₦airaland Forum

Ogoniland oil spills: UN set to release report
By Jonah Fisher BBC News, Lagos
A man paddling a canoe in Rivers state, Nigeria The Ogoniland region is part of the Niger Delta wetlands
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The UN is to publish a long-awaited report on the impact of the oil spills in Nigeria's Ogoniland region.

The report took two years to produce and is controversial in part because it was funded by oil giant Shell.

On Wednesday Shell accepted liability for two spills that devastated communities in 2008 and 2009.

One community said it would seek hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation. Shell said it would settle the case under Nigerian law.

After two years of research, and consultations with all the concerned parties, the UN Environment Programme must now present its findings to Nigeria's president and the wider public.

It is already known that the report will look forensically at the impact of decades of oil spills on the communities who live in Ogoniland - once the home of executed activist Ken Saro Wiwa.

What is not known is whether the report will attempt to allocate responsibility for the damage.

There was an outcry in Nigeria when it was suggested that local people attempting to sabotage pipelines and steal oil might be blamed for most of the spills.

Having been funded by Shell, any mention of the oil giant in will be closely scrutinised.

Politics Wednesday, August 3, 2011

By Emma Amaize

Mr. Chike Ogeah is the Delta State Commissioner for Information. In this interview with Vanguard's Emma Amazie he articulates the political challenges facing the Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan administration which in the main he ascribes to blind hatred, enunciates how the government is changing the face of the State and postulates a worthy legacy for the Uduaghan administration.



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Excerpts:

How did you fall in love with the Uduaghan administration?

I had my own preconceived ideas, then I thought that everything coming out of here (Delta) like I was reading, was negative, in fact, the report was like there was a problem in Delta state, I live in Lagos.

I came down to Asaba, I am from Asaba and I saw a few things, the first thing that struck me, I must tell you was the Airport, I went to the airport and I saw the gigantic project, yes, it had not been finished then, but we all know that Rome was not built in a day, you cannot just say ah and airport will appear from nowhere but I could see, my mind could conceive the vision of what someone was trying to do in my small Asaba town and that alone melted my mind and I said any governor that is doing this, you might say this is a little bit selfish, yes, but I am an Asaba person. I know that there had governments in the state before and nothing like that had happened, I vowed there and then that I would support the government, I did not know about Uduaghan and from then, I started finding out more about the state and this government.

So why do some people speak bad about him?

I realized what basically was happening was that this governor, like every other government in this world is an offshoot of another government, but we all know governance is a continuum and a lot of the flaks he had to handle are what I will call overhang from the previous government and I got involved in the campaign and I started seeing more and more.

Shaky foundation

I realized that a lot of this anger against him; the reasons that he was being demonized really had nothing to do with him as a person, it had to with a structure, which maybe he came out from; it had to do with maybe the way an election that he was not an umpire was conducted that brought him out and some people feel that process was not free and fair and you know it is like a house, no matter how edifying the second and third floor are, if the foundation is shaky, you know you will always have problem in that house. And there was this unfortunate thing that we have elder statesmen, who should the one calming the waters, but they were the ones spearheading the fight against this government and I thought it was very unfair because I felt I had met a man who really meant well for the state.

How do you intend to carry out your job as government spokesperson?

I think what is needed by me to do the job of Commissioner for Information in the state is very simple. It is not complicated at all and I have always said the very simple solutions are always the best solution in life. It is that you need someone who is passionate about this state, someone who is ready to project the goodness of this state, someone who is ready to highlight the areas we are doing well and also to address the areas we are not doing so well.

All I have to do is to let the media know the basic truth, I don't need to prepare for any interview with you at any time if you like wake me up at 2.00 am. If I am going to talk to you from my heart, it means I am going to tell you the truth and when I am telling you these things, I don't need to rehearse them, at least the way I see it. If tomorrow, it changes and I think my conscience cannot work with it, I will step aside because like I said earlier, governance is a continuum, we all come, act our part for that period and the whole idea is that we should move the state forward in a positive direction.

Talking about my job as Information Commissioner, it is like I have two brands to deal with: the governor as a human being, who is the chief executive of the state and the state. I am very passionate about my state not being labeled a pariah state, not being labeled a failed state, not being labeled a state for armed robbers, we want a situation where we will be the first and equal, we don't need propaganda at all in Delta state, all we need is to espouse on the positives we have here.

Already, this same governor I am talking about had gone ahead to be thinking about a Delta state without oil- that is why we are opening up all those areas you are seeing in the spheres of culture, tourism, human capital development, infrastructure and obviously, the foundation for everything, which is peace and security.

So basically, I think my work is very easy, that man does not give me falsehood to go and propagate for him, I participate in the State Executing Council meetings on a weekly basis and my duty to Deltans is to tell them exactly what we are doing right, where we have challenges, I will come and tell you about those challenges because if I sit down here and tell you that everything is 100 per cent, then, you have to take it from me that I have already started propaganda. No way, we must have our challenges and we will talk about it.

What do you think is the greatest challenge facing you?

The greatest challenge we have in Delta state right now is this anti-PDP emotion in the state, you know PDP has been the party in power in the state since the new democratic arrangement. So, we, in PDP, have to look at it and find out why is it so, where did it go wrong and like we all know, these are all internal struggles.

Even everything that is happening, you know that 85 per cent of the strength of the opposition in Delta is driven by splinter groups of the PDP. So, we in the PDP have to , sit down, look ourselves in the face, tell ourselves the truth and chart a path of fruitfulness on how we can help our state to develop because the truth is that our people are poor. I say this because I know that the wave of total reconciliation is already going through the party because that is the only forward and it is not a personal thing, it is just a pity that Dr. Uduaghan happened to be the chief executive of the state at this time.

How are you tackling the problem of unemployment?

Government is to provide the enabling environment for jobs as it cannot absolve all the university, polytechnic graduates and everybody out there. What government can do and which is what we are doing, for instance the Asaba airport has just started working, the multiplier effect of that airport in the whole economic sector of Delta North and maybe the entire state is enormous because new businesses are going to spring up. You can see his (Uduaghan's) plan for the Warri Industrial Business Park that has been conceived, the Independent Power Plant, IPP project for Oghara, it is a great idea but it takes time to materialize.

It is not a thing you just go and buy, they have to manufacture the turbines to specification and it is on course. You also know that a team of investors from Saudi Arabia and India visited the state recently in connection with the construction of a $16 billion petrochemical and fertilizer plants at Koko in which 500,000 jobs are in the offing – that is the kind of thing we are talking about, not fickle-minded things to distract the governor from his agenda. I am sure you are aware that the governor recently set up a Ministry of Poverty Alleviation and is restructuring a lot of things in the state to really see how government can provide employment for the people.

What is your comment on the activities of the opposition in Delta State?

The opposition in Delta if you must understand is so blind with hate, it is not even opposition based on any factual or objective thinking. It is just that this government is there, PDP is there, they have been demonized right from the preceding government and that is where this whole anger comes from. And you know, a group of people decided to more or less ethnicise it as far as I am concerned, which is very unfortunate.

And maybe because they used one of their own as the arrowhead of the opposition and I am not an Itsekiri man, but I feel the governor is doing good things, I will say it, it doesn't have to be an Igbo man like me before I will acknowledge what he is doing, if an Urhobo man is doing a beautiful job, I will say it and if an Asaba man or Anioma man comes and starts messing up, I will be the first person to tell him to get out.

That is the truth and I think that that should be where we should be getting to in Nigeria if we are talking about this country being a nation, as opposed to just being an aggregation of people just living together, which is the same thing as what we are seeing in Delta state.

Calculia, not seen. lollz

Mod, I am very much not satisfied with the complaint services being currently offered. I inquired to know, why my thread was moved to the ethnic section but yet to recieve any reply.

In the mean time, tribal wars have been raging over a thread posted by our tribal chief Alj Harem  . https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-725756.0.html Don't tell me that u have not yet seen that thread, becos my one took a minute to be moved to a section(ethnic), i am still yet to understand. Please kindly explain, why? 

okunoba:
[b]Biafran war history needs to be thought from a early age at our schools so we can learn from the mistakes of the past. [/b]The killings of Igbo people after the Nzeogwu coup had more to do with the humiliation your average Northerner felt after the killing of their prominent leaders by Igbo Army, after which Igbos in the North went out on the streets celebrating and mocking their death. We the younger generation seems to have learnt nothing from these events of History. Today we still have the same people quick to belittle and humiliate those that have welcomed them in their home land and given  them a sense of belonging. People that leave you to do your business without anger or jealousy you are quick to belittle and tell them you are more hard working, smarter, richer, that you own all the businesses in their land and that your intention is to dominate and belittle them after all the love and affection they have shown you over the years. The same pattern is developing of creating hate and resentment when there should be non. Why is there the need to feel superior to your host and even if you are superior do you have to poke our eyes with it.

The Hausa Fulani that have ruled and dominated Nigerian politics have never come on this site telling us how much smarter and better they are to the rest of the population because of their political and military dominance in fact they play it down. If the Igbo`s were in their shoes from all the chest beating we get from some of them on Nairaland, they probably would  be telling us to our face they are the superior race hence the reason they have ruled for so long and will continue to do so. Humility is golden but some of our brothers seem to lack this basic principle.  

Many of us Nigerians, Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa and the rest of us live in countries where everyday we are fighting to be respected and treated as equals because of our color, we fight not to be seen as inferior to other groups that feel superior to us, yet we are more than happy when it comes to our fellow black brothers to play the superiority game and to belittle other ethnic groups. Why do we keep on doing things to others that we don`t like done to us?

At the end of the day there is nothing wrong with an Igbo person ruling Lagos as long as he can do a good job and loves the state as he would love his home, but if the idea is to rule so we can be told how much smarter and that you are better than every other ethnic group in Nigeria then no one will want an Igbo as Governor of Lagos or even as  President of Nigeria.
If you believe in the superiority of your ethnic group over others then you should believe in the superiority of every other race over the black race. After all we are at the bottom of development in the World today. Next time the Arab or White man calls my Igbo brothers monkey he should just accept his faith as a second class citizen since he believes in the superiority of one ethnic group over the other based on material wealth.

I do not subscribe to that believe, no ethnic group is superior we are all struggling to raise our head above water.

word.

peckhamboi:
Useless people, who told you they need help. Always making noise everywhere while their states are god forsaken.

VICE VERSA

peckhamboi:
There are over 1000 hectares of forest in[b] Okija, turn it to Dubai[/b] before thinkiing of ruling Lagos

TRUTH

Posted by: Negro_Ntns
I think Ibos in Lagos are too comfortable. Yorubas have accomodated them too snugly, they need a reminder for where home is.
[quote][/quote]WORD. 

phreakabit:
If we as Igbos have this as our "DREAM" then I must say, WE they have their priority all messed up! I clearly have my own plans and it certainly doesn't involve any region outside Eastern Nigeria.

WORD.

Nigeria Needs A President That Is Not Corrupt Or Greedy In Anyway To Build Back Our Nation.
Splitting Nigeria Up Is Not An Option  (SORRY TO SAY)

Is Nigeria Spilting Up Really Going To Help The Situation.

MODS, I WANT TO KNOW WHY MY THREAD WAS MOVED? IS FASHOLA GOING TO RUN FOR NIGERIA PRESIDENT ALONE? ARE WE ALLOWED A VARIETY OF OPTIONS? CAN WE THINK FOR OURSELVES AFTER HAVING ALL SIDES OF THE ARGUEMENT? PUT MY POST BACK IN THE POLITICS SECTION WERE IT BELONGS. 

GO AND TELL THE NIGERIAN GOV THAT HAS A MINISTRY FOR WOMEN AFFAIRS AND MINISTER OF WOMEN AFFAIRS, THEY ARE ETHNOCENTRIC, PROMOTING SECTARIANISM AND RACIST.
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-724924.0.html

Mods wat does the terms Ethnic, Racial, Or Sectarian Politics mean to u? How does dat apply to show casing women that have been at the heart of affairs from all over the world to my fellow Nigerians,  to educate them about the benefits of female leadership ?

Must we continue to suffer, while we sit and sleep on a gold mine? Why can't u allow for individualism? One of the benefits of individualism is the uniqueness of ideas dat translate into richness of culture.

Excesses collectivism practiced by Nigerians in Nigeria is tantamount to ignorance, stagnation and poverty. Stop being ignorant, backward and foolish. U know wat u did is uncalled for and unjustified never yet unethical. Correct urself. 

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-724924.0.html

Mend has been settled and no arrangement has yet been reached with boko, just trying to restore order in the north under his rule and thus defeat the objective of terrorist.

If not, let it be on record he attempted to dialogue with them, becos America is not finding Nigeria funny with all this terrorism.

Nigeria is a priority for America Afriicom and they will kill and destroy alleged terrorist once on ground. That is both Islamic and oil people.

We leave in a world of choices and if our male politicians won't get it right then we have a right to look to an alternative than the usual war, theiving and tribalism currently instituted by our selfish politicians.

Mods, my post is purely political and their is nothing Ethnic, Racial, Or Sectarian Politics about it. Can i have it in the politics sections. Don't start breaking your own rules now. https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-724924.0.html