A dynamic young man committed to youth development, capacity building, and conflict resolution. Maxwell holds a B.Sc (ED) Degree in Social Studies Education and a BCC in Leadership from the prestigious Daystar Leadership Academy, Lagos. A UNICEF trained peer educator, and a TIG/CLCWA Trainer (www.takingitglobal.org/clcwa). He also debuts as the Deputy Volunteer Coordinator CLCWA Delta State. In recognition of his thought provoking contributions to youth development and engagement, he was invited to the first process of the Nigeria e-youth forum to Abuja under the auspices of British Council/ Youngstars Foundation in the first quarter of 2008. Also, in recognition of his unflinching contributions to developmental efforts in Delta State, he won an Award at the Delta Youth Summit in January 2008 in Asaba where he chaired a Youth Working Group in Leadership, Good governance and Democracy. He was one of the few Nigerians invited to participate in the World Youth Congress in Quebec, Canada an event that held august 2008.
Maxwell has been a guest on the Saturday live show on LTV Lagos to discuss issues surrounding the development of Niger Delta Youths. Under the CLCWA programme Maxwell has trained about a 100 youths in Ughelli, Sapele, Warri, Asaba in the area of ICT (Leadership and Entrepreneurship), in recognition of his training he was invited to participate at the 2nd National CLCWA Youth Summit in Kano.Maxwell was invited by the British Council and the Youngstars Foundation to participate in the Nigeria Youth Stakeholders Forum, in Abuja to discuss and recommend practical solutions to financing Youth Development in Nigeria around 2008. He was engaged as the Chair of this forum's Working Group on Niger Delta.
He is currently amongst the few Nigerians selected to participate YAC project on neglected conflicts, he holds a certificate in ‘communications and new media”. The project is a one year project that will culminate in community development efforts in conflict areas. A project supported and endorsed by Oxfam OIYPHe interests transcends through National Development, and he is the convener of the "New Nigeria Dream Summit" every August in Warri, Delta State, Nigeria. The first key note speakers were the Ex-president of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staffs Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) Dr Brown Ogbeifun (www.brownogbeifun.com) and Gbenga Sessan of Paradigm Initiative Nigeria (PIN) (www.gbengasesan.com). In partnership with ACET U.K 100 books on HIV/AIDS and YOU, were distributed during this summitHe is married and resides in Warri, where he is the team leader of an NGO Dare 2 Dream Youth Initiative, a programme that builds young people's capacity in the area of leadership, ICT for Development, and value orientation.Maxwell is really interested in getting partners in the area of youth leadership, peace and conflict resolution, environment and good governance initiatives!
Organization ProfileIn the midst of major world challenges, something profound is being reborn – recognition that youths with concern, vision and commitment can make significant contributions to transforming the planet.That is what D2DYI is all about, an organization that brings youths together, youths that believe that according to Mahatma Gandhi they can be the change they want to see, youths that believe in self motivation, value based leadership, the New Nigeria and the positive deployment of our talents and potentials.D2DYI aggress with Margaret Mead that you “never doubt that a small group of thoughtful commitment citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has”Some men see things as they are and say, ‘why?’ we dream of the things that never were and say, ‘why not! We see a new caliber of youths rising to build the New Nigeria of our dreams and we are committed through positive actions in seeing it come to pass.The youths of D2DYI are stepping above the limitations of their environment, we are daring to dream, and knowing that in the dream of a better tomorrow lies the very future we hope for.
AIMRaise and Equip young people as leaders and agents of change.
OBJECTIVESInspire and motivate youths toward self-realization and actualization.Enhance and strengthen the leadership capacity of young people.Assist youths to take their rightful place as contributors to a new enlightened world through policy engagement in a democratic process.Engage and Empower young people to be truly motivated to work in the contributing to communal, and National development through efficient partnership/collaboration and volunteering.
PHILOSOPHYEvery young person if given the right environment, empowered and equipped can be a change agent, because we are all created by God for a specific purpose and assignment.
THEMATIC AREASLeadership DevelopmentYouth EntrepreneurshipEnvironments and CulturePeace Building/Conflict Resolution and Governance
VALUESExcellenceIntegrityAccountability
ACTIVITIES OF D2DYI
Oct 2007 “Beyond Delsu Project” with Niyi Adesanya, Delsu Abraka
Jan 2008- Delta Youth Summit, Asaba 2008. (award recipient)
Feb 2008- CLCWA Training of trainers workshop, Calabar
March 2008- The Nigerian Youth Stakeholders Forum, Abuja (Delta State Delegate)
April 2008- CLCWA ICT training of 25 Sapele youths Songhai Amukpe
April 2008-CLCWA ICT training of 10 Ughelli youths
April 2008-CLCWA ICT training of 21 Warri youths
May 2008- 2nd CLCWA National Youth Summit, Kano
June 2008- L.E.A.D Seminar, Sapele Youth Center
June 2008- Inauguration & Book review of PIND, Jos
June 2008-Anchor 21st Century relevance seminar, Case De Pedro Hotel Warri
June 2008- Youth Action for Change, Italy (forgotten dairies project on peace building and conflict resolution www.forgottendairies.org) Certificate on communication and Media.
Aug 2008- Nonviolent training, Abuja
PROJECTS Coordinated BY D2DYI
1. Warri Earth Charter Youth Group (www.earthcharter.org)
2. Delta State Deputy Volunteer Coordinator CLCWA (www.takingitglobal.org)
3. Child Rights Advocacy Campaign (CRAC)
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
1. Dr Brown Ogbeifun (Ex PENGASSAN president
2. Pastor Ogaga O. David
3. Gbenga Sessan
4. Ezekiel Karibo
5. Katherine Ogadako
PARTNERSHIP
The vision to make a difference is great and the time is NOW,D2DYI will be glad to partner with interested persons, organizations and institution in any of the above listed thematic areas.
CONTACT
08034810869, 08050637252
D2dyi@yahoo.com
Tuesday 26 August 2008
Friday 15 August 2008
Saturday 9 August 2008
2nd Annual Dare 2 Dream Youth Summit
2nd Annual Dare 2 Dream Youth Summit
Leadership, Motivation & Environment Summit
..Bringing together over 150 youths who believe in value based leadership, in the New Nigeria and that they can be the change they want to see. Dreamers of a brand new nation
THEME: Youths as agents of change
Leadership, Motivation & Environment Summit
..Bringing together over 150 youths who believe in value based leadership, in the New Nigeria and that they can be the change they want to see. Dreamers of a brand new nation
THEME: Youths as agents of change
VENUE: Posaq Conference Hall,
76A, Old Airport Rd, Effurun.
Warri, Delta State
Date: Aug 29th-30th 2008,
Registration: 8:30 a.m Daily (FREE REGISTRATION)
Resource Person
Victor Gotevbe (NiPRO & Conduit Consulting, Lagos)
Katherine Ogadako (Climate Change Consultant, Abuja)
Ezekiel Karibo (SPDC Waste Mgt Board, Warri)
PROFILE OF RESOURCE PERSONS
Katherine Kporode Ogadako is the graduate of the University of Benin, where she obtained a second class Upper Honors in Zoology in 1988.She is also a Computer Programmer, Certified Environmental, Social and Health Impact Assessment Practitioner, among others and has 12 years working experience with shell via external contractor, and spending the period 2001 -2006, working for their Warri main office as a contractor staff environmental liaison officer, advising the civil engineering team on their various project and the first land field in Nigeria located at Egbeleku. She has also advised the senate committee on environment and ecology and the Gas resources committee, especially on Gas flaring issues and Climate change. She is currently running an M.SC in Integrated Environmental Management at the University of Bath in the U.K and is involved in alternative and renewable energy.
Karibo, Ezekiel Oboada started working for Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria as Waste Management Supervisor in July 1995. Though a Manpower contract staff, he became Senior Waste Management/HSE Adviser in 2003. He is a member of Waste Management Association of Nigeria and later the Charted Institute of Waste management, UK in 2005. Since working for the company, he has developed visible professionalism in Waste Management from simple waste segregation initiatives to Waste Management modelling. His interest has focused on upstream (Exploration and Production) waste as well as capacity building of third parties willing to make investments in Waste Management and other Environmental aspects. He has been in support of various SPDC projects and studies aimed at Zero waste discharge from oil and gas fields and at minimizing oil spills as well as improve safety procedures and health standards
Victor Gotevbe, is a visionary leader, leading a credible network of young Nigerian professionals both in Nigeria and the Diaspora. He holds a degree in philosophy and a professional certificate in Public Relations. He is an Associate member of Nigerian Institute of Management. And works with Vanguard Media Limited (publishers of the Vanguard newspapers: www.vanguardngr.com as the Personnel Officer.He has a very strong passion to serve humanity wholeheartedly and selflessly. This passion led him to establish the Apapa Golden Leo Club (youth Activity of International Association of Lions Clubs, district 404 Nigeria) in 2003 at Olodi Apapa-Ajegunle (an area that is often regarded and misconstrued as a ghetto) Victor was one of the of the young leaders in Nigeria selected to participate in the workshops on MDGs with the Nigerian National Assembly organized by National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) between 2005-2007. In 2005, he was a rapporteur of the National HIV/Aids Summit organized by National Agency for the Control of Aids (NACA). He recently facilitated a National Endowment for Democracy (NED) funded workshop in Ibadan, and was awarded by Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomosho, Oyo State for Leadership and Role Model, and he also functioned as a guest speaker at their first annual Business Summit of all graduating students.
Furthermore, Victor was contacted by the Ministry of Youth Development (January, 2008) to share his international experience and how it affects local action in the Activity book of the Ministry. Between February and March, 2008, he was invited by Freedom House to Cameroun for an Alumni Meeting of the African Institute for Governing with Integrity (Formerly African Initiative). Additionally, he made it to the shortlist of 43, out of 144 outstanding nominations from 18 African countries for the 2008 Archbishop Desmond Tutu Fellowship Award.
Inquiries: 08034810869, 08050637252
d2dyi@yahoo.com ,www.d2dyi.blogspot.com
D2DYI…Youths as leaders and agents of change.
Collaborating Agencies: NYNETHA Delta State Chapter, Earth Charter Youth Group, SOWIN Delta State University,Abraka, PIND Jos, Divine Encounter Global Network,
Thursday 7 August 2008
5/6/08 - Mexico Update
5th of August, 2008 NEWS FROM THE XVII INTERNATIONAL AIDS CONFERENCEProvided by kaisernetwork.org, a free health policy informationservice of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundationhttp://www.kaisernetwork.org/aids2008CONTENTS----------------4 August 2008----------------1. Sessions2. Daily Roundup3. Press Briefings4. Newsmaker Interviews5. Podcasts6. Mexico City Notebook7. News Summaries==================================================================---------------------------------1. SESSIONS---------------------------------Webcasts and podcasts of the following sessions are now available.Opening Session, 3 August 2008http://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/hcast_index.cfm?display=detail&hc=2863Scaling up Comprehensive Prevention of Mother-to-child TransmissionProgrammes: Challenges and Lessons Learned from Adapting GlobalRecommendations to Country Situation, 3 August 2008http://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/hcast_index.cfm?display=detail&hc=2859HIV Transmission under ART, 3 August 2008http://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/hcast_index.cfm?display=detail&hc=2860Universal Access of TB Services to PLHIV: Harnessing Collaboration andCoordination, 3 August 2008http://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/hcast_index.cfm?display=detail&hc=2861Plenary: Panel Discussion on the State of the Epidemic, 4 August 2008http://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/hcast_index.cfm?display=detail&hc=2866Regional Session: Sub-Saharan Africa, 4 August 2008http://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/hcast_index.cfm?display=detail&hc=2868Is Religion a Barrier to HIV Prevention? 4 August 2008http://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/hcast_index.cfm?display=detail&hc=2870HIV/AIDS and Health System Reform: Achieving Universal Coverage, 4 August 2008http://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/hcast_index.cfm?display=detail&hc=2872Learning by Doing: Scaling up HIV Operations Research inResource-Limited Settings, 4 August 2008http://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/hcast_index.cfm?display=detail&hc=2871Reaching Millions - Youth, AIDS and the Digital Age, 4 August 2008http://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/hcast_index.cfm?display=detail&hc=2873***LIVE WEBCASTS TUESDAY***10 a.m. ET - Plenary Session, Day 212 p.m. ET - Official Press Conference1:45 p.m. ET - Travel Restrictions on People Living with HIV: GoingAgainst the Grain of Human Rights and Public Health---------------------------------2. DAILY ROUNDUP---------------------------------Kaisernetwork.org managing editor Jill Braden Balderas reports on thedaily highlights from the XVII International AIDS Conference, Monday,4 August - Friday, 8 August, in Mexico City.The Daily Roundup for Monday, 4 August will be posted later today.http://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/hcast_index.cfm?display=detail&hc=2838---------------------------------3. PRESS BRIEFINGS---------------------------------Official Press Conference, 4 August 2008http://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/hcast_index.cfm?display=detail&hc=2867Press Conference: The Role of the AIDS Epidemic in Black America inthe Global AIDS Epidemic, 4 August 2008http://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/hcast_index.cfm?display=detail&hc=2875---------------------------------4. NEWSMAKER INTERVIEWS---------------------------------Throughout the AIDS 2008 Conference, the Kaiser Family Foundation'sJackie Judd will interview newsmakers who will preview and summarizeconference developments.Allyson Leacock, Executive Director, Caribbean Broadcast MediaPartnership on HIV/AIDShttp://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/hcast_index.cfm?display=detail&hc=2836#leacockLeacock speaks about efforts to mobilize Caribbean media to put aspotlight on the HIV/AIDS epidemic.Elisabet Fadul, IAS Youth Programme Co-Chairhttp://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/hcast_index.cfm?display=detail&hc=2836#fadulFadul, from the Dominican Republic, discusses how she became anHIV/AIDS activist and what she wants delegates to understand aboutreaching out to young people.Ceci Connolly, Correspondent, Washington Posthttp://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/hcast_index.cfm?display=detail&hc=2836#connollyConnolly discusses her recent series of reports on HIV/AIDS in Mexico,including border areas, and among Hispanics in the U.S.---------------------------------5. PODCASTS---------------------------------Spanish- and English-language audio podcasts from the opening andclosing sessions, plenary sessions, and selected other sessions andpress conferences are available.Listen to select sessions in:Spanishhttp://www.kaisernetwork.org/aids2008/audio.cfm?lang=spEnglishhttp://www.kaisernetwork.org/aids2008/audio.cfm?lang=enTo subscribe to language specific podcasts of select sessions from theconference visit http://www.kaisernetwork.org/aids2008/podcast.cfm .---------------------------------6. MEXICO CITY NOTEBOOK---------------------------------Science magazine correspondent Jon Cohen reviews the day's news at theconference in daily interviews with Kaiser's Jackie Judd. Submit aquestion for Jon Cohen by emailing ask@kaisernetwork.org .Mexico City Notebook from Monday, 4 August will be available later today.http://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/hcast_index.cfm?display=detail&hc=2837---------------------------------7. NEWS SUMMARIES---------------------------------XVII International AIDS Conference Opens Amid Calls for UniversalAccess to Treatment, Disappointing Vaccine, Microbicide Trials4 August 2008http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=53677Media Outlets Profile Attendees at HIV/AIDS Conferences in Mexico City4 August 2008http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=53678Additional news coverage will be available in the Kaiser DailyHIV/AIDS Report, including summaries of all the news coverage fromacross the globe.Available at noon ET, online at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/hiv .Sign up for email at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/email .==================================================================We encourage you to forward this email to your friends, colleagues,listservs, discussion groups or let them know they can sign up forthis free email athttp://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/signupAIDS2008.cfm .This daily update email, provided during the week of the XVIIInternational AIDS Conference, is a free service of the Kaiser FamilyFoundation. The email will be distributed August 3-8 and no furtheremails will be sent after August 8. To unsubscribe between August3-8, visit http://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/unsubAIDS2008.cfm.==================================================================Additional coverage of the conference is available through thefollowing sources:The official conference website:The searchable Programme-at-a-Glance, abstracts, rapporteur reports,the daily conference newspaper, and other news and developments fromthe conference, are available online at http://www.aids2008.org .http://clinicaloptions.comClinical Care Options is proud to partner with the International AIDSSociety to provide official online scientific conference coverage ofAIDS 2008. HIV experts from around the world will provide analyses ofthe new data in 5 clinical tracks and direct the creation ofdownloadable slidesets. Online coverage includes video and audiohighlights in which experts recap the data presented at key clinicalsessions, Capsule Summaries of important studies, and more. Visithttp://clinicaloptions.com/iac2008 for your free membership andsubscription to HIV email updates and podcasts.
Wednesday 6 August 2008
NIGER DELTA CRISIS REPORT OF KEN WIWA
NDPVF rebels train in the Niger delta, an area whose oil has delivered $300 billion to Nigeria's treasury.
photo: George Esiri/Reuters and mark naylor, April 23, 2008
photo: George Esiri/Reuters and mark naylor, April 23, 2008
Death Rules Niger Delta inBattle to Control Oil
KEN WIWA / The Observer (UK) 5mar2006
Kidnappings and ethnic war in Nigeria have one root cause - oil. The power struggles and corruption that flow from it have claimed thousands of lives. Eleven years after his own father was killed there, Ken Wiwa reports from the Niger Delta on the persistent conflict that is tearing the country apart.
KEN WIWA / The Observer (UK) 5mar2006
Kidnappings and ethnic war in Nigeria have one root cause - oil. The power struggles and corruption that flow from it have claimed thousands of lives. Eleven years after his own father was killed there, Ken Wiwa reports from the Niger Delta on the persistent conflict that is tearing the country apart.
In a hotel in the city of Warri in southern Nigeria, a mobile phone rings impatiently. Even at six in the morning the city is roasting under a fierce sun. Warri is waking up to another hard day in its hard history. Populated mainly by three ethnic groups, it has been the theatre for the fierce rivalry and drama that animates the Itshekiri, Urhobo and Ijaw. Money has since been poured onto this smouldering ethnic fire from the proceeds of oil, turning the city into an industrial beast with the character of a frontier town.
At the end of the phone is a deep baritone voice. 'I am Adams of Mend,' the caller says, revealing himself as a member of the newly notorious militia, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta. A few minutes after the call a new okada pulls up outside the hotel. A short young man steps off the small motorbike. 'Please come mister journalist, I know you,' he calls out, 'I am Adams of Mend.'
After a short bike ride and a two-hour speedboat journey, we arrive at a small village community to the west of Warri. As the boat comes to a stop, about 25 men emerge from a house, armed with AK 47 rifles and with rocket-fired grenades wrapped around their waists.
The insurgents don't bother to hide their identity. They are polite and friendly. At a thatched house in the community, which they insist on calling a 'camp', the militants showcase their arsenal, repeatedly insisting that they are prepared to go to war.
The history, politics and culture of the Niger River Delta is as rich, complex and intricate as the ecology of the Africa's largest floodplain. The delta covers an area of dense rainforest, sand ridges, mangrove forests and swamps with a labyrinthine distribution of tidal channels, streams, rivers and creeks. Rich in natural resources such as timber, coal, palm oil, natural gas and crude oil, it is also one of the most densely populated areas of the globe and one of the world's largest wetlands. And it is virtually impossible to patrol.
This rich but fragile ecosystem is often described as the heart and lungs of Nigeria and, since oil was discovered there in 1956, the region has delivered some $300bn to Nigeria's treasury.
It is the revenue from oil that keeps the 400 or so ethnic groups known as Nigeria together. Without it, the country might already have split. The kola nut that binds the agreement at the heart of the Nigerian constitution is known as the 'derivation formula'.
At independence in 1960, each of Nigeria's three regions was entitled to half the revenue from minerals found there, with the balance going to the federal government. Over the next 30 years fiscal chicanery reduced the formula so that the regions received as little as 1.3 per cent; central government got the rest.
In the Nineties my father, Ken Saro-Wiwa, stoked the embers of Niger Delta politics, agitating for a greater share of federal oil revenue. There had been a history of groups and movements demanding a greater share of the resources, the struggles alternating between violent and non-violent. One such movement, led by an Ijaw army officer, Isaac Boro, declared a Federal Republic of Niger Delta in 1966. It lasted 12 days. Boro was killed in mysterious circumstances during the Nigerian civil war but his memory has periodically fanned the flames of Niger Deltans and especially those of his Ijaw peoples who are the largest ethnic group in the region and the fourth-largest in Nigeria.
During his lifetime my father proselytised on behalf of the region but it wasn't until he anchored his political philosophy to the rights of the Ogoni that he attracted national and then global attention to the problems of the delta. His adoption of a non-violent approach was met with state violence by the then ruling military regime of General Sani Abacha.
In my father's final statement to the tribunal that convicted him in October 1995, he wrote: 'I predict that a denouement of the riddle of the Niger Delta will soon come. The agenda is being set at this trial. Whether the peaceful ways I have favoured will prevail depends on what the oppressor decides, what signals it sends out to the waiting public.'
It may come as a surprise to the visitor but Port Harcourt is known as the 'garden city'. Once a quiet, leafy place on the Atlantic coast, now the city's streets and neighbourhoods are a study in the challenges of governing Nigeria. The city's okada drivers and mass transit drivers appear to obey only one rule: to defy common sense and traffic regulations whenever possible. Despite road users' worst intentions, the Port Harcourt traffic is approaching manageable proportions and the city is enjoying a relatively peaceful dry season - but most people here are aware that the respite may be temporary. All the ingredients for civil strife are in the air: the city is not far from Owerri, scene of bloodshed over the Danish cartoons. Every week people pour in from Warri and the western Niger Delta, fleeing the upsurge in violence. Foreigners increasingly employ armed guards.
Almost as unquantifiable and uncontrollable as the delta itself is the informal network of armed youths who claim to be fighting for the emancipation of the Niger Delta.Their exact origins, size and operations are not easy to gauge. The lack of employment and career opportunities tempted many young graduates and unemployed youths into criminal syndicates.
A recent addition to criminal activities is oil bunkering - siphoning oil from pipelines onto barges, which are then sold on the high seas. Official estimates suggest that Nigeria loses 100,000 barrels daily through oil bunkering. The lucrative practice is rumoured to involve the complicity of oil company employees and highly placed government officials.
The full story is waiting to be told. Thus far only two naval officers have being held in connection with bunkering but it is an open secret among youths here that the 'business' is an alliance of mutually beneficial arrangements between officials, soldiers, ex-soldiers and the militias. If the business is shrouded in clandestine operations, the chain of violence is clear enough: Human Rights Watch says that oil bunkering is responsible for fuelling the gang-related violence in the delta that killed 1,000 Nigerians in 2004.
Port Harcourt and the eastern Niger Delta may be relatively calm - due to the non-violence that the Ogoni advocated - but there is a deeper irony in that much of the current instability in the Niger Delta can be traced to armed gangs that mushroomed and thrived there.
Beyond belonging to a mutual admiration society, Osama bin Laden and Niger Delta militia leader Alhaji Asari Dokubo have one other thing in common: the global oil markets respond to their actions. Asari Dokubo gained his notoriety in 2004 when his threat to blow up all oil facilities in the delta sent oil prices soaring above $50 for the first time. Calling his group the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force(NDPVF), Asari Dokubo claimed right up to his arrest in September 2005 that he had 10,000 men ready to reclaim the resources of the Niger Delta for its people.
Whether or not the figures are correct, the reality is that the NDPVF is a decentralised amalgam of groups working in cells that are connected only by a common ambition. For a time Asari Dokubo was clearly the leader but his star peaked after sending oil prices past the $50 barrier and waned once the Bush administration encouraged the Nigerian government to broker an arms for cash deal with the NDPVF.
The 'deal' is said to have caused some disagreements within the NDPVF, leading to the creation of the breakaway faction operating as Mend. Although the NDPVF's fortunes appear to be linked to the personality of Asari Dokubo, last week's demands by Mend that Asari Dokubo be freed would suggest that the network is intact and perhaps working under an umbrella movement.
Tackling oil bunkering is the nettle that needs to be grasped and government efforts to do so led, indirectly and unintentionally, to the recent spate of hostage taking and kidnappings.
If President Obasanjo had hoped that a Joint Military Task Force would cut off the supply of oil, arms and money to the militia, he will be disappointed by the results so far. Reports suggest that, rather than enforcing the peace, the activities of some members of the JTF, as the task force is known, have created resentment among local people and the militia.
'When we saw they were involved [in oil bunkering] the boys got angry,' one youth told us last week. 'Why should they take away the oil when they are not even from here?'
Other reports accuse the soldiers of taking over the lucrative boat rental business to oil companies, which used to be the preserve of local operators. 'Because of JTF, we are almost unemployed now. Officers go to the oil companies and supply them boats for security patrol. We charge less but the oil companies prefer them because of their military connection,' an operator told a reporter from one Nigerian newspaper.
The latest sequence of events began on 11 January when Mend militants stormed a Shell oil vessel and took four foreigners on board hostage. Mend made a three-pronged demand: the release of Asari Dokubo; freedom for the impeached Bayelsa State Governor, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, who is on trial on money laundering charges; and payment of $1.5bn approved by the Nigerian Senate as compensation from Shell to communities affected by oil spills.
Four days later in a show of strength Mend militia attacked two houseboats, killing 15 JTF soldiers. Two weeks later Mend announced the release of the hostages on humanitarian grounds - and three communities were attacked by a JTF helicopter gunship. The JTF claimed the attacks were meant to stamp out oil bunkering but insiders insist that they were reprisal raids. Nine more hostages were taken in response to these attacks and, although six of them have since been released, the militia have vowed to fight on until the federal government meets their demands.
'We are continuing with our attacks on oil facilities and oil workers. We will act without further warning,' they said.
So far they have not fulfilled their promise but the country is holding its breath. Oil markets are jittery and, although the situation appears to be contained in the delta for now, this being Nigeria, anything is possible.
Additional reporting by Barry Nalley
source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/oil/story/0,,1723943,00.html 2apr2006In a hotel in the city of Warri in southern Nigeria, a mobile phone rings impatiently. Even at six in the morning the city is roasting under a fierce sun. Warri is waking up to another hard day in its hard history. Populated mainly by three ethnic groups, it has been the theatre for the fierce rivalry and drama that animates the Itshekiri, Urhobo and Ijaw. Money has since been poured onto this smouldering ethnic fire from the proceeds of oil, turning the city into an industrial beast with the character of a frontier town.
At the end of the phone is a deep baritone voice. 'I am Adams of Mend,' the caller says, revealing himself as a member of the newly notorious militia, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta. A few minutes after the call a new okada pulls up outside the hotel. A short young man steps off the small motorbike. 'Please come mister journalist, I know you,' he calls out, 'I am Adams of Mend.'
After a short bike ride and a two-hour speedboat journey, we arrive at a small village community to the west of Warri. As the boat comes to a stop, about 25 men emerge from a house, armed with AK 47 rifles and with rocket-fired grenades wrapped around their waists.
The insurgents don't bother to hide their identity. They are polite and friendly. At a thatched house in the community, which they insist on calling a 'camp', the militants showcase their arsenal, repeatedly insisting that they are prepared to go to war.
The history, politics and culture of the Niger River Delta is as rich, complex and intricate as the ecology of the Africa's largest floodplain. The delta covers an area of dense rainforest, sand ridges, mangrove forests and swamps with a labyrinthine distribution of tidal channels, streams, rivers and creeks. Rich in natural resources such as timber, coal, palm oil, natural gas and crude oil, it is also one of the most densely populated areas of the globe and one of the world's largest wetlands. And it is virtually impossible to patrol.
This rich but fragile ecosystem is often described as the heart and lungs of Nigeria and, since oil was discovered there in 1956, the region has delivered some $300bn to Nigeria's treasury.
It is the revenue from oil that keeps the 400 or so ethnic groups known as Nigeria together. Without it, the country might already have split. The kola nut that binds the agreement at the heart of the Nigerian constitution is known as the 'derivation formula'.
At independence in 1960, each of Nigeria's three regions was entitled to half the revenue from minerals found there, with the balance going to the federal government. Over the next 30 years fiscal chicanery reduced the formula so that the regions received as little as 1.3 per cent; central government got the rest.
In the Nineties my father, Ken Saro-Wiwa, stoked the embers of Niger Delta politics, agitating for a greater share of federal oil revenue. There had been a history of groups and movements demanding a greater share of the resources, the struggles alternating between violent and non-violent. One such movement, led by an Ijaw army officer, Isaac Boro, declared a Federal Republic of Niger Delta in 1966. It lasted 12 days. Boro was killed in mysterious circumstances during the Nigerian civil war but his memory has periodically fanned the flames of Niger Deltans and especially those of his Ijaw peoples who are the largest ethnic group in the region and the fourth-largest in Nigeria.
During his lifetime my father proselytised on behalf of the region but it wasn't until he anchored his political philosophy to the rights of the Ogoni that he attracted national and then global attention to the problems of the delta. His adoption of a non-violent approach was met with state violence by the then ruling military regime of General Sani Abacha.
In my father's final statement to the tribunal that convicted him in October 1995, he wrote: 'I predict that a denouement of the riddle of the Niger Delta will soon come. The agenda is being set at this trial. Whether the peaceful ways I have favoured will prevail depends on what the oppressor decides, what signals it sends out to the waiting public.'
It may come as a surprise to the visitor but Port Harcourt is known as the 'garden city'. Once a quiet, leafy place on the Atlantic coast, now the city's streets and neighbourhoods are a study in the challenges of governing Nigeria. The city's okada drivers and mass transit drivers appear to obey only one rule: to defy common sense and traffic regulations whenever possible. Despite road users' worst intentions, the Port Harcourt traffic is approaching manageable proportions and the city is enjoying a relatively peaceful dry season - but most people here are aware that the respite may be temporary. All the ingredients for civil strife are in the air: the city is not far from Owerri, scene of bloodshed over the Danish cartoons. Every week people pour in from Warri and the western Niger Delta, fleeing the upsurge in violence. Foreigners increasingly employ armed guards.
Almost as unquantifiable and uncontrollable as the delta itself is the informal network of armed youths who claim to be fighting for the emancipation of the Niger Delta.Their exact origins, size and operations are not easy to gauge. The lack of employment and career opportunities tempted many young graduates and unemployed youths into criminal syndicates.
A recent addition to criminal activities is oil bunkering - siphoning oil from pipelines onto barges, which are then sold on the high seas. Official estimates suggest that Nigeria loses 100,000 barrels daily through oil bunkering. The lucrative practice is rumoured to involve the complicity of oil company employees and highly placed government officials.
The full story is waiting to be told. Thus far only two naval officers have being held in connection with bunkering but it is an open secret among youths here that the 'business' is an alliance of mutually beneficial arrangements between officials, soldiers, ex-soldiers and the militias. If the business is shrouded in clandestine operations, the chain of violence is clear enough: Human Rights Watch says that oil bunkering is responsible for fuelling the gang-related violence in the delta that killed 1,000 Nigerians in 2004.
Port Harcourt and the eastern Niger Delta may be relatively calm - due to the non-violence that the Ogoni advocated - but there is a deeper irony in that much of the current instability in the Niger Delta can be traced to armed gangs that mushroomed and thrived there.
Beyond belonging to a mutual admiration society, Osama bin Laden and Niger Delta militia leader Alhaji Asari Dokubo have one other thing in common: the global oil markets respond to their actions. Asari Dokubo gained his notoriety in 2004 when his threat to blow up all oil facilities in the delta sent oil prices soaring above $50 for the first time. Calling his group the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force(NDPVF), Asari Dokubo claimed right up to his arrest in September 2005 that he had 10,000 men ready to reclaim the resources of the Niger Delta for its people.
Whether or not the figures are correct, the reality is that the NDPVF is a decentralised amalgam of groups working in cells that are connected only by a common ambition. For a time Asari Dokubo was clearly the leader but his star peaked after sending oil prices past the $50 barrier and waned once the Bush administration encouraged the Nigerian government to broker an arms for cash deal with the NDPVF.
The 'deal' is said to have caused some disagreements within the NDPVF, leading to the creation of the breakaway faction operating as Mend. Although the NDPVF's fortunes appear to be linked to the personality of Asari Dokubo, last week's demands by Mend that Asari Dokubo be freed would suggest that the network is intact and perhaps working under an umbrella movement.
Tackling oil bunkering is the nettle that needs to be grasped and government efforts to do so led, indirectly and unintentionally, to the recent spate of hostage taking and kidnappings.
If President Obasanjo had hoped that a Joint Military Task Force would cut off the supply of oil, arms and money to the militia, he will be disappointed by the results so far. Reports suggest that, rather than enforcing the peace, the activities of some members of the JTF, as the task force is known, have created resentment among local people and the militia.
'When we saw they were involved [in oil bunkering] the boys got angry,' one youth told us last week. 'Why should they take away the oil when they are not even from here?'
Other reports accuse the soldiers of taking over the lucrative boat rental business to oil companies, which used to be the preserve of local operators. 'Because of JTF, we are almost unemployed now. Officers go to the oil companies and supply them boats for security patrol. We charge less but the oil companies prefer them because of their military connection,' an operator told a reporter from one Nigerian newspaper.
The latest sequence of events began on 11 January when Mend militants stormed a Shell oil vessel and took four foreigners on board hostage. Mend made a three-pronged demand: the release of Asari Dokubo; freedom for the impeached Bayelsa State Governor, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, who is on trial on money laundering charges; and payment of $1.5bn approved by the Nigerian Senate as compensation from Shell to communities affected by oil spills.
Four days later in a show of strength Mend militia attacked two houseboats, killing 15 JTF soldiers. Two weeks later Mend announced the release of the hostages on humanitarian grounds - and three communities were attacked by a JTF helicopter gunship. The JTF claimed the attacks were meant to stamp out oil bunkering but insiders insist that they were reprisal raids. Nine more hostages were taken in response to these attacks and, although six of them have since been released, the militia have vowed to fight on until the federal government meets their demands.
'We are continuing with our attacks on oil facilities and oil workers. We will act without further warning,' they said.
So far they have not fulfilled their promise but the country is holding its breath. Oil markets are jittery and, although the situation appears to be contained in the delta for now, this being Nigeria, anything is possible.
Additional reporting by Barry Nalley
source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/oil/story/0,,1723943,00.html 2apr2006
At the end of the phone is a deep baritone voice. 'I am Adams of Mend,' the caller says, revealing himself as a member of the newly notorious militia, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta. A few minutes after the call a new okada pulls up outside the hotel. A short young man steps off the small motorbike. 'Please come mister journalist, I know you,' he calls out, 'I am Adams of Mend.'
After a short bike ride and a two-hour speedboat journey, we arrive at a small village community to the west of Warri. As the boat comes to a stop, about 25 men emerge from a house, armed with AK 47 rifles and with rocket-fired grenades wrapped around their waists.
The insurgents don't bother to hide their identity. They are polite and friendly. At a thatched house in the community, which they insist on calling a 'camp', the militants showcase their arsenal, repeatedly insisting that they are prepared to go to war.
The history, politics and culture of the Niger River Delta is as rich, complex and intricate as the ecology of the Africa's largest floodplain. The delta covers an area of dense rainforest, sand ridges, mangrove forests and swamps with a labyrinthine distribution of tidal channels, streams, rivers and creeks. Rich in natural resources such as timber, coal, palm oil, natural gas and crude oil, it is also one of the most densely populated areas of the globe and one of the world's largest wetlands. And it is virtually impossible to patrol.
This rich but fragile ecosystem is often described as the heart and lungs of Nigeria and, since oil was discovered there in 1956, the region has delivered some $300bn to Nigeria's treasury.
It is the revenue from oil that keeps the 400 or so ethnic groups known as Nigeria together. Without it, the country might already have split. The kola nut that binds the agreement at the heart of the Nigerian constitution is known as the 'derivation formula'.
At independence in 1960, each of Nigeria's three regions was entitled to half the revenue from minerals found there, with the balance going to the federal government. Over the next 30 years fiscal chicanery reduced the formula so that the regions received as little as 1.3 per cent; central government got the rest.
In the Nineties my father, Ken Saro-Wiwa, stoked the embers of Niger Delta politics, agitating for a greater share of federal oil revenue. There had been a history of groups and movements demanding a greater share of the resources, the struggles alternating between violent and non-violent. One such movement, led by an Ijaw army officer, Isaac Boro, declared a Federal Republic of Niger Delta in 1966. It lasted 12 days. Boro was killed in mysterious circumstances during the Nigerian civil war but his memory has periodically fanned the flames of Niger Deltans and especially those of his Ijaw peoples who are the largest ethnic group in the region and the fourth-largest in Nigeria.
During his lifetime my father proselytised on behalf of the region but it wasn't until he anchored his political philosophy to the rights of the Ogoni that he attracted national and then global attention to the problems of the delta. His adoption of a non-violent approach was met with state violence by the then ruling military regime of General Sani Abacha.
In my father's final statement to the tribunal that convicted him in October 1995, he wrote: 'I predict that a denouement of the riddle of the Niger Delta will soon come. The agenda is being set at this trial. Whether the peaceful ways I have favoured will prevail depends on what the oppressor decides, what signals it sends out to the waiting public.'
It may come as a surprise to the visitor but Port Harcourt is known as the 'garden city'. Once a quiet, leafy place on the Atlantic coast, now the city's streets and neighbourhoods are a study in the challenges of governing Nigeria. The city's okada drivers and mass transit drivers appear to obey only one rule: to defy common sense and traffic regulations whenever possible. Despite road users' worst intentions, the Port Harcourt traffic is approaching manageable proportions and the city is enjoying a relatively peaceful dry season - but most people here are aware that the respite may be temporary. All the ingredients for civil strife are in the air: the city is not far from Owerri, scene of bloodshed over the Danish cartoons. Every week people pour in from Warri and the western Niger Delta, fleeing the upsurge in violence. Foreigners increasingly employ armed guards.
Almost as unquantifiable and uncontrollable as the delta itself is the informal network of armed youths who claim to be fighting for the emancipation of the Niger Delta.Their exact origins, size and operations are not easy to gauge. The lack of employment and career opportunities tempted many young graduates and unemployed youths into criminal syndicates.
A recent addition to criminal activities is oil bunkering - siphoning oil from pipelines onto barges, which are then sold on the high seas. Official estimates suggest that Nigeria loses 100,000 barrels daily through oil bunkering. The lucrative practice is rumoured to involve the complicity of oil company employees and highly placed government officials.
The full story is waiting to be told. Thus far only two naval officers have being held in connection with bunkering but it is an open secret among youths here that the 'business' is an alliance of mutually beneficial arrangements between officials, soldiers, ex-soldiers and the militias. If the business is shrouded in clandestine operations, the chain of violence is clear enough: Human Rights Watch says that oil bunkering is responsible for fuelling the gang-related violence in the delta that killed 1,000 Nigerians in 2004.
Port Harcourt and the eastern Niger Delta may be relatively calm - due to the non-violence that the Ogoni advocated - but there is a deeper irony in that much of the current instability in the Niger Delta can be traced to armed gangs that mushroomed and thrived there.
Beyond belonging to a mutual admiration society, Osama bin Laden and Niger Delta militia leader Alhaji Asari Dokubo have one other thing in common: the global oil markets respond to their actions. Asari Dokubo gained his notoriety in 2004 when his threat to blow up all oil facilities in the delta sent oil prices soaring above $50 for the first time. Calling his group the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force(NDPVF), Asari Dokubo claimed right up to his arrest in September 2005 that he had 10,000 men ready to reclaim the resources of the Niger Delta for its people.
Whether or not the figures are correct, the reality is that the NDPVF is a decentralised amalgam of groups working in cells that are connected only by a common ambition. For a time Asari Dokubo was clearly the leader but his star peaked after sending oil prices past the $50 barrier and waned once the Bush administration encouraged the Nigerian government to broker an arms for cash deal with the NDPVF.
The 'deal' is said to have caused some disagreements within the NDPVF, leading to the creation of the breakaway faction operating as Mend. Although the NDPVF's fortunes appear to be linked to the personality of Asari Dokubo, last week's demands by Mend that Asari Dokubo be freed would suggest that the network is intact and perhaps working under an umbrella movement.
Tackling oil bunkering is the nettle that needs to be grasped and government efforts to do so led, indirectly and unintentionally, to the recent spate of hostage taking and kidnappings.
If President Obasanjo had hoped that a Joint Military Task Force would cut off the supply of oil, arms and money to the militia, he will be disappointed by the results so far. Reports suggest that, rather than enforcing the peace, the activities of some members of the JTF, as the task force is known, have created resentment among local people and the militia.
'When we saw they were involved [in oil bunkering] the boys got angry,' one youth told us last week. 'Why should they take away the oil when they are not even from here?'
Other reports accuse the soldiers of taking over the lucrative boat rental business to oil companies, which used to be the preserve of local operators. 'Because of JTF, we are almost unemployed now. Officers go to the oil companies and supply them boats for security patrol. We charge less but the oil companies prefer them because of their military connection,' an operator told a reporter from one Nigerian newspaper.
The latest sequence of events began on 11 January when Mend militants stormed a Shell oil vessel and took four foreigners on board hostage. Mend made a three-pronged demand: the release of Asari Dokubo; freedom for the impeached Bayelsa State Governor, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, who is on trial on money laundering charges; and payment of $1.5bn approved by the Nigerian Senate as compensation from Shell to communities affected by oil spills.
Four days later in a show of strength Mend militia attacked two houseboats, killing 15 JTF soldiers. Two weeks later Mend announced the release of the hostages on humanitarian grounds - and three communities were attacked by a JTF helicopter gunship. The JTF claimed the attacks were meant to stamp out oil bunkering but insiders insist that they were reprisal raids. Nine more hostages were taken in response to these attacks and, although six of them have since been released, the militia have vowed to fight on until the federal government meets their demands.
'We are continuing with our attacks on oil facilities and oil workers. We will act without further warning,' they said.
So far they have not fulfilled their promise but the country is holding its breath. Oil markets are jittery and, although the situation appears to be contained in the delta for now, this being Nigeria, anything is possible.
Additional reporting by Barry Nalley
source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/oil/story/0,,1723943,00.html 2apr2006In a hotel in the city of Warri in southern Nigeria, a mobile phone rings impatiently. Even at six in the morning the city is roasting under a fierce sun. Warri is waking up to another hard day in its hard history. Populated mainly by three ethnic groups, it has been the theatre for the fierce rivalry and drama that animates the Itshekiri, Urhobo and Ijaw. Money has since been poured onto this smouldering ethnic fire from the proceeds of oil, turning the city into an industrial beast with the character of a frontier town.
At the end of the phone is a deep baritone voice. 'I am Adams of Mend,' the caller says, revealing himself as a member of the newly notorious militia, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta. A few minutes after the call a new okada pulls up outside the hotel. A short young man steps off the small motorbike. 'Please come mister journalist, I know you,' he calls out, 'I am Adams of Mend.'
After a short bike ride and a two-hour speedboat journey, we arrive at a small village community to the west of Warri. As the boat comes to a stop, about 25 men emerge from a house, armed with AK 47 rifles and with rocket-fired grenades wrapped around their waists.
The insurgents don't bother to hide their identity. They are polite and friendly. At a thatched house in the community, which they insist on calling a 'camp', the militants showcase their arsenal, repeatedly insisting that they are prepared to go to war.
The history, politics and culture of the Niger River Delta is as rich, complex and intricate as the ecology of the Africa's largest floodplain. The delta covers an area of dense rainforest, sand ridges, mangrove forests and swamps with a labyrinthine distribution of tidal channels, streams, rivers and creeks. Rich in natural resources such as timber, coal, palm oil, natural gas and crude oil, it is also one of the most densely populated areas of the globe and one of the world's largest wetlands. And it is virtually impossible to patrol.
This rich but fragile ecosystem is often described as the heart and lungs of Nigeria and, since oil was discovered there in 1956, the region has delivered some $300bn to Nigeria's treasury.
It is the revenue from oil that keeps the 400 or so ethnic groups known as Nigeria together. Without it, the country might already have split. The kola nut that binds the agreement at the heart of the Nigerian constitution is known as the 'derivation formula'.
At independence in 1960, each of Nigeria's three regions was entitled to half the revenue from minerals found there, with the balance going to the federal government. Over the next 30 years fiscal chicanery reduced the formula so that the regions received as little as 1.3 per cent; central government got the rest.
In the Nineties my father, Ken Saro-Wiwa, stoked the embers of Niger Delta politics, agitating for a greater share of federal oil revenue. There had been a history of groups and movements demanding a greater share of the resources, the struggles alternating between violent and non-violent. One such movement, led by an Ijaw army officer, Isaac Boro, declared a Federal Republic of Niger Delta in 1966. It lasted 12 days. Boro was killed in mysterious circumstances during the Nigerian civil war but his memory has periodically fanned the flames of Niger Deltans and especially those of his Ijaw peoples who are the largest ethnic group in the region and the fourth-largest in Nigeria.
During his lifetime my father proselytised on behalf of the region but it wasn't until he anchored his political philosophy to the rights of the Ogoni that he attracted national and then global attention to the problems of the delta. His adoption of a non-violent approach was met with state violence by the then ruling military regime of General Sani Abacha.
In my father's final statement to the tribunal that convicted him in October 1995, he wrote: 'I predict that a denouement of the riddle of the Niger Delta will soon come. The agenda is being set at this trial. Whether the peaceful ways I have favoured will prevail depends on what the oppressor decides, what signals it sends out to the waiting public.'
It may come as a surprise to the visitor but Port Harcourt is known as the 'garden city'. Once a quiet, leafy place on the Atlantic coast, now the city's streets and neighbourhoods are a study in the challenges of governing Nigeria. The city's okada drivers and mass transit drivers appear to obey only one rule: to defy common sense and traffic regulations whenever possible. Despite road users' worst intentions, the Port Harcourt traffic is approaching manageable proportions and the city is enjoying a relatively peaceful dry season - but most people here are aware that the respite may be temporary. All the ingredients for civil strife are in the air: the city is not far from Owerri, scene of bloodshed over the Danish cartoons. Every week people pour in from Warri and the western Niger Delta, fleeing the upsurge in violence. Foreigners increasingly employ armed guards.
Almost as unquantifiable and uncontrollable as the delta itself is the informal network of armed youths who claim to be fighting for the emancipation of the Niger Delta.Their exact origins, size and operations are not easy to gauge. The lack of employment and career opportunities tempted many young graduates and unemployed youths into criminal syndicates.
A recent addition to criminal activities is oil bunkering - siphoning oil from pipelines onto barges, which are then sold on the high seas. Official estimates suggest that Nigeria loses 100,000 barrels daily through oil bunkering. The lucrative practice is rumoured to involve the complicity of oil company employees and highly placed government officials.
The full story is waiting to be told. Thus far only two naval officers have being held in connection with bunkering but it is an open secret among youths here that the 'business' is an alliance of mutually beneficial arrangements between officials, soldiers, ex-soldiers and the militias. If the business is shrouded in clandestine operations, the chain of violence is clear enough: Human Rights Watch says that oil bunkering is responsible for fuelling the gang-related violence in the delta that killed 1,000 Nigerians in 2004.
Port Harcourt and the eastern Niger Delta may be relatively calm - due to the non-violence that the Ogoni advocated - but there is a deeper irony in that much of the current instability in the Niger Delta can be traced to armed gangs that mushroomed and thrived there.
Beyond belonging to a mutual admiration society, Osama bin Laden and Niger Delta militia leader Alhaji Asari Dokubo have one other thing in common: the global oil markets respond to their actions. Asari Dokubo gained his notoriety in 2004 when his threat to blow up all oil facilities in the delta sent oil prices soaring above $50 for the first time. Calling his group the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force(NDPVF), Asari Dokubo claimed right up to his arrest in September 2005 that he had 10,000 men ready to reclaim the resources of the Niger Delta for its people.
Whether or not the figures are correct, the reality is that the NDPVF is a decentralised amalgam of groups working in cells that are connected only by a common ambition. For a time Asari Dokubo was clearly the leader but his star peaked after sending oil prices past the $50 barrier and waned once the Bush administration encouraged the Nigerian government to broker an arms for cash deal with the NDPVF.
The 'deal' is said to have caused some disagreements within the NDPVF, leading to the creation of the breakaway faction operating as Mend. Although the NDPVF's fortunes appear to be linked to the personality of Asari Dokubo, last week's demands by Mend that Asari Dokubo be freed would suggest that the network is intact and perhaps working under an umbrella movement.
Tackling oil bunkering is the nettle that needs to be grasped and government efforts to do so led, indirectly and unintentionally, to the recent spate of hostage taking and kidnappings.
If President Obasanjo had hoped that a Joint Military Task Force would cut off the supply of oil, arms and money to the militia, he will be disappointed by the results so far. Reports suggest that, rather than enforcing the peace, the activities of some members of the JTF, as the task force is known, have created resentment among local people and the militia.
'When we saw they were involved [in oil bunkering] the boys got angry,' one youth told us last week. 'Why should they take away the oil when they are not even from here?'
Other reports accuse the soldiers of taking over the lucrative boat rental business to oil companies, which used to be the preserve of local operators. 'Because of JTF, we are almost unemployed now. Officers go to the oil companies and supply them boats for security patrol. We charge less but the oil companies prefer them because of their military connection,' an operator told a reporter from one Nigerian newspaper.
The latest sequence of events began on 11 January when Mend militants stormed a Shell oil vessel and took four foreigners on board hostage. Mend made a three-pronged demand: the release of Asari Dokubo; freedom for the impeached Bayelsa State Governor, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, who is on trial on money laundering charges; and payment of $1.5bn approved by the Nigerian Senate as compensation from Shell to communities affected by oil spills.
Four days later in a show of strength Mend militia attacked two houseboats, killing 15 JTF soldiers. Two weeks later Mend announced the release of the hostages on humanitarian grounds - and three communities were attacked by a JTF helicopter gunship. The JTF claimed the attacks were meant to stamp out oil bunkering but insiders insist that they were reprisal raids. Nine more hostages were taken in response to these attacks and, although six of them have since been released, the militia have vowed to fight on until the federal government meets their demands.
'We are continuing with our attacks on oil facilities and oil workers. We will act without further warning,' they said.
So far they have not fulfilled their promise but the country is holding its breath. Oil markets are jittery and, although the situation appears to be contained in the delta for now, this being Nigeria, anything is possible.
Additional reporting by Barry Nalley
source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/oil/story/0,,1723943,00.html 2apr2006
Saturday 2 August 2008
Latest About Nigeria'a HIV/AIDS Status
Nigeria leads Sub-Saharan Africa 's HIV figures With about 3.8 million people now infected, Nigeria still has the highest number of people living with HIV and AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa. The latest report of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) however indicates a downward prevalence rate. The figure for Tanzania is 2.2 million from a population of 38 million. Uganda 's 30 million people has one million affected while Germany, with the biggest population in Europe at over 80 million people, just has 50,000 infected persons. Dr. Regina Goergen, global health/HIV expert advised Nigeria to take a cue from countries like Uganda, Thailand and Senegal "where the fight against HIV and AIDS has proved successful because the initial fears were eliminated while the political will remained unwavering in giving it a straight fight."
JAAIDS Youth internship Programmr
th Call for Application: JAAIDS Youth Internship Programme
JAAIDS now has opening for four (4) youth volunteers to join its youth
internship programme. JAAIDS youth internship programme aims at
creating opportunities for youth leadership in responding to the
HIV/AIDS epidemic.
It identifies youths with interest and passion, and, by placing them
within a six-month internship based at JAAIDS offices in Lagos and Abuja,
creates opportunities for young people to channel their energies to
creative use and empower them with leadership skills to mobilize their
communities in halting AIDS and addressing its impact.
JAAIDS is a media based organization working in the field of HIV/AIDS
and development. Our focus areas include training and institution-building,
policy and advocacy, response monitoring, research and communication,
and information networking. The organization is well-recognized for its
innovative programming and commitment to deliver service that will halt
the spread of HIV and mitigate its impact.
Youth interns will assist programme staff in project implementation
and perform other related tasks including interfacing with the
organization's
stakeholders. They will be exposed to a variety of skills development and
learning opportunities and will be able to grow themselves rapidly in
many areas of HIV/AIDS interventions. They will also be provided with
small grants to implement two youth-focused projects during the period of
their internship.
They will serve for a period of six months and will be paid a monthly
stipend. The internship is supported by the Staying Alive Foundation UK.
Interested young persons must possess the following:
1. Secondary school certificate with minimum of five credits including
English language
2. Ability to communicate fluently in English
3. Must be smart, focused and energetic
4. Must be able to relate well with people
5. Must be aged between 16 and 25 years old by December 2008
6. Must be based in or have accommodation in Abuja or Lagos
Candidates must submit an essay (not more than 300 words) on the topic
"What I can do to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS among Nigeria's youth
population".
Applications must give full names, contact details (including telephone
numbers) and showing evidence of fulfilling the criteria listed above
may be submitted by email to:
ogechi@nigeria-aids.org, dennyguys@gmail.com or hand-
submitted to:
JAAIDS Youth Volunteers Recruitment
44B Ijaye Road
(Behind Tastee Fried Chicken)
Ogba, Lagos.
Or
JAAIDS Office
4 Juba Close,
Off Dunokofia Street
Area 11 Abuja
Applications must be received on or before Thursday,August 7, 2008.
Ogechi Eronini
Email:ogechi@nigeria-aids.org
JAAIDS now has opening for four (4) youth volunteers to join its youth
internship programme. JAAIDS youth internship programme aims at
creating opportunities for youth leadership in responding to the
HIV/AIDS epidemic.
It identifies youths with interest and passion, and, by placing them
within a six-month internship based at JAAIDS offices in Lagos and Abuja,
creates opportunities for young people to channel their energies to
creative use and empower them with leadership skills to mobilize their
communities in halting AIDS and addressing its impact.
JAAIDS is a media based organization working in the field of HIV/AIDS
and development. Our focus areas include training and institution-building,
policy and advocacy, response monitoring, research and communication,
and information networking. The organization is well-recognized for its
innovative programming and commitment to deliver service that will halt
the spread of HIV and mitigate its impact.
Youth interns will assist programme staff in project implementation
and perform other related tasks including interfacing with the
organization's
stakeholders. They will be exposed to a variety of skills development and
learning opportunities and will be able to grow themselves rapidly in
many areas of HIV/AIDS interventions. They will also be provided with
small grants to implement two youth-focused projects during the period of
their internship.
They will serve for a period of six months and will be paid a monthly
stipend. The internship is supported by the Staying Alive Foundation UK.
Interested young persons must possess the following:
1. Secondary school certificate with minimum of five credits including
English language
2. Ability to communicate fluently in English
3. Must be smart, focused and energetic
4. Must be able to relate well with people
5. Must be aged between 16 and 25 years old by December 2008
6. Must be based in or have accommodation in Abuja or Lagos
Candidates must submit an essay (not more than 300 words) on the topic
"What I can do to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS among Nigeria's youth
population".
Applications must give full names, contact details (including telephone
numbers) and showing evidence of fulfilling the criteria listed above
may be submitted by email to:
ogechi@nigeria-aids.org, dennyguys@gmail.com or hand-
submitted to:
JAAIDS Youth Volunteers Recruitment
44B Ijaye Road
(Behind Tastee Fried Chicken)
Ogba, Lagos.
Or
JAAIDS Office
4 Juba Close,
Off Dunokofia Street
Area 11 Abuja
Applications must be received on or before Thursday,August 7, 2008.
Ogechi Eronini
Email:ogechi@nigeria-aids.org
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