cases in Port Harcourt are not perpetrated by agitators and core regional indigenes? Categorically, Politicians, Political and Commercial Crime Merchants all over the country are the architects to undo themselves and others. We are clear-headed agitators with an inherited defined vision and mission.

Why the push for disarmament within this space of peace, instead of engagement on the fundamentals that occasioned the armed agitation and its associated incidents? Who bought the arms with whose money? Except by make-beliefs and showbiz, can genuine disarmament be achieved with the Joint Task Force killing and destroying communities, with guns pointed at agitators to drop arms without commencing genuine dialogue on the regional fundamentals and possible mutual reconciliation? I make bold to state categorically that true peace and disarmament can only be seen occurred when and only when the Core Demands of the region are being addressed through a mutually progressive dialogue.

Mr. President, whilst hoping for the practical reality of that dialogue to usher in peace and justice. I suggest the following as preliminary acceptables to the agitators:

1.WITHDRAW OF JTF AND DEMILITARILIZATION

The formation and operation of the Joint Task Force since 2004 has clearly indicted a scenario of replacement for coup plotting in the country, it has caused much image damage to Nigeria and colossal financial waste to the region. Is it part of its mandate for a military officer with rank of Lieutenant Colonel, Major or Captain to lead an “escort job” for multinational corporations? What are rank and file and junior officer doing in the region? It shows degeneration and calls urgently for an improved welfare status for the military which is gradually establishing the region as a survive pipe. Government must improve their welfare and make the barracks attractive and stop sacrificing our region for the stability of their polity.

I herein enjoin the withdrawal of the Joint Task Force and demilitarization of our region from Okirika and Kalabari Kingdoms in Rivers state through the civil Ijaw communities of Bayelsa state to the serene communities of Western Ijaw in Ondo, Edo and Delta states. The Joint Task Force makes no difference: instead it aggravates the conflicts to stay put in the region. They may win this war against our just cause: but they cannot win the peace in any guise not even in our region wherein every child of three and above sleeps with the knowledge of every pipeline meter criss-cross the region. May 13, 2009 and its fallouts has and shall vindicate and triumph us ultimately.

2. THE RIVER NIGER DREDGING

Government characteristic- to-type has enlisted Chief Tony Anenih and Mrs. Deziani Allision Madueke to dredge the River Niger. Why is government pushing with intent to use the force of JTF to dredge the river instead of addressing the environmental hazards such will cause the communities therein as contained in the Environmental Impact Assessment report such as shore protection and adherence to local content? Legitimate governments all over the world address the communal fears and concerns of the affected before such projects are executed. I hereon disclaim any contact with Chief Tony Anenih on this issue as claimed. I remain among those opposed to it and I am committed to confront by any means necessary any real attempt to dredge the river without recourse to universal standards that are acceptable.

I also enjoin Chief Tony Anenih and Mrs. Madueke to tread softly: for this is an attack on our existence and identity. I consequently urge Mr. President to halt the process and direct government agencies to comply with agreeable standards for the management of the River Niger as a vital lifeline for our people.

3. THE SEPTEMBER BIDS & OIL BUNKERING

Oil bunkering is consciously being peddled by the JTF and Government in their bid to cover state failure and to malign our legitimate struggle. Such expensive ventures requiring huge finances power and contacts can only be carried out by the mighty in government and huge businesses. Who provides or buys the vessels and equipment? Who settles the military and has the connections with the foreigners and refineries? Who owns those vessels apprehended and disappreaing? I make bold to urge Mr. President to show will and determination to stop bunkering in thye region and see how the mighty in Lagos and Abuja will fall.

However Mr. President how many Niger Deltans have oil fields, blocs or even allocations that girlfriends are entitled to in Abuja? Does it sound just amidst truths that Genral T.Y.Danjuma sold 45% of one of his marginal fields (Akpo Field) to a Chinese firm for 2.3billion Dollars, still keeping 55%? Can this happen to the Hausa, Yoruba or Igbo? Why must we suffer so much for a God-given blessing? Do you think there can be peace where the people do not have appreciable stakes in their resources and composition and operations of multinationals in the region? Emphatically NO!

CONCLUSION

Mr. President, this is my first personal missive to any government or its privies since 2003 and it remains on the fundamental demands of the region raised for over 50 years by our people who are starkly faced with the daily worrying reality of a hopeless life after oil. With sincerity of purpose and determined will, the crisis in the region remains the simplest to resolve. I urge you to authorize your government to commence dialogue with representatives of the people of the region, nominated from elders and leaders of youths referred to as Aaron Team by MEND, on the core demands of the region with pride and mutual balance.

Your Excellency, may I remind you that Major Isaac Adaka Boro died for this cause: our noble poet and playwriter got hanged with eight other Ogonis in 1995, Dokubo Asari and Henry Okah among others, got incarcerated in inhuman conditions for years, just as several unsung brethren have been murdered and several of our innocent communities completely destroyed. These did not stop the agitationof the people, instead it reinforces it in tactics and participation. How can killing Tompolo, Fara, Ateke, Boyloaf, Afrika, Shoot at Sight, Young Shall Grow and others stop the numerous unsung Tompolos in the creeks who owe our people at home and in the Diaspora this noble duty to bring justice and peace to our land? Kindly thread the path of dialogue, not force. There is no bad peace.

I salute the courage and sacrifice of our brethren in our blessed region in this noble struggle. I thank Henry Okah, Dokubo Asari, Fara Dagogo, Ebi Ben (Boyloaf), Ateke Tom, Shoot at Sight, Afrika, Joshua, Young Shall Grow and several others known and unknown for your past and present sacrifices.

I salute our brethren in the Diaspora, the Ijaw National Congress, Ijaw Youth Council, MEND, JRC, FNDIC, Yoruba Progressives, Northern Justice Known, the Warri Ijaw Peace.

Sincerely.

High Chief Government Ekpemupolo

(Tompolo).

©Photo by Sokari Ekine 2000

In May this year, the Nigerian government once again extended the deadline to end gas flaring…Gas flaring is the burning of the natural gas that is produced on the surface during the production process. The flares are either blown off in the sky or in giant sized low level pits on the ground and are in the midst of villages and farmland. They burn gas that produces huge flames and toxic gases. This latest postponement is one in a series  dating back to a December 2007  deadline which which was preceeded by  the original flare-out date of 1984. For a full report on the impact of toxic flares see ERA.

Niger Delta communities have since organised themselves under the umbrella of “Host Communities of Nigeria Producers of Oil and Gas (HOSTCOM)” and will be taking direct action to once and for all force the government into ending this practice.

“You cannot shift the date (for stopping gas flaring) any longer. As from October (next month) the HOSTCOM will take the bull by the horns, gas flaring will be stopped by force whether the Federal Government and the oil companies like it or not,” the group’s coordinator, Mike Emu, said in Benin.

“It is going to be a battle to be fought by the youth, the so called militants, the women and HOSTCOM. It would be a battle royale. But all that government and the oil companies need to do to avert the ‘war’ is to stop gas flaring between now and October and pay up all the outstanding gas flaring penalty levies. From October anything can happen in the region.”

Friday, July 31, 2009

Some policy shift of the Federal Government has triggered credibility problem, threatening the fragile amnesty deal expected to calm frayed nerves in the Niger Delta. Kelvin Ebiri (Port Harcourt), Hendrix Oliomogbe (Asaba), Alemma-Ozioruva Aliu (Benin), Inem Akpan Nsoh (Uyo), Anietie Akpan (Calabar), Joe Adiorho (Lagos) and Willie Etim (Yenagoa) report on the unfolding drama.

http://www.vanguard ngr.com/2009/ 07/30/fury- in-niger- delta-better- felt-than- imagined/

By Emma Amaize, Regional Editor, S/South and George Onah
At a Stakeholders’ Forum, July 20, organized by the Delta State Government in Asaba to sensitize the people on the National Gas Master Plan, the participants and representatives of host communities were agitated by the issue of ownership and what the host communities and indigenes stand to gain by allowing the Federal Government and multinational companies to exploit gas in the state.

They complained indignantly about oil: What the Federal Government did and is still doing with it after it was found at Oloibiri in Bayelsa State, and vowed that they would not allow gas exploration in their areas if the issue of ownership, local content and privileges of the host communities were not satisfactorily resolved.

Delta State governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan pointed out without waiting for the people to carry placards first that the state government had already insisted on 10 per cent ownership, five per cent for it and the other five per cent for the host communities through a special purpose vehicle.

It was obvious from his explanation that the South-South governors understand the pains of their people and the complicated adversity is not unheard of to the oil companies, which erected separate living structures for their workers in some creek communities with water and electric facilities that the villagers are deprived of.

Lyel Imoke

To manage the flaring tempers against the Federal Government over the matter, he directed that those who have questions and comments should write them down on papers, which were photocopied and handed over to the technical adviser to the group managing director of the Nigeria Petroleum Corporation and general manager (upstream), Dr. David Ige, who represented his boss, Mr. Mohammed Barkindo for onward delivery to President Umaru Yar’Adua.

The governor said the state had learnt its lessons with the manner oil companies came to the region to explore oil without negotiation with the people, saying the state government would guard against that in future.

It was three days after the forum that the South-South governors met in Asaba over the proposed Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), reversal of the upgrade of the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI), Effurun, near Warri and other issues, and resolved at the end of the meeting to pull out of the amnesty programme for militants by the Federal Government except the fears of the people were addressed.

There are many versions of the Petroleum Bill, which, coupled with the bigheaded statement of the Minister of Petroleum, Dr. Rilwanu Lukman triggered off the present angst the governors.. Apparently, the copy they relied upon stripped the oil communities of the privileges associated with host communities and because they wear the shoe and know where it pinches, they had to sound an alarm for the people in Abuja to know that it was the rebuff of host communities on such rights in the past and other deprivations that led to the confrontation that has snowballed into militancy in the Niger-Delta today. Those who attended a recent stakeholders’ forum by Dr Lukman said the bill presented was strikingly different from the version in public sphere.

Call for Lukman’s head

Delta State Elders, Leaders and Stakeholders Forum led by the former Federal Commissioner for Information, Chief Edwin Clark called for the removal of the Dr. Lukman, who they accused of being the mastermind of the draconian oil bill, as well as repudiation of the anti – South-South components of the bill.

Some retired military officers in the forum were so incensed by the recent policies of the Yar’Adua government as it affects the South-South that they threatened to join the militants in the creeks to prosecute the Niger-Delta struggle if some people would just wake up from their bed and begin to say anything they like against a section of the country, as Lukman did recently.

Members of the South-South caucus of the House of Representatives also want Dr Lukman sacked. One of its leaders, Hon. Halims Agoda said, “In order not to allow Alhaji Rilwanu Lukman to inflict further dangerous and grievous harm on the immediate and long-term interest of the country, we demand that he should resign”.

“If he fails to do so, Mr. President should save Nigeria of many more problems by removing him forthwith as Petroleum Minister”, he added.

The Izon-Ebe Oil Producing Communities Forum (IOPCF), headed by Chief Favour Izoukumor frowned at the PIB, saying it was anti-Niger-Delta and the Federal Government should review it to reflect the interest of the host communities for the purpose of fairness and equity.

Protest galore

Chairman of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) in Delta State, Barrister Oghenejabor Ikimi in his personal capacity stated, “I salute the capacity of the six South-South governors, who after a meeting in Asaba resolved to pull out of the amnesty deal should the federal government fail to reverse the provocative petroleum industry bill, the movement of the university of petroleum, Effurun to Kaduna and the anti-South-South posture of the petroleum minister”.

“I make bold to say that the above action by the courageous governors are no doubt a reflection of the anger and bitterness presently pervading the entire Niger-Delta region whose God-given resources are being appropriated and squandered by the powers that be. Once again, I call on President Umaru Yar’Adua to immediately retrace his administration’s aforementioned provocative policies in the interest of peace and tranquility in the region, as no weapon, warship, machine guns or AK 47 fashioned against the people would prosper”, he said.

Pioneer Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon Emmanuel Okoro asserted, “The action of the South-South governors is commendable, the agenda of some political oligarchies and elites of the Northern region is inimical to the growth and development of the Niger-Delta if not the country, and particularly oppressive to the Niger Delta region. Their action is now exposed through the recent anti-Niger-Delta policies of the federal government”.

“The petroleum minister has exhausted his intellectual usefulness in the past and now has nothing except archaic and retrogressive ideas against the goose that produces the golden egg. He should, therefore, be relieved of that position for a young and vibrant person of progressive ideas, no matter how lovely the petroleum industry bill is, it cannot satisfy the yearnings of the people except the oil-producing region are carried along.

“The only solution to address the socio-economic and political logjam in the country is the operation of fiscal federalism or resource control, no more, no less”, Okoro added.

Warning signal

Indication that Dr. Lukman would find it hard to drive the PIB without challenge from the people came early in the day when the only Niger-Delta member of the Oil and Gas Implementation Committee (OGIC), led by him, Donu Kogbara resigned from the committee over what she called professional, personal and social reasons that border on lack of protection of the interests of Niger Deltans.

Kogbara, who spoke from London , during the week, regretted that her views were not respected the way she took the professional views of other members of the committee.

She added that most of the backlash that were currently in the front burners in the Niger Delta today would have been addressed without problems.

According to Kogbara, “I can confirm to you that I have left. I have resigned but my resignation has not been accepted. I just felt that I was not being respected enough, especially on my opinions and belief in the Niger Delta issues. I would have been happier if they had more Niger Delta people on the committee.”

She said she was appointed into the committee by former minister of FCT, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, who felt she was needed in the committee for the purpose of interfacing with the public on goings on in the committee. Asked whether there was adequate representation of the Niger Delta on the committee, she replied, “How can one person who is not well versed in engineering and petroleum matters represent the interest of the entire region?”

Recounting the things she told the committee to do before she got angry and left, Kogbara said: “‘I demanded that they should organize road shows in Rivers and Cross River States to sensitize the people on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) as well as have their input.”

She also said she felt that issues of poverty and infrastructural development ought to have been better handled by people in power and implemented alongside amnesty and across the country so that the peace and security would be generally addressed not only in the Niger Delta but nationwide.

On the position of the governors from the region to opt out of the amnesty extended to Niger Delta militants by the Federal Government, she said she was not well informed about the issue, but added that their canvassing for the best for the region was good if they had woken up from their slumber.

Host communities not consulted

It was gathered that the Federal Government constituted the Petroleum Sector Reforms Committee without any deliberate attempt at involving the states and communities where petroleum is produced.

“The situation”, a top government official from Rivers State said, “ once more reminds us of the recommendations of the Willink’s Commission of 1958, which provided that people who are no Niger Delta inhabitants could not effectively legislate for the people that inhabit the difficult terrain of the Niger Delta”.

The fall of Camp 5 in Niger Delta

“In so doing, the PIB has woefully failed to (a) address or redress the issues that have given birth to the current challenges in the Niger Delta and (b) guarantee the uninterrupted flow of the Nigerian oil and gas with a view to restoring and recapturing investor-confidence .

“In this wise, we suggest that whatever may be the budget of these establishments, since they are national institutions, they ought to come under the purview of the National Assembly as has been the case so far”, he said.

MEND adopts wait and see attitude

However, the chief militant group in the region, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger_Delta (MEND) in an electronic mail response to an inquiry by Vanguard said the pull-out threat of the governors over the oil bill and other issues would quicken the emancipation of the region, but, according to its spokesman, Jomo Gbomo, the group would want to adopt a “wait and see attitude” because politicians were not ones to be trusted.

Loathed agenda

Nevertheless, at the Senate public hearing of the controversial PIB on Monday, major oil producers warned that their plans to invest $95 billion in the sector over the next five years could be derailed by the provisions of the proposed law.

Aside the major producers who spoke on the bill on Monday, the Rivers State Government and the Indigenous Oil Producers criticized some major thrusts of the bill.

Managing Director of Shell Nigeria, Mr. Mutiu Sumonu, in another presentation, said the provisions of PIB would make gas exploration in the country uneconomic.

“The existing fiscal legislation recognizes the fundamental difference between oil and gas, but the proposed PIB treats oil and gas fiscals equally, making all gas projects uneconomic.”

In its submission, the Rivers State Government flayed the concept of the bill which it claimed was done without consultation with major stakeholders from the oil-producing regions of the country.

“Rivers State requests that the right of individuals and institutions of state to own shares in the Nigeria National Petroleum Company should be enshrined in the law on the basis of equity participation using possessor rights of the land dwellers/host communities of the petroleum producing region.

“In summary, we propose that the Bill be withdrawn and completely redrafted to ensure respect for the component parts of the Federation, fair play and equity.

In its own submission the Indigenous and Marginal Field Operators in their submission, articulated by Mr. Austin Avuru demanded for an industry law that:

*Recognizes the peculiarly un-prospective leases often available to Indigenous Operators, being the ones relinquished by IOCs due to their low productivity ranking or small size of the discoveries. The new Law should therefore create a fiscal regime that moderates the effects of these geological realities.

*Deliberately encourages growth of individual companies up to a threshold up to 50,000bopd. It is only in this situation can the nation aspire to achieve even 20% indigenous production by 2020.

*Grants Nigerian companies, on an open and competitive basis under clearly defined criteria preferential access to onshore and shelf acreages”.

Element of doubt

However, the coordinator of the Niger-Delta Professionals for Development, Mr. Joel Bisina and the governorship candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party in the 2001 governorship elections in Delta State, Engineer Emmanuel Igbine towed a different stand from the majority.

According to Bisina, “How are we sure this is not another political jamboree as was the case when same South_ South governors hijacked the resource control struggle through the Benin declaration from the youths of the Niger-Delta only to jettison it for mere political alignment and patronage”.

“I want you to know that you (governors) killed the struggle and left our youths at the crossroad. Now, you threaten to pullout of the amnesty arrangement; did you even consult with the people you claim to represent before you signed on? The youths of the region have seen this long time ago and have concluded that the present political configuration of Nigeria is heavily skewed against the region and therefore have continued to demand for true federalism , which for you, is too intellectual, highly academic and the road to its achievement too time consuming. You ignored the wishes of the people for mere political gains”, he said.

On his part, Engr. Igbini said contrary to what the governors want the people to believe,

”The Bill aims to expose the decades long of crude oil stealing, fraud, environmental destruction and exploitation by the multinational oil companies, as the Bill insists on publishing what is earned and produced in the oil industry to be easily accessed by our people in line with international extractive industry transparent initiative”.

”It also seeks to open a new window of opportunity which takes into account, the need for our people to be major stakeholders in the management and control of our God given oil and gas resources. It is therefore not surprising that the multinational oil companies have continued to frustrate and strongly object to the passage of the Bill while supporting many existing obnoxious Nigerian Petroleum that protects and encourages their atrocities. They have also allegedly been sponsoring some groups to condemn this Bill”, he asserted.

An obnoxious and unfortunate bill – Tonye Princewill

Stakeholders in the Niger Delta have asked the National Assembly to throw out the Petroleum Bill “as it seeks to further deprive the region and its people of the proceeds from their natural resources”.

The Action Congress Party in the state through its spokesman, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze said the “bill should not see the light of day and we urge the National Assembly to throw out the Petroleum Industry Bill whenever it is presented before it, as it is not only anti-community but also a slap on the face of the oil producing states and truth be known, the bill has nothing good to offer the country but would spell doom for the land”.

On his part, factional President of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People, Mr. Goodluck Diigbo said the “bill would generate crisis and create unnecessary militancy, even as the government is trying to erase militancy”

Further to this he said “it should be thrown out and community participation of oil producing areas in the region be encouraged and a trust fund from oil derivation be set up for all and for generations yet unborn”.

Also, Prince Tonye Princewill AC gubernatorial candidate in Rivers State in 2007 said the bill is “a calculated ploy to dehumanize the Niger Delta region.

He pointed out its failure to address community involvement in industry and governments intention to reduce the amount of derivation revenues accruing to oil producing communities and states.

This is because in what is submitted to the National Assembly nothing goes to either the community or states where this mineral is produced.

“To me, this bill is obnoxious and unfortunate”. He decried the proposed restructuring of the upstream sector that would ultimately have Private owned multinationals in JV agreements with the NNPC face the risk of becoming like moribund public enterprises

“This is an act that can singularly pose high environmental risks when inexperienced managers drive a complex industry.

Merit will be thrown overboard and quota will be used in staffing and promotions, which he fears may not benefit the Niger Delta indigenes.

“Fiscal and funding terms are likely to become more onerous, making industry unattractive to large commercial international players. In short I urge all Nigerians no matter the section to rise up and support the defeat of this bill aimed at the disintegration of Nigeria”.