Niger Delta Solidarity Group

High Cost Of A Deadly 'Oil War'

35 People Killed, Scores Missing
7 Villages Attacked, 77 Houses Burnt
Millions Worth Of Property Destroyed
JTF Video Shows Soldiers Setting Buildings Ablaze

From Kelvin Ebiri, Port Harcourt

THE Joint Task Force (JTF) onslaught on some Tombia communities in Rivers State might have been aimed at sending a strong signal to militants in the state. But the operation has, however, left in its wake wanton destruction: shedding of blood, shattering of lives, wrecking of homes and creating a deluge of refugees.

In the stillness of the morning of Saturday, September 13, 2007, there was nothing ominous to suggest to the residents of Elem-Tombia, Ogboma, Elem-Bekinkiri, Oloko, Iyalla-Ama, Alapuminjibiri and Mbiakafimimo, whose major occupations are fishing and logging that destruction was lurking in the corner.

But abruptly, at precisely 9am, according to the paramount ruler of Elem-Tombia, Chief Sagbe Tombotamunoaa, a barrage of bombs and rocket-propelled grenades and the booming of general-purpose machine guns from two helicopter gunships pierced the quietness of the mangrove-surrounded community.

Technical committee assures Niger Deltans

Written by Jimitota Onoyume

Friday, 03 October 2008

THE newly constituted Niger Delta technical committee has assured that its recommendations at the end of its exercise would certainly be a credible road map to enduring peace in the region.

Member of the committee and foremost Ijaw activist, Dr. Youpele Banigo, told Vanguard in a chat, yesterday in Port Harcourt , that the committee was already working round the clock to ensure it delivers on its responsibilities.

According to him, among other things, the committee when it resumes on Monday would begin critical and comprehensive examination of numerous recommendations on the region with a view to producing a robust, “infallible single body of document to government.

Ogoini Land After Shell

For 15 years the Ogoni people prevented Shell Petroleum from operating on their land. Finally in June the Ogoni won a victory as the Nigerian government agreed to replace Shell's concession.   This was an opportunity for the Federal and River's State government to create a new dialogue with the Ogoni and other Delta nationalities on who operated on their lands and how they conducted their operations.  But it wasn't to be.  As if Nigeria is incapable of working together with it's citizens and recognising the rights of people on their lands and environment, the government has gone ahead without consultation and worse brought Shell back in the disguise of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC / NNDC).   

<blockquote>The Ogoni consider the government’s unilateral engagement of a new operator or operators a further attempt to deny their stakeholder rights. If it insists on proceeding without consultations on operations and local communities’ participation and benefits in the process, it will provoke hostility and almost certainly resistance. A working relationship between any new oil companies and the local people has to be defined. Indeed, communities across the Delta are increasingly insistent in their demands for agreements that grant them rights in the exploitation of oil and gas reserves on their land.</blockquote>

Continue reading Nigeria: Ogoni Land After Shell.

Sokari Ekine

Remarks of U.S. Senator Russ Feingold On the “Resource Curse” in Nigeria ’s Delta Region

http://feingold. senate.gov/ ~feingold/ statements/ 08/09/20080929a. htm

As Submitted to the Record

September 29, 2008

Mr. President, last week I chaired a hearing on the “resource curse” and Africa ’s management of its extractive industries. In too many parts of Africa , a wealth of natural resources that should be fueling economic development are instead sources of corruption and conflict. This is especially the case with sub-Saharan Africa ’s leading oil-producing nations. Just a few days ago, Transparency International released its corruption index, naming three of Africa’s top oil producers— Chad , Equatorial Guinea and Sudan —among the top ten most corrupt countries. This corruption as well as the discrepancy between persisting poverty and skyrocketing revenues is a recipe for instability in these countries, breeding weak and failing states.

'Blood Oil' and the Forgotten Master Plan

President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua may have made a tactical blunder in tackling the Niger Delta crisis when he reportedly covertly or overtly told the world's richest heads of state at the recent 2008 G8 Summit in Japan of Nigeria's hopelessness in handling the Niger Delta militancy and the country's possible inability to meet its OPEC oil production quota.. The president stopped short of prostrating to the world's richest presidents to intervene in the Niger Delta crisis At the summit, Nigeria's president reportedly quietly informed the United States President, George Bush and his British counterpart, Gordon Brown, of Nigeria's helplessness in tackling the the rising wave of militancy in the Niger Delta.