₦airaland Forum

This is bread and butter journalism!

johnie:
Respite in sight as Abuja light rail nears completion .

The road traffic gridlock in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja is becoming a nightmare for residents. The problem is further compounded by expansion work on major highways leading to the city centre. For residents of satellite towns like Kubwa, Mararaba, Nyanya, Karu, Lugbe, Gwarinpa, going to work or returning, has not been smooth.

Many residents have had to put up with hours of waiting on long queues because of the traffic bottlenecks.

Doesn't the heading say that the project is nearing completion? How come the gridlock is "becoming a nightmare?"

johnie:
To redress the chaotic traffic situation, the administration of former minister of FCT, Adamu Ailero, came up with the idea of light rail in 2009. The light rail which is expected to link the city was billed to terminate at the famous Eagle Square, in the centre of the city.

Since the idea was mooted, however, not much has been heard about the project, thus leaving residents to doubt the good intention of government.

Though the FCT administration gave end of 2010 as take off date for the test run of the rail, residents waited in vain with no sign of progress. This was what prompted the newly inaugurated Senate Committee on FCT, headed by second term senator, Smart Adeyemi, to lead other members of the committee to pay on- the-spot visit to the headquarters of the FCT, to ascertain the true situation of the project.

Though Adeyemi was a member of the committee in the last Senate, he felt he did not have much say in the matter unlike now that he is at the helm of affairs, as chairman.

Last week, Adeyemi and members of the committee took a three-hour tour of the light rail corridor from the Ministry of Finance Estate through Idu, where the Chinese company handling the project has its sight for producing all the materials needed for the completion of the rail. Unknown to the residents, work on the project had advanced and from the briefing the committee got, test run of the light rail would commence this year’s December.

Is this about the incompetence or inabiliy of Ailero to complete the project he started, about Adeyemi not being able to speak when he was a member of the committee, or a way of showing us that Adeyemi is the "action man" who would bring respite to the residents of Abuja?

johnie:
The federal lawmakers were taking through the corridors which already had laid tracks for the first phase of the rail. CityFile discovered on the tour that two locomotive engines were on sight awaiting coaches for the test run. It was also noticed that the company has in stock huge pile of rail tracks, which could speed up the completion of the project in near future.

The committee members were able to see firsthand transfer of technology to Nigerians, as young girls and boys mounted various operating machines where equipment for the rail was produced. The committee chairman told CityFile after the tour that “the light rail is a reality from what we have seen. I was part of the committee that visited the site last year.

“I am very satisfied with the level of progress on the sight, and hopefully the project will take off on schedule. Our people have suffered in an attempt to get to work. As representatives of the people, it is our duty to ensure that we alleviate the sufferings of the poor masses and this light rail is one of the measures government is working out to address that.”

He said the committee had directed the FCT administration to revoke the licence granted six transport operators who after collecting the licence have failed to deliver.

He said “there are competent operators that have the resources to deliver, and we think there is no reason why some people would be granted licences and they would not perform. The committee would not tolerate that type of situation and we have told the officials in charge.”

From what is now on ground and with the assurance by the Chinese company handling the light rail, residents can begin to heave sighs of relief from the end of this year as the test run of the project comes on stream.

This kind of "report" which reads like a report from the committee chairman himself makes one doubt the sincereity of the lawmakers in carrying out their oversight functions!

Respite in sight as Abuja light rail nears completion .
Tuesday, 25 October 2011 00:00 TUNJI OLAWUNI

The road traffic gridlock in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja is becoming a nightmare for residents. The problem is further compounded by expansion work on major highways leading to the city centre. For residents of satellite towns like Kubwa, Mararaba, Nyanya, Karu, Lugbe, Gwarinpa, going to work or returning, has not been smooth.

Many residents have had to put up with hours of waiting on long queues because of the traffic bottlenecks. To redress the chaotic traffic situation, the administration of former minister of FCT, Adamu Ailero, came up with the idea of light rail in 2009. The light rail which is expected to link the city was billed to terminate at the famous Eagle Square, in the centre of the city.

Since the idea was mooted, however, not much has been heard about the project, thus leaving residents to doubt the good intention of government.

Though the FCT administration gave end of 2010 as take off date for the test run of the rail, residents waited in vain with no sign of progress. This was what prompted the newly inaugurated Senate Committee on FCT, headed by second term senator, Smart Adeyemi, to lead other members of the committee to pay on- the-spot visit to the headquarters of the FCT, to ascertain the true situation of the project.

Though Adeyemi was a member of the committee in the last Senate, he felt he did not have much say in the matter unlike now that he is at the helm of affairs, as chairman.

Last week, Adeyemi and members of the committee took a three-hour tour of the light rail corridor from the Ministry of Finance Estate through Idu, where the Chinese company handling the project has its sight for producing all the materials needed for the completion of the rail. Unknown to the residents, work on the project had advanced and from the briefing the committee got, test run of the light rail would commence this year’s December.

The federal lawmakers were taking through the corridors which already had laid tracks for the first phase of the rail. CityFile discovered on the tour that two locomotive engines were on sight awaiting coaches for the test run. It was also noticed that the company has in stock huge pile of rail tracks, which could speed up the completion of the project in near future.

The committee members were able to see firsthand transfer of technology to Nigerians, as young girls and boys mounted various operating machines where equipment for the rail was produced. The committee chairman told CityFile after the tour that “the light rail is a reality from what we have seen. I was part of the committee that visited the site last year.

“I am very satisfied with the level of progress on the sight, and hopefully the project will take off on schedule. Our people have suffered in an attempt to get to work. As representatives of the people, it is our duty to ensure that we alleviate the sufferings of the poor masses and this light rail is one of the measures government is working out to address that.”

He said the committee had directed the FCT administration to revoke the licence granted six transport operators who after collecting the licence have failed to deliver.

He said “there are competent operators that have the resources to deliver, and we think there is no reason why some people would be granted licences and they would not perform. The committee would not tolerate that type of situation and we have told the officials in charge.”

From what is now on ground and with the assurance by the Chinese company handling the light rail, residents can begin to heave sighs of relief from the end of this year as the test run of the project comes on stream.

http://www.businessdayonline.com/NG/index.php/city-file/city-file/28950-respite-in-sight-as-abuja-light-rail-nears-completion

In Ikorodu, Lagos, ‘It’s Water, Water, Everywhere, But None to Drink’

By Chiemelie Ezeobi

The annual agony of residents of Ikorodu area of Lagos State began again last week when roads turned into rivers and rivers into little oceans. The residents of the area are now grappling with the war declared by nature.

For the Ikorodu residents, hearts beat faster with possibility of a rising blood pressure whenever the cloud gathers and the rains threaten. Whenever it rains, it pours. With each down pour, the area becomes flooded as the level of water at the Odo-Ogun dam overflows its bank.

Not surprisingly, activities always grind to a halt in the area because of the flooding menace. When THISDAY paid a visit to the area after the recent incessant rain fall witnessed in the area, the roads were practically impassable. The flood has virtually sacked the highway for a stretch running into kilometres.

The situation was so bad that the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LATSMA) operating at the Orile Odo-Ogun point were seen directing motorists to ply one way so as to ease traffic on one lane. Even as they waded through the heavy knee-deep flood, the traffic officials faced a herculean task which they faced with all determination.

Also affected were industries and schools as they were all shut down to await the recession of the water. Some of the parents spoken to worried that at the rate of the flood, their kids would be behind in their academic pursuits.

Also worrying over the effect of the flooding at Ikorodu, a motorist who preferred anonymity, noted that it was indeed a horrifying experience for road users. Explaining further, he said whenever it rains in Ikorodu, the roads are made impassable, with all the drainages covered, submerged and overflown thereby causing traffic snarl that usually lasts for hours.

While admitting that most of the flooding is caused by bad roads and lack of drainages, he called on the state government to live up to its responsibility by building passable roads and of course a channel for the water to pass through. He added that the government should chase out people who have, over time, built their shops on the drainage system in the state.

This is, however, not the first time the residents would be facing such havoc-wreaking flood. It would be recalled that in October 2010, in line with climate change predictions, two dams were opened in the north, flooding into neighbouring states and displaced about two million people.

Confirming the severity of the flood then, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said the 2010 flood has brought the number of people displaced in Nigeria to 258,044 while about 1,555 lives were lost to cholera epidemic due to contamination of drinking water as result of the flooding.

This, they noted, was expected, going by available information and statistics that indicate that climate variation is becoming more extreme in different parts of the African continent and beyond.

Unfortunately, the flood also extended to Ikorodu axis and many of the houses were submerged, with some houses and properties washed away in the fierce flow. The situation got so bad that the residents resorted to paddling canoes from street to street, even to go buy victuals from neighbourhood shops.

The flood was as a result of the release of excess water of Oyan Dam into Ogun River, which consequently has been overflowing its bank. The flooding sacked many people who reside near the course of the Ogun River in both Lagos and Ogun States.

However, despite the flooding at the riverine areas, the state Commissioner for Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello in a press release made available to THISDAY Monday, stated that contrary to opinion in some quarters, the flood control measures of the state government is working.

The commissioner made this assessment on Sunday during a joint Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) tour of areas like Ajegunle, Agiliti, Itowolo, Owode-Elede and Owode-Onirin and Orile Odo-Ogun in Ikorodu district.

Buttressing, he said his statement was backed by the fact that despite the incessant heavy downpour in the last few weeks, there was a remarkable reduction in the level of flooding of the flood prone areas as compared to last year.

On the sources of the flood in the area, Bello said that Lagos State had to cope with a situation in which rain water travelled from places in Oyo and Ogun States through the Ogun River to discharge into Lagos Lagoon. “1/3 of entire Oyo State and ½ of Ogun State discharge water into Lagos” he said.

Bello reiterated that given all these factors along with Climate Change, it was not possible to have flood-free Lagos. He posited that no country can now boast of a flood-free state because of the global nature of climate change.

He, however, said what they mitigate the effect by ensuring that the drainages are working to allow the free flow as well as plant trees to reduce atmospheric movement. He urged the residents to be watchful and not wait for the situation to exacerbate before they make plans to pack out.

It would be recalled that during the Ikorodu flood in October, 2010, the state government promised to relocate about 681 victims.

Governor Babatunde Fashola had said since the area was flood-prone, government would look for land to relocate the entire communities to a new site. To support the residents, he further promised that the land would be sold as cheap as possible. It could not be confirmed if this promise has been kept.

THISDAY gathered that in the event of any mishap, the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) has put measures in place like the strengthening of the Primary Healthcare Centres to deal with diseases associated with flood.

The issue of the flood is, however, seen as different strokes for different folks. Speaking to THISDAY, Mr. Ebenezer Etete said, “the residents in the area are living too close to the river banks and I believe that it’s caused by the laxity of town planners. If we had a good town planning scheme, people should not be left to build houses that are too close to the river.

Reacting to the option of moving away, a visibly agitated Okon Bassey asked: “Where do we go to? This is the only home I have known since I moved to Lagos. The land and house I live in belongs to me. If I pack out will I be compensated for my loss?

But one Kayode lamented the fate that has befallen their location. Hear him: “What kind of childhood are we creating for our innocent children when all they know is that they are often given an indefinite break from school when their mates in other areas are in session? Is this life?”

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/in-ikorodu-lagos-it-s-water-water-everywhere-but-none-to-drink-/101259/

Flood disrupts traffic flow on Ikorodu road
By TOLUWANI ENIOLA

The flood, which has submerged houses in coastal communities situated on Ikorodu Road, Lagos, has also made vehicular traffic on some portions of the ever-busy road a nightmare, reports TOLUWANI ENIOLA


RESIDENTS of riverine communities on Ikorodu road and commuters from that axis of Lagos yesterday spent several hours in traffic; no thanks to the floods from Ogun River that had almost cut them off.

Many, who could not endure the gridlock had to re-route their trips either through Ajah-Lekki or the Sagamu/Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

The traffic elicited emotions from residents of the affected communities, which include: Owode-Onirin, Owode-Elede, Agiliti, Ajegunle, Isheri-North and other coastal communities at Mile 12.

The Nation learnt that residents of the affected communities had a sleepless night because of the fear of being wiped away by flood. Sources told this reporter that some residents in Ajegunle slept in abandoned vehicles on the roads to save their lives.

Some rose as early as 5 am to beat the anticipated traffic but were still trapped on the road.

Many commuters waded through the flooded road with trousers rolled up above their knees. The flood became a blessing for commercial motorcyclists, who got free water to wash their motorbikes.

Traffic was held up for several hours. Many could not make it to their offices as the long queues of vehicles stretched from Mile 12 to Zion Street in Ikorodu.

Officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Agency (LASTMA) had a hectic time maintaining order as impatient drivers drove against traffic. Some vehicles parked indiscriminately on either side of the dual-carriage way were submerged in the flood.

A newspaper vendor, Mr Nurudeen Abdulsemiu, who witnessed the traffic snarl, described it as a terrible one. Abdulsemiu said: “It was very terrible. For like three hours, the roads were completely blocked. At the Odo-Ogun Bus stop, the flood took over the roads. Many motorists flouted traffic regulations. The LASTMA officials over-worked themselves to restore order.

Also affected were secondary school pupils in the area, who had to take a boat out of their streets to get to the main road. For instance, Ifelodun Street in Ajegunle was completely overtaken by flood. Residents were at the mercy of the few boat riders who capitalised on the disaster to make money. The Nation gathered that residents of the street pay N20 to get to their homes on wooden canoes. The situation was the same at Odo-Ogun where unemployed youths became emergency paddlers.

One of them, identified as Peter John, who was asked to take reporters through Ifelodun street to assess the situation, demaded N500.

Residents stood helplessly in their flooded homes watching the canoes go by. Dogs and other pets lay sedentary on piles of refuse to avoid being swept away by the flood. Evening services could not hold at Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) and First Baptist Church on Ifelodun Street.

One of the affected house owners, Mrs Omirinde Olufunmilayo, appealed to the government for assistance. She said she has nowhere to go.

Mrs Olufunmilayo, who stood in a pool of water reaching up to her windows, cried : “Please, help us appeal to the government to find a lasting solution to this problem. I have been in this community for 25 years. I have lived a significant part of my life here. I have four children who also grew up here. The situation has been like this for many years but it was not as worse as this. Our representatives in government should be our voice but nothing significant has been done to end our woes.The N700 million released by the Federal Government for these communities should be utilised to find a lasting solution.

“There is no where we would relocate to, knowing full well that the problems of accommodation is serious in Lagos. I have observed that the canals recently built by the government need to be opened to allow the water to pass. As you can see, to go in and out of this street, you have to use the canoe. Remember this street has a tarred road. This is sad.”

At Waterside, the gateway to Agiliti, the roads were also heavily flooded. Some pupils returning from schools were assisted by the elderly to get home.

The people suddenly became hostile to reporters, as they were rebuffed by angry residents. The people took them for government officials. At Owode-Elede, vehicles that conveyed some TV camera men were attacked by angry youths.

“If you come here and take pictures again, we will kill you,” they threatened.

When this reporter met the Baale of Odo-Ogun community, the old man declined to speak, saying it was a waste of time. “Don’t come and ask me questions again. It is every year that you come here, yet the situation is like this. What has the government done to improve this condition?

As at 2pm yesterday, the traffic gridlock reduced because the flood subsided. But residents fear the worst may not be over.

Speaking with The Nation, the Head of Operation, LASTMA, Ikorodu, Mr Oladunni Shakira, who confirmed the incident, said the situation was under control. He said: “Flood is a natural disaster. We will continue to do our best to maintain order.

A source from the Lagos State Ministry of the Environment who prefers anonymity, said the state government was doing its best to attain a flood-free environment. He urged residents to assist the government by vacating the waterpath.

Commissioner for the Environment Tunji Bello, duringa visit to the area on Sunday, said: “We have been working endlessly to mitigate the effects of flooding.In the last one week, we have been on air trying to alert Lagosians that those who live along the flood plains of Ogun River, such as Isheri North, up to Ajegunle and Owode area face imminent disaster if they fail to relocate, If the rain stops, there is no cause for alarm. But if we should have continuous rain for the next two or three days, there is likelihood of a total wipe out.”

http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/news/24039-flood-disrupts-traffic-flow-on-ikorodu-road.html

Dis one na Gba Fun Olorun Airlines -- We take you there, dead or alive!

Frequent listeners to Westsyde on 102.3FM would know what I mean.

Can someone help us with a picture  of the plane, please?

There’s no PDP in Lagos –Tinubu

He said the PDP does not exist in Lagos and that it was too early to reach a verdict about voter apathy and voter manipulation. Tinubu made these comments in a chat with newsmen shortly after casting his vote in Ikeja on Saturday.

“They started crying foul even before voting started. They just woke up to the fact that the LCDAs exist. They don’t have the people. But I am glad they are in the race. This is the beauty of democracy. We did our campaign, we created awareness among the citizens about their right to vote.”

While reacting directly to the unfounded allegations of rigging elections, Asiwaju Tinubu described the PDP as master riggers. “They don’t know how to conduct elections. Look at the 2007 elections with the hundreds of litigations and overturned PDP victories at the courts and tribunals.”

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/oct/23/national-23-10-2011-005.html

Is this a new report or a press statement?
Is the reporter qualified to categorise the allegations as unfounded?

This our journalists sef

I doubt the authenticity of this picture.

Compare the positioning of the head with that in this picture that was cicrulating earlier.

And who detains a suspect with his belt?

This is a media trial!

[size=18pt]CAUTION:

Are you in the habit of running across the road at first round about?

STOP NOW!  Make sure you use the newly constructed pedestrian bridge![/size]

The Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) officials arrested a lot of unwary pedestrians at the round about this morning and herded them into their Black Maria!

It was a sorry sight.

I think there are more civilised ways of effecting attitudinal change.

@occam,

The other similarity that Gadaffi and Saddam have is that they both ran to to their hometowns. i.e. Sirte and Tikrit.

Nugget: When looking for a fugitive despot, search his home town thoroughly!

And "field marshall" Tantawi, Egypt's new military ruler was Mubarak's defence minister and long time confidant.

A case of "soldier go, soldier come?"

George Orwell's Animal Farm is truly a classic!

@reference, very good point.

When we are blinded by naïve or self-centred interests to make gods of our "leaders", the end result is uncontrollable dictatorship.

One thing I find interesting in the Libyan case, is that some of the people at the helm of affairs in the NTC were senior officials in Gadaffi,s regime till as recently as a few months ago.

Reminds me some of our politicians who jump from the Local rulinG party (usually PDP or ACN) when they don't secure the party's ticket only to go back to the party they deserted immediately they lose the elections!

Mobutu Sese Seko

The archetypal African dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko, a military officer, rose to power in the Congo by displacing populist, left-leaning leader Patrice Lumumba. Burnishing his nationalist chops, he renamed the resource-rich, strategic former Belgian colony "Zaire," a pronunciation of a local Kikongo word for "the river that swallows all rivers."

Mobutu swallowed all his country's politics, building a highly centralized state where power radiated from his presidential palace and tales of his nepotism and corruption — including Concorde-borne shopping trips to Paris — were legion. Propped up with aid from the West — for years, Zaire was one of the biggest recipients of U.S. funds in Africa — Mobutu presided over the country for some four decades, despite myriad reports of abuses and human rights violations.

The end of the Cold War prompted him to embark upon hesitant political reform, but it took civil strife and the victory of armies loyal to Laurent Kabila to unseat Mobutu in 1997 — he died shortly thereafter in exile in Morocco, of prostate cancer.

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2097426_2097427_2097458,00.html

Pol Pot, Former Khmer Rouge Leader, Dead at 73
7.27 a.m. ET (1127 GMT) April 16, 1998
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cheating pursuers who believed they were days away from capturing him for trial, toppled Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died peacefully in his sleep — evading prosecution in the deaths of as many as 2 million countrymen. He was 73.

Cambodians wept in disappointment after hearing that Pol Pot had died of heart failure Wednesday in a jungle hut on the Thai border, even as the last diehard members of his vanquished movement were moving toward surrendering him to an international tribunal.

"He deserved to die. I am only sorry that he died so easily without being tried," sobbed Kim Saren, whose entire family — mother, father and eight brothers and sisters — died under Pol Pot's regime.

Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, killing everyone who stood in the way of remaking the country into a Marxist agrarian regime. One person in five died of starvation, illness or execution.

Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk, who the Khmer Rouge deposed, recently described Pol Pot as "one of the most powerful monsters ever created by humanity."

The last few hundred Khmer Rouge were on the run from government soldiers and the movement was nearing its demise at the time of his death. He was no longer the leader, but a prisoner of his own men who were offering to turn him over for trial in exchange for a peace deal.

Pol Pot's wife discovered his body when she went to arrange the mosquito netting around him for the night, said Non Nou, his Khmer Rouge jailer.

"At 12 midnight his wife came to us" sobbing, Non Nou said. "She learned that her husband was dead when she was tying the net for him. He died in a hut built for him after he lost his power."

Non Nou said Pol Pot's body would be kept for one or two days before a traditional Cambodian funeral. "Wait and see," he said when asked if journalists or outsiders would be allowed to attend.

Thai military officers, speaking on condition of anonymity, said one of their teams had crossed into Cambodia and obtained photographs of Pol Pot's corpse. The photos were to be released to the media Friday.

Skepticism about the news of the reclusive leader's death, often rumored in recent years, was especially strong given the timing. The United States sought China's aid on April 9 in bringing him to trial for crimes against humanity, and his comrades-turned-captors were mulling over what nation, if any, they should surrender him.

"I think we could almost have arrested him tomorrow. It was very close," said Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, a Yale University-affiliated project gathering evidence against top Khmer Rouge leaders in case they are ever brought to trial.

Youk Chhang said countries like Thailand and China must be "relieved" about the death because Pol Pot would not be able to reveal just how much these countries had aided his movement.

To the end, Pol Pot showed no regret, or even recognition of the misery he had caused.

His "conscience is clear," he told Western journalist Nate Thayer in October. While he acknowledged "mistakes," he suggested he had been the target of a plot to discredit him, perhaps by Cambodia's traditional enemy, Vietnam.

It was a frail gray-haired man who spoke to Thayer in the first interview he had given in 18 years. By then he had become a victim of the movement he once headed, condemned to spend the last months of his life under house arrest.

A "people's tribunal" held at the guerrillas' last stronghold in northern Cambodia condemned him in July for crimes that included the killing of the group's longtime guerrilla defense minister, Son Sen, and his family.

The murders were committed by Pol Pot's henchmen as the group itself was in its death throes, sent into irrevocable decline by mass defections in 1996.

"I want you to know that everything I did, I did for my country," Pol Pot said in his rueful final interview last fall.

Pol Pot was born into a farming family in Kompong Thom province, 80 miles north of Phnom Penh. Personal details of his life were always hard to verify, and only in his 1997 interview did he make public the true year of his birth, 1925.

Pol Pot went to Paris in 1949 on a government scholarship to study electronics. Absorbed with leftist politics, he established a communist cell with fellow Cambodian students. He failed his exams, lost his scholarship and returned home.

In the early 1960s, Pol Pot fled into the jungle after the government, led by then-Prince Norodom Sihanouk, savagely repressed leftist opposition. There, he built up an armed resistance movement, dubbed the Khmer Rouge — Red Cambodians — by Sihanouk.

In 1970, when Sihanouk was overthrown in a coup, the Khmer Rouge numbered a few thousand. But the aggrieved prince then joined forces with them, bringing his prestige and popular support.

Aided by China and Vietnam, the guerrillas gained control of the countryside and forced the army of U.S.-backed Premier Lon Nol into the towns. U.S. bombing alienated the peasantry.

On April 17, 1975, the black pajama-clad guerrillas seized Phnom Penh, immediately expelled all foreigners and sealed off the country.

"This is Year Zero," Pol Pot said.

Society was to be "purified," Khmer Rouge officials said. The country began a forced march to pure agrarian communism — cities were emptied, money was abolished, nationwide communal kitchens introduced, schools and temples shut.

Phnom Penh was evacuated at gunpoint and its 2 million people sent to work in the countryside.

Marked for death were educated people, religious or ethnic minorities, Buddhist monks, and anyone suspected of ties with the former government or who questioned the regime.

Vietnam invaded on Christmas Day 1978 and installed a new communist government led by Khmer Rouge defectors. Pol Pot retreated to western Cambodia and began directing his forces against the Vietnamese.

The Khmer Rouge boycotted a U.N.-supervised election in 1991. A decline in strength and support was capped by the 1996 defections.

In 1997, his interviewer asked Pol Pot if a daughter born to him after a 1987 marriage would be proud of him when she grew up.

"I don't know about that," Pol Pot responded. "It's up to history to judge."


http://www2.fiu.edu/~fcf/polsstilldead41698.html

October 20, 2011 12:26 PM
Qaddafi's last moments: "Don't shoot"

Muammar Qaddafi's final day most likely began as it ended: In a squeeze. He was almost surely in the 700-square-yard area of Sirte where Libya's ex-rebels had penned in the die-hard forces remaining loyal to him.


The transitional government had for some time speculated that Qaddafi was out wandering the desert, recruiting fighters for a counter-insurgency. Therefore, at around 8 a.m., the ex-rebels where probably unaware that their ultimate target was actually within their grasp as they began an assault on that small final area. It was around that time that Qaddafi got in a convoy to flee, according to most accounts.


Somewhere just outside of the loyalist-held area, NATO aircraft struck Qaddafi's convoy, but didn't kill him. According to NATO officials, they were unaware Qaddafi was inside. That airstrike, however, hastened his demise.


The Telegraph's Ben Farmer visited the scene where Qaddafi's convoy was hit and the ex-dictator's final moments played out. He writes: "Colonel Gaddafi was finally cornered in a drain underneath a road in open countryside to the west of the city of Sirte. Rebels said a column of vehicles tried to punch out of an encirclement at dawn. They parked up around 3-4kms west of the town, which was hit by a NATO airstrike. Gaddafi and several bodyguards were then forced to take refuge in the drain where they were then captured and taken away by revolutionary forces."




Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) fighters carry a young man holding what they claim to be the gold-plated gun of ousted Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi at the site where the latter was allegedly captured in the coastal Libyan city of Sirte on October 20, 2011.

(Credit: Getty Images) An ex-rebel fighter named Mohammed, "a young fighter in his 20s wearing a blue t-shirt and a New York Yankees baseball cap," told the BBC he found Qaddafi hiding in the tiny drain pipe. The colonel allegedly looked up and said simply: "Don't shoot."


They didn't listen.

There are conflicting reports about how and at whose hands exactly Qaddafi died. It seems pretty certain he was alive when first captured. Al Jazeera aired video (below) of what is almost surely Qaddafi's final moments. The once-mighty ex-dictator is seen soaked in blood, apparently disoriented, either being led around by or restrained by ex-rebels, who brandish guns as they yell at him and tug his hair, and he appears to yell back. Still other video taken later of his body being dragged around show him covered in blood everywhere, seeming to be bleeding from the head and other places. Reuters reports Qaddafi died around noon and that an ex-rebel official said Qaddafi died after capture in a firefight between his supporters and his captors.


The Associated Press reports: "One fighter says after the convoy was hit, it turned back and re-entered a compound, which was then attacked by several hundred fighters. He says they found Qaddafi there, and someone shot him with a pistol. But a spokesman for a local military council says fighters had surrounded the convoy and exchanged fire, before finding Qaddafi in one vehicle, wounded in the neck. The spokesman says Qaddafi bled to death from his wounds a half-hour later. Fighters said he died in an ambulance on the way to Misrata."


Still, others report a different ending.


CBS News correspondent David Martin reports that some claim Qaddafi's own bodyguard shot him, in order to spare him the indignity of being captured.


An ex-rebel named Salem Bakeer told Reuters that he and his comrades gave chase to Qaddafi and his small retinue of bodyguards after they fled their convoy following the airstrike.


"At first we fired at them with anti-aircraft guns, but it was no use," said Bakeer. "Then we went in on foot. One of Qaddafi's men came out waving his rifle in the air and shouting surrender, but as soon as he saw my face he started shooting at me. Then I think Qaddafi must have told them to stop. 'My master is here, my master is here', he said, 'Muammar Qaddafi is here and he is wounded.' We went in and brought Qaddafi out. He was saying 'What's wrong? What's wrong? What's going on?'. Then we took him and put him in the car."


At the time of capture, Gaddafi was already wounded with gunshots to his leg and to his back, Bakeer said.


"They captured him alive and while he was being taken away, they beat him and then they killed him," an ex-rebel told Reuters. "He might have been resisting."


Ex-rebel Adel Samir told the Telegraph that Qaddafi was gunned down with a 9mm pistol, shot in the stomach. Imad Moustaf, another ex-rebel fighter, told Global Post Qaddafi had been shot in the head and the heart. Still other reports claim he was shot in the both legs.


Libya's interim prime minister, Mahmoud Jibril, said that Qaddafi was killed from a bullet to the head during crossfire between government fighters and his loyalists, The Guardian reported.


Qaddafi likely bound for "secret burial"


Sometime after Qaddafi was shot, freelance photojournalist Holly Pickett tweeted that she saw his body. Pickett says she was embedded with an ex-rebel ambulance, and spotted another ambulance packed with rebels speeding away from Sirte with Qaddafi's body.


"From the side door, I could see a bare chest with bullet wound and a bloody hand. He was wearing gold-colored pants," Pickett tweeted. "At every checkpoint between #Sirte and #Misrata, crowds had gathered and wanted to know if we were the ambulance with #Gaddafi's body in it. Upon hearing the truth, that #Gaddafi was truly dead, revolutionaries at the checkpoints were beside themselves, shouting with joy."


However his final moments may have actually unfolded, the numerous images of his body have already made the rounds on cell phones, computers and TV screens all over the globe, leaving little doubt that Libya's 42 years of Qaddafi's oft-cruel "Jamahiriya" rule is over.


Also captured and killed Thursday was Qaddafi's flamboyant fifth son - also his National Security Adviser - Mutassim Qaddafi, whom Libyans had claimed a week earlier was already captured. An ex-rebel spokesman said Mutassim was killed "resisting his captors," Reuters reports. Additionally, the BBC reports that ex-rebels captured his famed former security chief, Mansour Daw, who, it had been reported, fled to Niger.

According to Reuters, Qaddafi will have a "secret burial."

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503543_162-20123183-503543/qaddafis-last-moments-dont-shoot/#ixzz1bQi3HcLV

~Bluetooth:
The wise ones are still living and enjoying their loots eg Buhari,babangida and obj.so [b]what's going to happen to them ?[/b]

Maybe like,

THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY,

JOSEPH STALIN
The Russian ruler died in his bed at home near Moscow on March 5, 1953, at the age of 74. He suffered a stroke and had spent four days bedridden before passing away.

Through purges, famine and gulags he is estimated to have been responsible for the deaths of over 20million. Some historians have suggested he could be responsible for over 60million deaths.
The reality - with so few records kept - is no one knows how much damage this dictator truly inflicted on his people.

It is thought that around 14.5million needlessly starved to death and 9.5million were executed in cold blood for opposing his politics.
Stalin was such a ruthless dictator that all of his enemies were murdered. Throughout the 1930s the 'enemies of the people' were murdered - with thousands executed. The purges weakened the army heading into World War II.
The murder of Sergey Kirov, Stalin's rival, in 1934 was the pretext for the fierce repression of Stalin's enemies.
As he grew old, Stalin became increasingly paranoid but he was never himself the victim of the tough 'justice' he meted out.

~Bluetooth:
The wise ones are still living and enjoying their loots eg Buhari,babangida and obj.so what's going to happen to them ?

Are you saying that Abacha was not wise?

Who's next?

This picture may give a clue.

Sani Abacha

Nigeria also features on the list. Sani Abacha was a military General. He was ruthless and played prominent roles in military rule in the country. He was an active participant in the 1983, 1985 and 1993 change of governments. He served as Chief of Army Staff, Chief of Defence Staff and Defence Minister at different times. But, in November 1993, he sacked the lackluster Chief Ernest Shonekan government.

He immediately started his political maneuvers, starting with a Constitutional Conference through which he sought to lull the people into supporting his regime. He followed it up by allowing the formation of political parties, five of which he recognised. In a move previously unknown to Nigeria, he got the five parties to adopt him separately as their presidential candidate. But he did not live up to witness the actualisation of that dream. He died on June 8, 1998 and was replaced by General Abdulsalami Abubakar who handed over to a civilian government on May 29, 1999.

Siad Barre
In Somalia, there was Siad Barre who started as an extremely popular leader but fell with ignominy. He ruled from 1969 to 1991. His reign was characterised by mindless killing of civilians. He was once accused of poisoning water supplied to some communities. He fled into exile in Nigeria where he eventually died in 1995.

Idi Amin Dada

The self-proclaimed Ugandan President-for-Life ruled the country for far less time than he had hoped, but the eight years of his tenure were filled with gross human-rights violations, ethnic persecution — tens of thousands of Ugandans of Indian origin were forced out — killings and unbridled corruption. After alienating many of his supporters during a period of increasingly erratic behavior in the late 1970s, Amin found himself nearly alone at the top. A group of his own troops turned against him and soon — bolstered by a Tanzanian military force and Ugandan exiles — they brought Amin down. He fled to Libya, where his supporter Muammar Gaddafi awaited him. There Amin remained for several years before relocating to Saudi Arabia, where he died in 2003, remorseless and angry at his country's betrayal.

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2097426_2097427_2097418,00.html

Samuel Kanyon Doe
The civil war, devastation and destruction of Liberia in the early 80s are all due to the despotic rule of Doe who sacked William Tolbert from power in 1980. Prior to the coup led by Doe, then a Master Sergeant in 1980, the Americo-Liberians who were a minority controlled life in the country. Doe who was only about 30 year old when he led other non-commissioned officers to stage the coup was extremely popular for his action as he emerged the first indigenous President.

He proceeded immediately to kill members of the power elite in the country, including Tolbert and his cabinet members. Gradually, he lost his popularity. He stage-managed a return to pseudo civil rule in 1985 as he formed a political party and maneuvered it to victory. Thereafter, he became more repressive and got most of those who had assisted in staging the 1980 coup, including strongman Thomas Quiwonkpa, killed.
His maltreatment of the Manos and the Gios eventually led to a civil war as a resistance movement led by Charles Taylor and several other rebel groups sprang up. One of the groups led by Yormie Johnson captured Doe in September 1990.

Jean Bedel Bokassa
Bokassa ruled Central African Republic as a mindless tyrant between 1966 and 1979. He took over power on January 1, 1965 and immediately proclaimed himself President, Prime Minister and Leader of the Republic’s only political party.

As soon as he became confident that the reins of power were in his hands, he made himself an Emperor and, for the coronation ceremony, he lavished 20 million dollars, a third of the country’s budget for the year.

It took the intervention of French forces in 1979 to dislodge him. He died in exile in 1996.

Francisco Marcias Nguema
Born on January 1, 1924, Nguema emerged the first President of Equatorial Guinea following independence in 1968. His 11-year rule was noted for the persecution and execution of political opponents. Two prominent names among those who had to give way for Nguema to establish his hold on power were the pre-independence Prime Minister, Bonifacio Ondo Edu. As soon as Nguema seized power, he detained the former PM and conveniently, later died in detention.

Execution of the two opened the floodgate to political killings. He declared himself Life President on July 14, 1972 and, on Christmas day 1975, he handed bitter gifts to 150 opponents who were killed at the Malabo football stadium.
A former Vice President was also said to have committed suicide in prison. As in the case of many of the other dictators, he not only changed his name to Masie Nguema Biyogo Negue Ndong, he awarded himself the incredible titles: Unique Miracle and Grand Master of Education, Science and Culture.

His tyrannical rule was brought to an end on August 3, 1979 through a coup masterminded and led by Theodore Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. He fled his comfort zone but was tracked down and captured in a forest 15 days later. He was consequently sentenced to death 101 times by a Special Military Tribunal and executed.

http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/news-update/23646-other-african-dictators-who-bit-the-dust.html

VALERIAN, 193 - 260 ADValerian was a Roman emperor who was taken captive and tortured by Persian king Shapur I after the Battle of Edessa.

After being roundly defeated in the battle at the beginning of 260, Valerian arranged a meeting with Shapur to negotiate a peace settlement, hoping to retreat to his kingdom and rebuild his power-base.

But the truce was betrayed by Shapur who seized Valerian and held him prisoner until his death.
Valerian was the only Roman emperor ever taken as a prisoner of war.
According to the early Christian scholar Lactantius, Valerian was subjected to torture and humiliation by his captors.
It is claimed that he was used as a footstool and also a mounting block for Shapur.

According to Lactantius, Valerian offered Shapur a huge ransom for his release. But in reply Shapur was said to have forced Valerian to swallow molten gold and then had him skinned and his skin stuffed with straw and preserved as a trophy in the main Persian temple.
Lactantius also says that it was only after a later Persian defeat against Rome that Valerian's remains were given a cremation and burial.

RAFAEL TRUJILLO, May 30, 1961
Like a scene from a Chicago gangster film, Dominican Republic dictator Rafael Trujillo was gunned down as his chauffeur drove him along a dark road.
The first shot didn’t kill him though - he fought back. But the seven men, assigned to take him out on the orders of the nation’s wealthy elite, were determined and quickly overwhelmed him.
Trujillo, also known as El Jefe (The Boss), had presided over a murderous regime for 30 years between 1930 and 1961.

His political weapons were torture and murder.
Several thousand Haitians, for instance, were massacred in 1937 on his say so.
But as history shows, there is only so much the people will take.
His killers blocked his car with theirs and a fierce gun battle ensued.

The armed chauffeur let loose with a volley of shots and Trujillo, despite being hit, carried on firing back.
They were eventually overpowered - the car was left with 60 bullet holes in it - and left lying dead on the road.

ION ANTONESCU, June 1, 1946
It’s often said that dictators are deluded, tinged with madness – Ion Antonescu then, was perhaps no different, because even while staring down the barrel of a gun, he held his hat aloft.
He had been Romania’s war-time leader and was said to be responsible for the deaths of 400,000 people.
But justice was eventually served in 1946 when he was prosecuted for war crimes, crimes against the peace, and treason.


The sentence was death, and he was dispatched ruthlessly in a field along with three members of his hated regime.
They were dressed in suits and hats but there was nothing respectful about their deaths.
The firing squad unleashed their shots and the four men crumpled in a split second.
To make sure they were dead an officer steps up to each corpse and shoots it several times.
Cold and brutal, just like Antonescu himself.

BENITO MUSSOLINI, April 28, 1945
Mussolini made a desperate bid to escape to Switzerland with his mistress Clara Petacci and his fascist entourage, numbering about 15, on April 27, 1945.

But he was stopped by Communist officials and soldiers, despite trying to disguise himself in a German military uniform.
He was shot the following day in the village of Giulino di Mezzegra, along with those travelling with him.

Defiant to the last, the deluded leader screamed at the soldier sent to execute him: ‘Shoot me in the chest!’
The soldier wasted no time in firing.

It's believed Mussolini slumped to the floor in agony, still breathing, so the soldier strode up to him and shot him in the chest again.
His body, along with that of his wife and other executed fascists, was taken to Milan and dumped unceremoniously on the ground outside a petrol station in the middle of the night.

There Italians, reviled by the former leader’s regime, took the opportunity to vent their anger on him.
Even in death, they had no respect for him at all.
For hours they spat on him, kicked him, stoned him and battered his body with whatever they could lay their hands on.
The attack was so violent that the dictator’s head was left misshapen.

Bloodied, dishevelled, and bearing agonised grimaces, Mussolini, Clara and other executed fascist were then hung upside down with meat hooks.
Had they been innocents, Italians would have been horrified by what they saw – but this sight was met with jubilation.
They’d lived a life of luxury and wielded enormous power – now their honour was mercilessly torn away from them.

NICOLAE CEAUSESCU, December 25, 1989
So many soldiers volunteered to shoot Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife Elena that a lottery was held to allocate places.

And on Christmas Day, 1989, after a brief show trial in Bucharest, the couple faced the firing squad of elite paratroopers.

With Communism crumbling around him, the self-proclaimed ‘Genius of the Carpathians’ realised that his days as ruler of a brutally oppressive regime were over.


He had attempted to flee the country with his wife but they were soon captured by rebel soldiers.

Their trial was held in a bare room, where they were treated with cold contempt.

Accused of crimes ranging from illegal gathering of wealth to genocide, he stood frightened in the dock.

Within 90 minutes, he and Elena were sentenced to death.

At first, they were told they would be shot separately, but they begged to die together – and their final wish was granted.

After the trial they had their hands tied behind their backs with rope, with such force that Elena complained that her arms were breaking.

The soldiers took no pity on them. ‘Nobody will help you now,’ one said.

They were led outside, shouting ‘shame, shame’.

The firing squad were ordered to set their guns to automatic fire.

One paratrooper describes how the first bullets hit Nicolae in the knees, then in his chest, with the next thumping into Elena.

Within seconds they lay dead on the floor, blood flowing along the ground from Elena’s head.

ADOLF HITLER, April 30, 1945
Blood dripped onto the carpet and the smell of burnt almonds filled the air.
Hitler’s valet was the first on the scene after the sound of a single gunshot was heard coming from the Fuhrer’s study.
Holed up in a Berlin bunker, the date was April 30, 1945.
One of the leader’s most trusted commanders, Field Keitel, had just told him the soldiers protecting the city would run out of ammunition that night.

Two days earlier, Hitler had married Eva Braun – and she too would take her life as the Russians edged ever closer.
Knowing the end was near, he had meticulously prepared for death, even testing cyanide pills on a dog and her puppies to make sure they worked.
Before retiring to his study, he said farewell to his inner circle.
Then, at around 3.30 that afternoon, the man who had survived numerous assassination attempts took out his Walther PPK pistol and shot himself in the head.

He is said to have sat, sunken on a sofa, with blood oozing from his right temple. According to other accounts, his head was slumped on a table.
Braun chose cyanide (which produces a burned almond smell) and was discovered dead in the same room with her legs drawn up.
In accordance with Hitler’s instructions, SS officers took the corpses outside, poured petrol over them and set them alight.

Eyewitness claim it took two hours for the blaze to consume them.
Their remains were hidden under the soil in a bomb crater.
(Mystery shrouds the exact circumstances of Hitler’s death, with some claiming he in fact survived the battle for Berlin.)

SADDAM HUSSEIN, December 30, 2006

Seven coils and pre-boiled to take out any stretch. One thing the U.S. and Iraq do have in common is their style of hangman’s noose.
Saddam Hussein, deposed dictator of Iraq, would have had little time to dwell on such

Like Muammar Gaddafi, he too had been found cowering in a grubby bolt-hole, in December 2003.
As one U.S. military commander said, he was ‘caught like a rat’.
Holed up in an underground chamber little bigger than a coffin, he surrendered without a fight when allied troops cornered him in a farm near Tikrit, his birthplace.
Bearded, thin and exhausted, he had been on the run for 250 days.

On November 5, 2006, he was finally found guilty of crimes against humanity by the Iraqi Special Tribunal. He was then sentenced to be hanged until dead.

A month later in Baghdad - at 6am on December 30 – he was led to a platform in a concrete chamber by masked men.
Wearing a white shirt and dark overcoat, he refused a hood and shouted ‘God is great’.

Soldiers taunted him with insults until a judge demanded silence.

As he clutched a copy of the Koran, a noose was placed around his neck – waxed to guarantee a clean slide of the knots. The trapdoor was released and a loud crack was heard when his neck broke.

Left to swing for several minutes, a doctor was called to listen for a heartbeat. Saddam was dead.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2051552/Gaddafi-dead-Videos-worlds-infamous-dictators-violent-deaths.html#ixzz1bPuqhStP

jidsoon:
The state government also said it would abolish the use of consultants by the Lagos Internal Revenue Service, LIRS to collect taxes in the state as their activities have become inimical to the government.


On the use of consultants by the LIRS, Shodipo disclosed that from January 2012, the state government would stop using consultants to collect taxes in the state, saying that he had already submitted a proposal to that effect.

According to him, consultants were doing more harm than good in the collection of taxes in the state, adding that maybe at inception they might have been very helpful.

He said the government had received lots of complaints through text messages, e-mails, among others on the illegal activities of these consultants.

“We are addressing it and by next year, it will be clearer to you, as government would phase them out.”

Could a certain ABC be one of these consultants?

Nigeria: Shipwreck - FG Needs N4.3 Billion to Remove Wreckage

George Okojie

11 September 2011


The high rate of abandoned shipwrecks all over the country's coastal waters has become a major source of headache to both the government and Nigerians, LEADERSHIP SUNDAY investigation, has shown.

Findings by LEADERSHIP SUNDAY in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Calabar and Warri showed that the country was gradually becoming a dumping ground for old ships and abandoned marine vessels.

Presently , over 100 shipwrecks and derelicts litter the nation's coastlines and inner water body, causing navigational hazards to other vessels entering the ports, just as it might trigger flooding of the nation's shorelines.

The development alarmed President Goodluck Jonathan recently when he visited the Mayegun and Alpha beaches in Eti-Osa Local Government axis of Lagos state to inspect the various wrecked ships posing environmental challenges in the area.

Although the president affirmed that he recently signed contracts to ensure the removal of the shipwreck and derelicts, he noted that it was a bad development for shipwrecks to litter the country's water body.

Jonathan who was not pleased with the development and danger it posed to the coastal waters urged the relevant stakeholders to expedite action on plans to remove the vessels.

He added that there was no cause for alarm since the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) were on top of the situation.

The president noted that there was need to carry out investigation on the owners of the vessels, saying that some of the wreckages on the various shorelines could be old ships deliberately brought into Nigeria coast and abandoned.

Captain Moses Dosunmu , an officer of the Merchant Navy told LEADERSHIP SUNDAY there was some element of conspiracy in the way the old ships were abandoned in the country, saying some Nigerians may have connived with the owners of the ships to dump it country's water body.

He also blamed indigenous ship owners for purchasing bad and old vessels which he said often break down at regular intervals leading to eventual abandonment of the vessel.

According to him, over 60 of the derelicts that littered the nation's sea are owned by indigenous shipping companies , saying the government can effectively tackle the problem by coming up with a scrap policy that made it compulsory for the owner of the ship foot the bill of removing the scrap.

He said the government could also invoke the provisions of the Nairobi Convention which put the cost of removing shipwrecks on the ship owner.

In Lagos alone LEADERSHIP SUNDAY survey discovered 32 wrecks. Eight of the wrecks were said to be within the jurisdiction of NIMASA, while 24 were within the areas controlled by the NPA.

A close company source also revealed that the Lagos Channel Management (LCM) had before now made efforts to remove 16 of the 24 that are within the NPA jurisdiction.

Amid the biting economic downturn in the country, the Federal Government of Nigeria may be constrained to pump a whopping N4.3 billion for the removal of shipwrecks from the nation's coastal waters.

LEADERSHIP SUNDAY learnt from experts that it takes an average of N70 Million to dismantle a single vessel from inner waters.

Although NIMASA management still keep the cost of removing the vessel it had evacuated so far to their chest , close company source said the agency had expended over N270 Million on removal of some shipwrecks .

This informed why so many countries of the world police their coastal waters to avert incurring such costs.

The immediate past Minister of Transport, Alhaji Yusuf Sulaiman, confirmed the figure in Lagos during one of his visits to the Apapa Dockyard, Lagos.

Before his removal he promised that the effort made by the Federal Government would help to reduce danger in terms of insecurity the wrecks pose on the nation's water, adding that the Federal Government is determined to ensure safety and security of the ports to make it business-friendly for the West and Central African sub-regions.

According to him, "The removal of wrecks and derelicts from our channel will not only improve the safety of navigation in our waters, but also significantly contribute to increased cargo volume based on the economies of scale in shipping and thus promote the growth of trade in our nation ".

He noted that the presence of abandoned vessels and wrecks along the coastal areas poses serious danger to the safety of navigation, protection, marine environment and shipping development.

If the ministry embraces policy of continuity the removal is expected to start with Lagos Harbour and later, the Eastern harbour of the wrecks he said had overstayed their period of welcome.

Speaking on the issue frontline conservationist and the President of the Nigerian Conservation Foundation, Chief Philip Asiodu, said that the problem shipwreck is timed bomb waiting to explode, saying appropriate measure must be taken to avert the impending national disaster.

He said, "On the latest abandoned shipwrecks in Lagos, I am planning to meet with the state governor and we will go as a combined delegation to meet with the Presidency on it. If we do not act now, and we allow the sea to break into the lagoon, it is going to be a national disaster because Lagos accounts for a larger percent of the Nigerian economy.

"It would be an act of monumental irresponsibility for us to close our eyes to this issue. We at the NCF are ready to be the catalyst and get people together, but the funding should come from the Federal Government which has the ecological fund."

Also the Director of Technical Programmes, NCF, Alade Adeleke, said the increasing rate of shipwrecks on the sea by faceless people was a reflection of the neglect of marine and coastal environment over the years.

According to him, "It our role as an environmental organisation, to inform people about the implication of living wrecks on our coast. We restate our usual call to both NIMASA and the Lagos State Ministry of Waterfront to sit together and remove the abandoned wrecks immediately.

"The implication of these shipwrecks is that erosion occurs as a result of the wrecks, the erosion will go to the housing estates and it will destroy properties. If the wrecks are left for a long time, it will sink, get corroded and add more metal to the ocean. And more importantly, if the sea breaks into the ocean as this is gradually coming, it will be a monumental disaster because it will involve lives."

On the Lekki beach alone the latest shipwreck makes the fourth ship that has run aground in the beach in the past one year.

To this end , the Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ade Ipaye said the state government had seen the negative impact the menace could wreak on the environment .

He said the state government would henceforth go after the perpetrators of the wrecks (ship owners) and make them to account for their actions.

The Attorney General said both the State and the Federal Ministries of Justice would give NPA AND NIMASA the desired legal cover for the wrecks removal activities.

The Commissioner for Waterfront Infrastructure, Mr. Adesegun Oniru, confirmed to LEADERSHIP SUNDAY that the shipwrecks and derelicts pose grave danger if nothing is done urgently to save the situation.

Blaming the coastal erosion in the state on the shipwrecks , he said," You can't fight nature, you can only appease it. You can work with nature to stop what is happening. You need to put in place protections that will break the energy of the ocean surge.

"If nothing is done urgently, in another two to six months everything you see behind you won't be there anymore. In two weeks we lost about twenty meters of coastal line, where we are standing today. So we need to do something immediately", the commissioner added.

He said the state government has awarded contract for the removal of the wrecked ships on the Lekki beach, adding that the Federal Government need to refund the money spent by the Lagos state government.

Oniru described the act of abandoning faulty and old ships on Lagos coastlines by unknown ship owners who usually go back to their countries as criminal.

The commissioner decried absence of adequate and responsive regulatory mechanisms from the appropriate Federal agencies responsible for the daily influx of wrecked ships into the country's internal water.

Oniru urged federal agencies, especially the Nigeria Maritime and Safety Authority (NIMASA) and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to work in partnership with Lagos State Government in order to urgently salvage communities being ravaged by shipwrecks in Lagos.

He noted that though the encroachment of land by strong ocean waves would not alter the country's map but it would alter the people's natural source of living which might lead to various degrees of unemployment.

As the country gradually becomes a dumping ground for old and derelict ships , many Nigerians have called on relevant agencies to live above board in the discharge of their duties to nip the problem in the bud.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201109110054.html