texazzpete:

Don't believe the hype. there aren't that many lands 'destroyed' by oil spills. I dare say without a guide you will not be able to find any one yourself.
These guys were never much better than subsistence farmers and fishermen anyway. and the vast majority of oil spills in the past 5 years comes from illegal bunkering operations. no prizes for guessing which people carry out the bunkering.

I don't know about people getting more and more desperate when they constantly elect leaders they know to be crooks. look at the rousing reception given to Alams. all through his ordeal he wasnever regarded as having betrayed his kinsmen anyway.
Down to the village level everyone of these guys is hinkin gof how to make money for himself and shaft the rest

There has been reports of spills for decades now. Since the 90's to this present day. It is not teh same place and yes, they are farmers and fishermen but you have to consider how this spreads. I used to be in school around that area and did hear of such spills and how some people have had their land destroyed by it. Yes the oil companies offere to buy up the land but usually the price offered is not even enough.

About their voting for the wrong leaders, that would be story of all of Nigeria and Lord knows if we have not done the same yet again. If oil were to be found in my backyard, I would want a piece of the cake. I mean the oil company should try helping in development in the area considering how much money it makes in my backyard. I do not think that is too much to ask from a global oil company or any oil company. Usually anywhere else the same companies have office, there is a lot of development in the area courtesy of the companies. From Texas to Alaska. It is the case, why should that case be any different?? I am rooting for the people cause we have been hearing of this for too long, decades now and I believe it is time for the oil companies to contribute more to development in that area than it already has done in the last 40 or so years in that place.

why should the oil companies 'contribute' to the development of the area?

What happens to all the taxes and petroleum royalties collected by the government? over 80% of oil proceeds go to the Nigerian government as a whole, if you cannot develop with that, what is the fraction collected by the oil companies going to achieve in the end?

The oil companies already contribute through the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), their own small scale (as is done elsewhere in the world) Community development programs amongst others.

This responsibility falls SOLELY on the government, there are rife stories of how some of these 'community leaders' delay access to spillage sites just to COMPOUND the problem and elicit a larger payoff from the Oil Companies!!

They are not even so concerned about their lands as they are about what financial benefit they can reap from the spills.

I was listening to an AGIP presentation yesterday, it was highly informative. . .showing just how much the Oil Companies are ALREADY doing, they sponsored wholly the solid waste management program in Port Harcourt, if the state or LG has mismanaged such an initiative, then I don't know how you can blame the oil companies

Just ONE power plant, the 480MW Okpai Power Plant built by AGIP supplies between 15-20% of all the electricity in Nigeria!! The plant was supposed to be expanded, but due to government incompetence and failure to pay for the electricity as due, the expansion efforts are on hold.

Not to forget of course, that 13% of all Oil Revenue goes directly to the producing states, not to mention all the other funding efforts enumerated above. If development doesn't occur despite all of the foregoing, then the OIL companies are not to be blamed, that is unless you expect them to run the governments in the ND in order to be seen to be 'giving a piece of the cake' or 'contributing to development'.

@Debosky

Point of correction 13% of Oil revenue goes into an account controlled by the Federal Government which over the years remains unreleased to the NDDC with the interest going to only where God knows. Did you talk about waste management programme in Port Harcourt then please take a visit to the garbage city thats the new name from Garden city. The stench of the dump sites which is very fluid in the middle of the harmattan season will tell you the type of waste management programme dem Oil giants are doing.

debosky:

why should the oil companies 'contribute' to the development of the area?

What happens to all the taxes and petroleum royalties collected by the government? over 80% of oil proceeds go to the Nigerian government as a whole, if you cannot develop with that, what is the fraction collected by the oil companies going to achieve in the end?

The oil companies already contribute through the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), their own small scale (as is done elsewhere in the world) Community development programs amongst others.

This responsibility falls SOLELY on the government, there are rife stories of how some of these 'community leaders' delay access to spillage sites just to COMPOUND the problem and elicit a larger payoff from the Oil Companies!!

They are not even so concerned about their lands as they are about what financial benefit they can reap from the spills.

I was listening to an AGIP presentation yesterday, it was highly informative. . .showing just how much the Oil Companies are ALREADY doing, they sponsored wholly the solid waste management program in Port Harcourt, if the state or LG has mismanaged such an initiative, then I don't know how you can blame the oil companies

Just ONE power plant, the 480MW Okpai Power Plant built by AGIP supplies between 15-20% of all the electricity in Nigeria!! The plant was supposed to be expanded, but due to government incompetence and failure to pay for the electricity as due, the expansion efforts are on hold.

Not to forget of course, that 13% of all Oil Revenue goes directly to the producing states, not to mention all the other funding efforts enumerated above. If development doesn't occur despite all of the foregoing, then the OIL companies are not to be blamed, that is unless you expect them to run the governments in the ND in order to be seen to be 'giving a piece of the cake' or 'contributing to development'.

Nigeria does not get that much at all. Last I heard it was about 10% that comes back to Nigeria in the end, even with the rise in oil prices, that is why there is a review to happen soon. Most of Nigerias so called profits go outside of Nigeria. That happens to be the reason why I posted that the oil companies need to do more since they gulp most of the profits in the first place.

I am not sure where you get your data from but one of the main reasons why there is not much money floating around in Nigeria, even our reserves and yes, after the pillaging, is cause in the end, we are like many african countries, not getting back the majority of the benefits we ought to be reaping. Please take a trip to the rivers area to see first hand what is going on down there.

The problem in the Niger delta is to get good people to be governors and all thier problem would be solve, but the good one do not want to run for office, where una dey o, make una come out, Your people need you now, before it is too late.

@Kobojunkie
Your data is fatally flawed, and now i see why you're reasoning this way

http://www.nigerianoil-gas.com/upstream/joint_venture_companies.htm
http://www.3tsoftware.com/3TNigeria/ListOfClients.asp

SPDC in Nigeria operates under a joint venture agreement with NNPC, ELf and Agip. SPDC operates the Joint Venture and has a 30% stake. NNPC owns the controlling stake of 55%, Elf 10% and AGIP 5%.

Typically, when a barrel of oil comes out of the ground, the Nigerian government takes off 80% as Royalties. Some part of the cost of production is paid back to the companies from the remaining 20%. This is then split in the 55%, 30%, 10% and 5% sharing formula respectively. Note that NNPC still gets their 55% after the 80% Royalty. Finally the share each company gets is the taxable income, and that is then taxed.

I have since found out that the main reason for the unreasoning hatred of the oil majors is the unfounded beliefs that these guys are carting away all nigeria's money. In reality, for a benchmark price of $60 a barrel, Shell makes just about $2. Guess which country takes off more than $50 for the aforementioned barrel.

Facts over beliefs. that should be your watchword. Your country takes by far the lion's share of the wealth and the ant's share of the blame for environmental damage.

http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/33/56/36741748.pdf

Is this correct ?

@Kobo
Would help if you highlighted a particular page or so of the PDF. Otherwise seems daunting to slog through all that depressing fine print.

I read through the part about how Agriculture contributes more to the GDP than all resource mining combined. Would that be correct

Making a change and rallying for the good of the people can be achieved by much more peaceful means than gun toting and kidnapping as has been proved by people like the mothers of the plaza de Mayo or all those who suffered during apartheid or many more. They didn't resort to running around shooting, looting and gun toting. That's just agberoism of the highest order. I'm a Deltan. My environment has been destroyed. My family members still live there. They are still jobless, without education, disheartened and neglected. None of us has resorted to killing people, looting, shooting or gun toting. MEND = Men Enabling Nepotism and more Division. This is not the time, the place or the platform for them to be spewing this white sepulchre propanganda of having the people's best interests at heart because the people are far from their minds. If they were, they'd let them live with what dignity is left or they'd march in protest of the treatment we have received for so long not this b.s. Hundreds of people have died, are displaced, are worse off than they were before and are even more angry. So. Is that progress? How does that help us?

I am afraid to say that when all the oil and gas is completely depleted from the Niger Delta, any
yearnings for foreign investment will be in futile because the place has made a name for itself
in the field of torturing and kidnapping. This is going to be MEND's long lasting legacy.

You forgot to add that Niger Delta will not attract foreign investment to their sterile land as a result of oil spillage.

nuzo:

You forgot to add that Niger Delta will not attract foreign investment to their sterile land as a result of oil spillage.

You forgot to add that 80% of the oil spillage is caused by the people of the Niger DElta themselves, either during sabotage or during illegal bunkering.

Care to know how Pipelines are stolen? The vandals (Niger Deltans) make a cut in the pipeline, and crude gushes out. Sensors note the sudden loss of pressure, and the well closes in. Also the line to the flowstation is closed and the line is depressurized to reduce the oil spillage. As soon as crude stops flowing, the vandals cut off a large section of pipe and make away with it, leaving behind an oil spill.

Issac Borrow and Saro Wiwa are to blame for the faith of Nigeria deltans today.
They sabotaged Ojukwu in our fight for freedom now the people they hoped on are doing it to there people now.
I pity their plight but then i don't think they will get any compansation in this present Nigeria. The blood stained
Guys at the helm of affairs in nigeria careless about anybody.

What Ojukwu saw 30 years ago is manifesting today.

texazzpete:

You forgot to add that 80% of the oil spillage is caused by the people of the Niger DElta themselves, either during sabotage or during illegal bunkering.

Care to know how Pipelines are stolen? The vandals (Niger Deltans) make a cut in the pipeline, and crude gushes out. Sensors note the sudden loss of pressure, and the well closes in. Also the line to the flowstation is closed and the line is depressurized to reduce the oil spillage. As soon as crude stops flowing, the vandals cut off a large section of pipe and make away with it, leaving behind an oil spill.

Mostly done by mercenaries and government officials. Tell me Tex, who do you think supplies illiterate Ijaw boys tools to steal crude oil or petrol? The government is not sincere. They should stop assisting criminals in breaking pipelines and stop GAS FLARING!!!!!!!!! It is a menace. another question, have you been to an oilfield where gas is being flared?


@doncaster

Ojukwu should have limited his fight to freedom to his people.

ow11:

@doncaster
Ojukwu should have limited his fight to freedom to his people.

Who are Ojukwu's people if i may ask?

doncaster:

Who are Ojukwu's people if i may ask?

You and people like you who talk about the south south sabotaging Ojukwu

I have checked ma post i did not see were i wrote the south south sabotaged Ojuks.
I wrote ISSAC BORROW and SARO WIWA. May these two guys are south south in your mind.
Phillip Effiong is from south south, i can remember his role during the war as if it was yesterday.
The problem of Rivers and Bayelsa is from IB and SW.

@ow11
The tools used are crude implements, not hi-tech stuff. Hacksaws have been used to good effect in the past.

Don't decieve yourself; these guys are flush with cash from their bunkering operations, well armed and well-fed. They use swamp buggies and barges, they sell condensate for large sums of money in PH.

I found it hilarious that you talk about illiterate ijaw people. Who's fault is it that they are illiterate? Does it really cost that much to build schools?

@ doncaster

I meant Niger delta ( sometimes it is difficult to spearate both of them). Saro Wiwa and Boro sabotaging Ojukwu does not hold water when Ojukwu decided to fight a war without ammunitions against an army being supplied tons of small arms by th British army. It is on record ( check out the Biafra video on youtube) that more small arms were used by the Nigerian Army than what was used in the entire 2nd world war. It is crazy to think Ojuwu would win a war like that or think 2 men from Old RV state had anything to do with Ojukwu losing a war without appropriate fire power.


@Tex

The bunkerers are flush with cash but go to joints and hear them speak. You'll hear names of eminent Nigerians as owners of barges, tankers and tug boats. I still make my claim that they are either illiterate or semi-literate. These boys barely have o'levels yet ride big cars. Those barges you named, do you know how much it costs to rent one? There is no way a group of boys can take hacksaws and go into the swamp to cut open a pipeline without the necessary logistics. these were supplied by the namelss and shameless ex rulers of this country. Now the boys have invested the money they made and are running their own show. if you must tackle a problem, the root cause must be ascertained before trying to attack branches of the problem.

When no schools exist, how do you become literate? Now when you do not attach any value to education, how do you build schools when you grow up?

Go to Soku, Ekulama, Bukuma, Amatolo etc and look at the schools there and tell me how on earth someone can learn anything there or even appreciate education.

ow11, abeg tell them for me.

The South-South was divided over the Biafra issue. As my dad told me, even from the same house, brothers would go and join different armies.

ow11:

When no schools exist, how do you become literate? Now when you do not attach any value to education, how do you build schools when you grow up?

Go to Soku, Ekulama, Bukuma, Amatolo etc and look at the schools there and tell me how on earth someone can learn anything there or even appreciate education.

Please STOP! Stop spewing that age-long myth. How much does it take to establish schools? What does the state and local government do with the monies that come to them? Can you not set up a decent secondary school in a rural environment for less than 50 million naira?

I have THREE close friends serving in Rivers state. The stories they paint are of people not willing to learn anything. One teaches in a school in Buguma, where only about 8% of the SS3 class attend lectures. The rest are off bunkering and stealing. The school writes their WAEC for them. I've since confirmed that picture to be a common one in that region.

How do you discourage laziness when youths in the Buguma region are given N20k for doing nothing?

Please stop saying there are no schools. it does you a great disservice, and marks ALL Niger Delta people as failures. Schools exist in the region, but people are not that interested.

No schools my arse.

texazzpete:

I have THREE close friends serving in Rivers state. The stories they paint are of people not willing to learn anything. One teaches in a school in Buguma, where only about 8% of the SS3 class attend lectures. The rest are off bunkering and stealing. The school writes their WAEC for them. I've since confirmed that picture to be a common one in that region.

How do you discourage laziness when youths in the Buguma region are given N20k for doing nothing?

Please stop saying there are no schools. it does you a great disservice, and marks ALL Niger Delta people as failures. Schools exist in the region, but people are not that interested.

O-boy no dey yarn opata. Niger-Delta was one of the first areas in Naija to accept education after Lagos. Don't forget that we were one of the first to have contact with the white missionaries. My great grandfathers were going to school probably even before most Nigerians could spell their name. Please don't turn this into a tribal thing. We have been going to school for a long time, yet we have not been able to get jobs because of tribalism. Do you blame some of those youths for quitting education when their parents are holding Masters Degrees and sitting at home doing nothing? Abonema annd Buguma have always been some of the most progressive places in Naija when it comes to education. You are there casting judgements and your whole nation is living off our natural resources.

@Ibime
Please always endeavour to read first before replying. I was referring to an earlier comment from ow11 that there are no schools in the Niger Delta, and that most of these boys are illiterates or semi-literates. Why didn't you flag that comment when it was made?

I'm bringing forward opinions from people actually teaching in those areas. it's not for you to sit in London and make theories. Loads of nairalanders served in Rivers State. Interview them to find out their experiences while teaching.

Education still remains the key to move the people forward. Oil companies preferentially recruit people from the south South as long as they meet the minimum criteria. I've just heard that in the latest Shell recruitment into SITP, a huge percentage are from the South South.

Instead of railing against me, why don't you guys appeal to your people who have long decided that education isn't neccessary?

@Tex

Is it not because of the increased violence oil companies are looking for ND boys to come and  work for them? if you work in an oil company, check out how many of your bosses are Non-Yorubas?

The issue of rural students unwilling to learn is rife across Nigeria. we all did NYSC. In ND, since there is an incentive to carry weapons and reduce Nigeria's GDP, efforts should be made to encourage school attendance. You and I know that education can go a long way in reducing the number of miscreants in the society.

Now like I said earlier, If the FG is sincere, they can force the state govts to comply with any directive given to build and equip schools.Not by OBJ  coming to PH to share the money with that monster ODILI then Odili has the freedom to steal at will. Then when jobless youths complain, Odili will share millions of the loot with them. Buy guns and help them kill themselves.

I don't suscribe to preferential treatment when it comes to employment but at the same time that should not mean all those yoruba MD's in PH should employ their brothers without due process.

@Ibime

Odili should be held responsible for this mess.

Texzzpete, Why should I ask Nairalanders about Rivers State when I grew up in Rivers State, I'm from Rivers State and I know Rivers State like the back of my hand. You are saying that people in Buguma don't want to go to school. Firstly, Buguma is a rural area - tell me which rural area in Naija has good school attendance - is it your village? You cannot compare school attendance in a rural area to school attendance in an urban area like Lagos or PH. Generally, secondary school attendance in rural areas is low in Naija. Secondly, 3/4 of Bugumans live in PH and they all go to school. So the Bugumans that your friends see in Buguma are not a fair reflection of Buguman society. Literally, the ones left behind in Buguma are the blue collar of Buguma society - fishermen, subsistence farmers, craftsmen etc. Really, for you to say that about Buguma smacks of complete and utter ignorance because a lot of our prominent scholars in Rivers State are actually Kalabari. Probably, the Kalabari have the highest percentage of graduates amongst all the Ijaw-tribes. Probably followed by Bonny, Nembe, Okrika and Opobo. If you say that the Naija-Delta tribes do not go to school, what will you say about the upland tribes such as Ikwerre, Etche, Ahoada or even the Ibo? Infact, if you check the percentage of graduates per head of population, we (Ijaws) will probably be no1 or no2 because only the Yorubas can compete with us in that respect in the whole of Nigeria. If I tell you that I don't have a cousin or relative of graduate age who is not a graduate, you will not believe me. Not one!

Your friends should wait till Christmas time and they will see the poulation of Buguma triple just from people coming back home. Almost everybody who goes on NYSC generally has a bad impression of the place they are serving, unless they are in a big city. They will compare the rural area they are serving to their home city - but they will not compare it to their village.

It makes you smile or even laugh, when you read various opinions of this sort from Nigerians. You will now know why Nigeria will continue to be a country but millions of years away from becoming a nation. How Can one imagined the argument that the oil is accidental?, therefore no such claim to it. That all the oil spillages that had totally destroyed the ecosystem/ecology are all in the minds of the whiners and not real. Some then decided to accept the existence of the spillages but in the best of wisdom blamed it on the host communites now sees as bunkerers. Others questioned what Niger Deltans are doing with the generosity given to them of what rightly is their through the socalled derivations.

Amazing!! Those are typical Nigerian attitude to the plight of their so called compatriots, see no evil, hear no evil as long as it's not happening around me, they can go to hell. How many of such bended and paroquial opinion will see the light of the day if this oil is coming from their own backyards? In fact how many will even support Nigerian existence as one nation for one minute if this oil comes from their community?

I sympathise with the people of Delta but somehow, I don't feel sorry for them. They are reaping what they sowed over the years. They are harvesting the politics of playing a willing spoilers since the start of Nigeria, against their natural brothers, nephews and neighbours. They use every means including blackmail to sabotage Biafran aspiration with the most vocals like Edwin Clarke and Ken Wiwa. They were quite comfortable confiscating their neighbours properties nicknamed abandoned property. Today where are the likes of Clarke and Wiwa in the Nigerian equation?



There is no point crying over spilled milk. Accept it, you are slave to your God's resources by choice and so shall it be until the day the oil wells dried up and then all the present Alhajis, Otunba or Igwes running around you with their oil wells will then disappear. They will be the first to tell you to go to hell. They will even encourage you to declare your own republic outside Nigeria, as their new sources of wealth from Groundnut Products, Cocoa, Coal or Palm Produce will not be enough to look after their own people let alone you and your polluted lands and waters. You will be viewed with disdain, a pain in the neck you will become.

Niger Deltans should use the present antagonistic attitude towards them and the kind of language today to measure what it will be exactly like for them inside Nigeria, the day, the crude oil will dry up. I pray to live to see that day, because it will be very very very interesting.

^^^Eziachi, good points you make about the attitude of Nigerians. They will look for any reason to turn the oppressed into the antagonist. First educated guys like Isaac Boro in the 1960's told them. Then it was Saro-Wiwa - still they didn't listen. Now the militants are speaking. I am sure they are paying attention now. They say its because we are not educated, yet many of these militants are graduates, raised in the "Cult" system of Nigerian Universities. A lot of the militants now are even products of the PDP election strategy. If we tell them that Oyo people must be uneducated because Adedibu's thugs are terrorising the state, I'm sure they will be offended. Bloody Nigerians!

Anyway, you are talking about Naija-Delta sabotaged you - no, Naija-Delta was split on the issue. Half of us fought for you and half of us fought for Naija. The ones that fought for Naija fought because they were not consulted on this Biafra thing. You cannot cut off a part of Naija without consulting the non-Igbo tribes in that part. In reality, nobody in Naija-Delta had a quarrell with you guys leaving Naija. They were just afraid of being dominated by an overwhelming majority who did not even bother to consult them before they declared war. You guys showed an arrogant attitude toward us, just like Nigeria is doing now - and we were not sure we wanted to be a part of that. The fact is, a lot of us are Ibo. I may be Ijaw, but I'm from Ibo migration - just like many others in the region.

@Ibime
Please reconcile your opinion that Niger Delta youths are highly educated with ow11's viewpoint that most of them are illiterate.

@Eziachi
It's disheartening when you hear educated people use phrases like 'totally destroyed the ecosystem'. One would think that the entire landmass in the ND is covered with oil spills.

And i stick by my observation that most of the oil spills in recent years have come from sabotage and the activities of illegal bunkerers.
Perhaps yourself and Ibime can head over to Soku and see the army of condensate bunkerers there. It's far better than spewing out indoctrinated information.

texazzpete:

@Ibime
Please reconcile your opinion that Niger Delta youths are highly educated with ow11's viewpoint that most of them are illiterate.

I repeat that Naija Delta youth are just as literate as any other rural part of Nigeria. ow11 statement that they need schools applies to every part of rural Nigeria. It is the same in Igboland, Tivland, and even Yorubaland. I have told you to stop using education as an excuse. Even if we had 90% education, you only need a few hundred militants to turn the country upside down. Plus, I have told you that many militants are educated. Maybe, you want us all to be Professors before this problem goes away. The fact is we will always be as well educated as the average Nigerian, even better - but that is not the cause of the problem. Mind you, the more educated we are, the more incensed we will be at our treatment by the Nigerian Government. We will also be more aware of our land rights. Have you ever met anyone from South-South? If you don't know, we are very janded, highly clued up and well educated. Ask anybody about PH, they will tell you it is not your average Nigerian city.

Instead of looking at education, you should be looking at the Nigerian Government who instead of addressing the grievances of the militants, proceeded to buy them off, thus creating lucrative financial incentives for any ragtag fisherman to pick up a gun. Face it, militancy is a highly profitable business - way more profitable than any other occupation Nigeria has to offer them. This is the cause of the problem.

texazzpete:

@Eziachi
It's disheartening when you hear educated people use phrases like 'totally destroyed the ecosystem'. One would think that the entire landmass in the ND is covered with oil spills.

There you go talking balderdash again. First you talk about Buguma, yet you have never been there. I doubt you have ever been to Warri or PH, much less Naija-Delta. Have you ever been to Naija-Delta? Have you ever fished in the river? "The eco-system is totally destroyed" is a valid statement regarding Naija-Delta. The whole land doesn't have to be covered with oil for the fish to die. If there is an oil spill in any single pathway through which fish migrate, the fish will die. The fact is that our traditional occupation of fishing is not a viable occupation anymore. Fishermen are catching 3 or 4 fish a day. Disgraceful!

Watch this:

http://www.viewnaija.com/video-1390.html

and this:

http://www.viewnaija.com/video-1438.html

texazzpete:

And i stick by my observation that most of the oil spills in recent years have come from sabotage and the activities of illegal bunkerers.
Perhaps yourself and Ibime can head over to Soku and see the army of condensate bunkerers there. It's far better than spewing out indoctrinated information.

My friend stop talking nonsense. There are oil bunkerers even in Lagos. Your people are hungry just like my people and oil bunkering is an act of hunger and desperation. Don't act like your people are above oil bunkering. You are really losing my respect with your scattergun comments. Just admit that you are looking for any excuse for Nigeria not to be accountable. At the same time, you are being extremely tribally insensitive. So in 1995, it was Ogoni's causing all the oil spills abi? There are many other causes for oil-spill apart from bunkering such as offshore drilling, storage tanks, routine loading and unloading of crude oil, human mistakes and reliability issues with pipelines and petroleum storage facilities. Gas flaring is illegal in Nigeria, yet oil companies flare gas everywhere in Naija-Delta including opposite my grandmothers house. You want to blame us for everything. There was no oil bunkering 10 years ago, yet there was a lot of environmental damage. We didn't complain back then because we saw how Abacha treated Saro-Wiwa and we were scared. Now, we are in a democracy and we are bolder in speaking up for ourselves.


I shall leave you with Kobojunkie's quote:

"There has been reports of spills for decades now. Since the 90's to this present day. It is not the same place and yes, they are farmers and fishermen  but you have to consider how this spreads.  I used to be in school around that area and did hear of such spills and how some people have had their land destroyed by it. Yes the oil companies offere to buy up the land but usually the price offered is not even enough."

@Ibime
You're getting increasingly confrontational. I'm not willing to go down that path with you, so i'd advise you to simmer down a bit.

FYI, i live and work in PH, so you can be sure i've got a fair idea of what i'm talking about.
Most of my statements have concerned the state of things in the past 5 years, and it's no secret that bunkering and pipeline sabotage has exponentially increased in the past couple of years.

All i see is a people eager to place the blame for their own underdevelopment where it largely sits; their elected officials. The same youths that are carrying arms were the ones campaigning vigorously for known thieves to be their Governors and council chairmen. Instead these 'educated people' are expecting multinational oil companies to build roads, houses, schools and industries for them. These are duties of the government (state and local level).

I am firmly in support of the 50% derivation, so it'll finally expose the gross misuse of the money accruing to the states.