Nigeria Security Update #1 300607

Lagos Building Collapse Kills Three (DPA)

Three people were killed Saturday in Lagos, Nigeria's business capital in the south-west, when the building in which they lived collapsed.

Two other people sustained serious injuries in the accident and were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.

General Manager of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Dr Femi Osayimeolu, was at the head of a rescue team still working to ensure that no victim was left under the debris of the collapsed building.

He said the cause of the accident had yet to be ascertained, but said it could possibly be due to the use of poor quality materials in the construction of the building.

Torrential rainfall in the past week may have contributed to the collapse, he added.

Osayimeolu lamented the many building collapses in the largely unplanned Lagos State capital and said the government was trying to ensure that builders used good quality materials in construction.

'The state government has already identified 92 buildings to be pulled down over the suspicion that they were made of low quality materials,' he said.

'It is unfortunate that people convert bungalows to two story- buildings without requisite approvals even when they know that the original building had been constructed decades ago,' he said.

The Niger Delta Waiting Game (Vanguard)

Indication that the government of President Umaru Yar'Adua desires to tackle the Niger-Delta crisis was the freedom granted the leader of the Niger-Delta Peoples Volunteer Front (NDPVF), Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, by a Federal High Court in Abuja, Thursday, June 14, after spending almost two years in detention and, expectedly, the embrace is generating encouraging feedback from the militants and people of the region. Yar'Adua had, few days after he assumed office, invited the governors of the volatile states, Delta, Rivers and Bayelsa - Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, Sir Celestine Omehia and Chief Timpre Sylva-Sam, to Abuja over the escalating cases of hostage taking in the region, where the governors told him that the release of Dokubo-Asari was a sine qua non for the return of peace to the troubled region.

But there was enragement some days later, as the Supreme Court refused bail for the militant leader on the grounds of national security. In fact, it was thought that either Yar'Adua was adopting the headstrong stand of his predecessor, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, contrary to his May 29 inaugural proclamation of being "a listener and a doer" or he was just playing numb to the demands of the people of the Niger-Delta.

Back to the drawing board: Some militant leaders went back to the drawing board, having rejected some purported conditions allegedly given to the vice president, Goodluck Jonathan for the release of their grand commander but the hullabaloo was cleared by Justice Peter Olayiwola when he granted Dokubo-Asari bail, last Thursday.

Peace would take sometime to come: There is no doubt that the release of the militant boss would reduce tension in the region but in the words of the national leader of the Ijaw ethnic nationality and former federal commissioner for information, Chief Edwin Clark, "Freeing Dokubo-Asari cannot bring peace overnight. There will be peace but it will take sometime. However, development has to follow his release. The people of the Niger-Delta will not continue to live in abject poverty because Asari has been released. While the release of Dokubo-Asari has helped to calm frayed nerves in the region, there is no indication that it would stop hostage-taking. The militant chief, himself, confirmed in an interview with newsmen that he was not in the position to stop hostage taking in the region. He was being straightforward, as the kidnapping business has since 2005 when he was locked up, gone beyond what he alone could manage.

Ogboinbiri episode

Twenty-four hours before his release, precisely Wednesday, June 13, men of the Joint Task Force (JTF) in the Niger-Delta had confrontation with supposed militants at the Chanomi Creek in Warri and Ogboinbiri waterways in the Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.

The Bayelsa incident was bloody but the events are similar. In the case of Delta State, three Ijaw youths who were travelling in a speedboat, reportedly, ran into a convoy of the task force, which was escorting logistics of an oil company in the creek, and the soldiers opened fire on them following a misunderstanding. The youths, however, dived into the river before the bullets could reach them. There was no death.

Overtaking their convoy

A senior member of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger-Delta (MEND) in Delta State told Sunday Vanguard that the soldiers whose boats were not as fast as that of the youths did not, apparently, want any other speedboat to overtake their convoy but the youths did not see why they should be prevented from overtaking them. "It was in the process", he said, that the soldiers opened fire on them, they were not armed.

The Bayelsa clash was slightly different. According to the military public relations officer (MPRO), O.A. Ochagwuba, in a press statement, reacting to media reports on the killing of nine militants, made available to Sunday Vanguard in Warri: "To set the records straight, a reliable source positively identified those killed as militants from the camp of one Commander Isaac. The source said they were coming from Gbaran where they went for fortification in preparation for an attack against the Agip Oil Flow Station. Among those killed was one of their juju men. Those killed were on a reconnaissance patrol to the Agip Flow Station which they were planning to attack. When the militants opened fire on the soldiers protecting the Agip Flow Station, they defended themselves by returning fire. At the end of the firefight, eight militants were killed; one was wounded and later died. After the clash and their boat was searched, 143 rounds of 7.52mm NATO and 40 rounds of 7.62 mm special were recovered. The soldiers did not sustain any casualty during the clash", he added.

A militant leader who spoke to Sunday Vanguard on the matter the day Dokubo-Asari was released said the boys were not armed but were stopped by the soldiers, who conducted a search on them, and on seeing that some things were tied around their waist, ostensibly for protection, they shot at them. He said a reprisal attack would not be ruled out and, true to his statement, militants mobilized from various parts of the Niger-Delta region, armed with dynamites and machine guns, last Sunday morning, confronted men of the Task Force at the Ogboinbiri Flow Station and reportedly killed some soldiers.

The attack, from information gathered by Sunday Vanguard, was to tell the soldiers that the fact that they had declared a ceasefire and Dokubo-Asari has been released should not by any stretch of imagination be conceived to mean that the soldiers should do whatever they like with anybody suspected to be a militant in the creek. Dokubo-Asari who was savoring the third day of his freedom was observably not in the know of the attack. Also, in the morning of Friday, June 15, a kidnap gang stormed Sapele in Delta State, ambushed a bus conveying two Indian workers of an Oghara-based rubber firm to work at Akintola Junction, and abducted them. The Delta Waterways Security Committee is already handling the matter but available information showed that the kidnapping was carried out by criminals who were desperate to make quick money. A delegation of the committee met with the militants in their den on Tuesday and they demanded ransom before the hostages would be released. Unfortunately for them, two of their colleagues were already in the net of the Task Force and they want their men released also in addition to the ransom.

Leopard cannot change its spot:

Regardless of the two incidents after the release of Dokubo-Asari, it is still believed that the militant chief has what it takes to talk to the militants to drop their arms because they defer to him as their generalissimo. Dokubo-Asari, since his release, has left no one in doubt that a leopard cannot change its spot and that he remained a reincarnate of the forbearer of the Ijaw struggle, the late Isaac Adaka-Boro with his tough talks on the inevitability of sovereign national conference and continuation of the resource control struggle.

Can Asari make the difference? At the moment, he has opened talks with his arch-rival in Rivers State, Ateke Tom, and is rallying the leaders of the militants groups in the region together for a possible grand summit on how to stop hostage taking and plot a way forward for the region. His love for Jonathan is pervasive as he recently declared that "Jonathan's emergence as vice president had put a K-leg" in the Niger-Delta struggle. He, however, condemned hostage taking in all its ramifications, saying, "It is not because anybody asked me to condemn it. You cannot claim to be doing justice when you are doing injustice to another person.

"The people who came to work in the Niger-Delta were brought by an unjust law. When you catch people and you confine them and you ask for money not for the struggle, it is sinful, if it is for the struggle, it a different matter."

With the return of Dokubo-Asari to the scene, a militant leader told Sunday Vanguard that most of those in the struggle for money making would unquestionably run for their dear lives because he would not take it likely with them. That will undeniably gladden the heart of many. Our source said that while in detention, Dokubo-Asari sent words out that if he comes out, he would deal squarely with one of them who was said to have undermined the struggle in many ways. Sunday Vanguard could not, however, confirm the authenticity of the information.

Next line of action

Already, various militant groups were understood to be pledging their loyalty to Dokubo-Asari and some have declared that they were waiting for him to tell them the next line of action. If they are waiting for the next line of action from Dokubo-Asari, well, they don't have to wait long, for the militant chief, in an interview, published, last Sunday, said he would cooperate with the present government, especially as an Ijaw man is the number two citizen. He stated that it was only when the government has been found not to be interested in developing the Niger-Delta that he would review his stand. For now, he pleaded with the militants to "return to the era where we have human dignity and respect and make conscious effort to preserve it."

Advice to Dokubo-Asari

Vice chairman of the Ogbe-Ijoh Governing Council, Mr. Joseph Hitler, advised Dokubo-Asari to make wide consultation with Ijaw leaders and the youths to know the way forward, saying that he should not lead any attack against the government because of his hard-earned freedom. A member of one of the militant groups told Sunday Vanguard: "Asari is very busy now; we want to give him time to settle down first. But when we meet with him, we will tell him not to talk too much because it is his statements in the past that landed him in trouble. Most of us fought for him to be out, a lot of our boys lost their lives in the battle to release him and I tell you that if he is picked up again, not many people would be willing to lay down their lives for him.

Nigeria Security Update #1 290607

Snapshot of Lagos (Los Angeles Times)

Away from the noise and hustle and stink, the shriek of energy, the never-ending buzz that is Lagos, a man reclines on a gravestone, serenely reading a book.

His name is Immortal and he sells life insurance. He says he is waiting for an angel.

"I just come here to relax," says Immortal Emenike, 40, from his unexpected haven in Trinity Cemetery in Olodi Apapa neighborhood. "I like the serenity, the fresh air. It's very hard to find in Lagos."

Nearby, a goat named Sikira nibbles on the vegetation. Outside is a wall of sound: buzzing motorcycles, car horns and traffic.

Like many Lagosians, Immortal appears nonplussed if you ask him what he loves about the raucous megacity he calls home. He has a passion for Lagos yet seems wary of questions, in case they're not kindly meant.

"Lagos is like the New York of Nigeria," he says. "It's a jungle where a lot of things can happen. Things that don't happen anywhere, will happen in Lagos: the unexpected."

About the population ...

Lagos is one of the planet's fastest-growing megacities, with people drawn not only from rural Nigeria but from all over West Africa to hack out a living. Depending on your point of view, it's either a center of irrepressible entrepreneurialism or a nightmarish city of unplanned chaos, a cautionary tale on what not to do.

No one is sure whether the population is 9 million, as last year's house-to-house census claimed; 16 million, as estimated by the U.N. Population Fund; or 17 million, as the Lagos state government insists. The U.N. agency has predicted Lagos will be the world's third-largest city by 2015, with 23 million people.

It's not for the faint-hearted. From the first wallop of steamy air on alighting from a plane, Lagos is a plunge into intense exhilaration, jumbled with measures of shock, frustration, rage and boredom.

Despite poverty, intractable social problems, mind-boggling corruption and dire failures of planning and infrastructure, "I think this total doomsday scenario that Lagos is going to be this total Dickensian horror place is not right either," says Dan Smith, demographic anthropologist at Brown University.

"Nigerians have lived with the failure of their government to provide leadership and infrastructure for a long time, and so they have adapted all these ways to make things work.

"There's this incredible ethic and tradition of entrepreneurship, and maybe that's related to living in a place where you can't count on the government to provide services and amenities."

Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas has argued that the megacities of the future will look like Lagos: chaotic and spontaneous, with planning solutions improvised on the run rather than following a master plan.

Even arriving in Lagos can be a shock. "Lagos airport? In a word, don't," cautions the Lonely Planet Bluelist of destinations to avoid at all cost.

Borne downward on the airport arrival-hall escalator, international visitors arriving for the presidential inauguration at the end of May found themselves trapped, with a solid crowd bottlenecked at the bottom. They crashed into a wall of backs, tripped, stumbled, even leaped over the sides, literally falling into Lagos with a thunk.

Then there's the metal jigsaw of rickety trolleys pressed around the baggage carousels and sometimes a wait of hours to collect as huge bags of traders' goods are unloaded.

Outside, license plates proclaim that you've arrived in "Lagos: Center of Excellence."

The jostling thoroughfares are much more than arteries for the city's choking traffic. The roadside is an open-air market, a car-sales yard, a photo studio; a truck depot, pool hall, butcher's; a lumber yard, an office, a sheep yard; a place to hang laundry on the highway sidings or to nap.

There are some sights that strain credulity: A city skyscraper folded like a house of cards one weekend.

Papered all over walls and suspended from any pole are advertising billboards and banners, as though the city were screaming out its own exuberant and often perplexing monologue: "Food is ready"; "Slow down, bridge under investigation"; "Plumber is here"; "Please pay your tax regularly"; "Do not urinate here. It is prohibit"; "Don't offend our ancestors with fakes. Insist on the original prayer drink"; "It is illegal to have anything to do with touts. You may end up facing various miscellaneous offenses."

Taxis are plastered with biblical verses and homespun advice: "Love everyone Trust no-one." "Watch and See." "No controversy."

Businesses grab attention by turning to religion: "God is Able Store"; "Heaven Economics"; "Miracle Outfits"; "Divine Ultrasound." There are more bizarre appeals, such as the "Peculiar Beauty Salon."

The exuberance is reflected in Lagosians' flamboyant clothing and the startling towers of bright material that women wear on their heads. There are nightclubs where patrons fling all the plastic tables and chairs into the air when things are really humming.

Taiwo Adeyeye, 19, arrived alone in Lagos from the town of Ogbomosho in Oyo state in April.

"I love it because it's a commercial city. It's a place where you get a lot of buyers for your wares," says Adeyeye, who lives in a room behind a baker's shop and walks all day in the saunalike heat selling bread from a tray on her head.

"It's not really everything that I'd want," she says of her room and job. In the little leisure time she has, "I just walk around the area. I feel good walking around. The things I see all around excite me."

Networks of trust

Smith, the anthropologist, said that despite government failures and corruption, Lagosians have developed small trusting business networks, allowing them to survive and profit.

"People look at a place like Lagos and some of them think, 'Why would anyone ever want to go there, because it's so big and populated and there's so much poverty?' But people are carving out a living better than they would have been able to had they stayed at home.

"People have managed to cobble together an informal economic infrastructure that enables them to carry out all these commercial activities somehow. Everyone's getting water for their homes somehow and every business manages to hire a generator to keep their business going."

At times the city is visual anarchy, with piles of uncollected trash, mountains of jumbled timber, abandoned car skeletons, tires. Lagos produces 500,000 tons of trash a day, according to a recent environmental report to the state government, and much is collected and dumped anywhere.

A train drifts by with people crowded on the roof. Traffic buzzes the wrong way up a one-way street, spreading across the lanes like water in front of the opposing traffic flow.

Back in the cemetery reading his book, Immortal says, "You have to be cautious all the time. Maybe I'm walking and I step on your shoes, even if it's by mistake. It can cause a big fight and in the end the police arrive. ...

"You see it every day. Things that should be cooled down are blown up like a volcano. The serenity here helps me to mellow and think of good things."

New Terminal to Open July 1 (Vanguard)

FLIGHT operations at the ultra-modern terminal 2 of the Murtala Mohammed Airport in Lagos will commence on July 1, 2007.

This is coming barely weeks after the builder and concessionaire, Bi-Courtney Aviation Services, concluded an arrangement with airline operators on how they could operate at the terminal.

Coming some two months after former President Olusegun Obasanjo commissioned the project, the terminal is expected to assist airlines for regional and domestic operations.

The company's Head of Corporate Affairs and Communications, Mr. Biodun Bakare, said yesterday that after a successful test run of facilities at the terminal in the last two months, it was convinced that operations at the terminal could start in earnest.

The Dr. Wale Babalakin-led Bi-Courtney Aviation Company, has the mandate to run the terminal on as a concessionaire on behalf of the federal government, having built it in Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis.

According to Bakare, the trial period of the terminal building, otherwise known as MMA2, was used to test run the facilities and eliminate possible flaws in the system. He said two Nigerian airlines, Chanchangi and IRS, operated from the terminal during this period.

, adding that the trial showed the uniqueness of the terminal in terms of its capacity to accommodate the travelling logistics of passengers.

Bakare also said the test run afforded the company the opportunity to adjust some infrastructural facilities, such as the central cooling system, stressing that the company had reached an agreement with Liwet, a U.S.-based airport management company, to assist it in managing the terminal

"All things being equal, Nigerians, especially corporate businesses, among others, will start to fully enjoy the world class facilities of the new terminal which was commissioned on April 7 this year by the Former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.

"The Airport will provide secured and car friendly parking facilities for over eight hundred cars in it's multi-storey car park and V.I.P section while the terminal is insulated with four layers of roofing to prevent sound intrusion," Bakare said.

He noted that the new terminal would contribute positively to making Lagos Airport the regional aviation hub in West Africa.

He said: "It demonstrates that Nigerians can get the comfort they deserve and can be truly said to be designed to end travellers' inconveniences."

At the commissioning of the project in April, former President Obasanjo had said government commissioned the terminal to the private sector for re-development with a view to preparing the Lagos Airport as aviation hub in the sub-region.

The terminal was gutted by an early morning fire in 2000, and was given Bi-Courtney Consortium, to re-build on BOT basis, after an earlier agreement between the federal government and Sanderton Company collapsed in 2003.

Fuel Shortage Continues in Abuja (Daily Champion)

REPRIEVE is not yet in sight over fuel scarcity as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says it has no immediate solution to fuel shortages in the country.

This came as Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) also says fuel queues in Abuja would linger for another week.

Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mr. Funso Kupolokun, who posted a gloomy picture of the internal fuel market said queues would not ease until the nation's moribund refineries resume operations by August.

Daily Champion reports that the four refineries with combined installed capacity to process 445,000 barrels of crude oil to produce 18 million litres of products per day currently operate at less than 15 per cent installed capacity.

Three of them located in Port Harcourt and Kaduna have been sold to indigenous Bluester Consortium in a flawed deal that sparked off protests and contributed to the recent labour strike in the country.

NNPC however still retained the 150,000 barrels per day at Warri refinery which currently operates at zero capacity utilization.

Answering questions from the Speaker of the house Representatives, Mrs. Patricia Etteh, over lingering scarcity of products in the country, Mr. Kupolokun admitted that NNPC could not meet internal demands by importation.

He said the refinery outages and weak pipeline network have made it difficult for the corporation to efficiently managed fuel distribution in the country.

Mr. Kupolokun who was responding to a query by Speaker, House of Representatives, Mrs. Patricia Etteh over surging queues at filling stations, disclosed that the Corporation was currently experiencing difficulty in distribution of imported products owing to damaged pipelines to the various depots across the country.

Currently, he said, trucks load products directly from oil vessels on the sea and takes about four days to travel from Lagos to Abuja and other parts of the country, a development which has compounded products supply.

He said delay in repair of the damaged Atlas Cove-Mosimi line which was recently gutted by fire meant that the trucks would be loaded with products directly from oil vessels.

"Today every litre of product is imported through Lagos . Even in Lagos we are having challenges. Atlas-Mosimi line was destroyed and being repaired. The result is that we cannot even pump what we have to the depots. All the depots are dry. Every litre we are using comes through trucks", Kupolokun explained.

The NNPC boss also attributed the long queues to the aftermath of the last nationwide strike as tanker drivers refused to operate while the four days action lasted.

Earlier, Mrs. Etteh had queried Kupolokun on the reason behind growing queues in Abuja and other parts of the country, stating federal lawmakers were under pressure to intervene in the problem and normalize products supply.

Mr. Kupolokun and a retinue of top NNPC staff were at the National Assembly to congratulate Mrs. Etteh on her election as the first female speaker in the political history of Nigeria .

On his own PENGASSAN President Peter Esele said the long queues at filling stations in Abuja will continue for one more week.

He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)today in a telephone interview that the problem was due to the build-up from the suspension of fuel lifting.

Esele said petrol tanker drivers did not lift fuel during the four-day NLC-TUC strike which was suspended at the weekend.

"The point is that as more tanker drivers load fuel for delivery, the more the situation will normalise," he said.

The labour leader, who noted that the demand for the product was high, said the build-up would "fade out" gradually.

He explained that since there was no fuel depot in Abuja, tanker drivers queued up for three days to load to meet the demands of the city's residents.

"Already the situation has normalised in Lagos so there is no cause for panic buying.

assure you that very soon the situation will normalise," Esele said.

Also speaking, NUPENG National President Peter Akpatason said that efforts would be made to ensure that Nigerians did not suffer untold hardship due to shortage in fuel supply.

"Already, my members are discharging their responsibility of delivering PMS in all the petrol stations across the country," he said.

Home of Businessman Attacked in Rivers State (Nigerian Tribune)

AN explosion on Thursday rocked Port Harcourt, Rivers State, when some persons suspected to be hoodlums threw a dynamite at the home of a businessman, Mr. Theophilus Amadi, and also allegedly demanded for N20 million.

The incident, which took place in Okinaga, Obiakcor Local Government Area of the state, threw many people into confusion.

Though people did not die in the explosion, it, however, destroyed a part of the building occupied by Amadi's tenants and also damaged a car parked beside the building.

Nigerian Tribune gathered that after throwing the dynamite, the hoodlums sent a text message to Amadi.

In the text, they allegedly told him to drop the sum of N20 million for them to avoid further attack.

When contacted, Ngozi, Amadi's wife, who is also a lawyer, confirmed the incident. She wondered why anybody could do that to her family.

"My husband is not a politician and I am very sure we are not owing anybody to warrant being attacked," she said.

A tenant of the Amadis, Joy Emmanuel, who said she has lived there up to eight years, said that they had never witnessed any form of attack since she started staying there.

She described her landlord as a peace-loving person. Amadi, it was further gathered, had reported the case at Trans-Amadi police Station.

However, the Rivers State Police Commissioner, Mr. Felix Ogbaudu, said he was not aware of any such incident, but said "I will have to confirm from my DPO Special Area".

Governor Says 50 Billion Dollars Not Too Much (Vanguard)

Governor Liyel Imoke of Cross River State has said that committing 50 billion U.S dollars to the development of the Niger Delta is not out of place, stressing such an amount when directed towards progressive projects was capable of turning the region around and curbing youth restiveness.

He spoke while receiving the chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Ambassador Sam Edem in his office in Calabar.

According to the governor, "a nation that is determined to develop its ravaged and deprived area should not see the commitment of $50 billion into its development as being too much, because such an amount was capable of turning around the economic fortunes of the people".

Senator Imoke who suggested that land ownership in the region be reviewed to allow owners of land become shareholders of what is available in their areas to ensure peace also spoke of the need for governors of the oil producing states to come together in view of socio-economic interests.

For him, governors of the oil producing states should "come together as a body to pursue their socio-economic interest than the current emphasis which is laid on the geo-political zone for the development of the region."

The governor who also called for the establishment of a railway line to serve the region was impressed by the NDDC Masterplan saying that the masterplan in the areas of the provision of infrastructure should be implemented by the commission while states should take care of social services."

Responding, the NDDC chairman, Ambassador Edem disclosed "#269 billion has been the funding of NDDC till date".

He said the Masterplan also recommended for the intensification of projects in Cross River State, establishment of regional railway line from Cross River through Eket to Lagos, establishment of coastal roads, improvement of canalization and creation of growth poles, among others.

The Master Plan also revealed that the commission has patnered with donor agencies as well as gas and oil firms to execute some of its projects while its security attention is focused on both political and social dimensions.

Nigeria Security Update #1 270607

Shell Still Shuns Western Delta

Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB.LN) is unlikely to go back into Nigeria's troubled Western Delta this year despite the area contributing around 500,000 barrels a day to the company's crude oil production, a Shell executive said Tuesday.

Speaking on the sidelines of an energy security conference hosted by Cambridge Energy Resources Associates here, Ann Pickard, Shell's Africa Regional Executive

Vice President for Exploration and Production, told Dow Jones Newswires that escalating violence in the Delta has shut in production for 1.5 years so far, and production is unlikely to begin in 2007.
"We won't be back in this year," Pickard said on the sidelines of an energy conference in Istanbul. "We're still working with the government to re-enter the Western Delta," she said.

Ongoing kidnappings and attacks on oil workers in the Delta have forced Shell to cut spending there by $100 million over three years, Pickard said.

"We've been without production in the western part of the Delta for a year and a half now, so we're looking at ways to consolidate jobs," she said.

Last year 339,000 barrels a day of Shell's oil came from its operations in West Africa, most of which comes from Nigeria, Pickard said.

"That was pretty low for Nigeria," she said. "The official number of shut-in production is 477,000 barrels a day, plus additional shut-ins from periodic attacks on pipelines."

Shell's total oil output was 1.9 million barrels a day in 2006. But the country continues to be "very, very important" for Shell, Pickard added.

"We spent $1.8 billion in the region last year, so our $100 million cuts are not significant."

Shell is planning a new liquefied natural gas plant, OK LNG, expanding trains 7 and 8 of Nigeria LNG, and planning to increase production onshore and offshore, Pickard said.
VP Says Hire Youth

The Vice-president Dr. Goodluck Jonathan yesterday called on well meaning Nigerians and companies especially those operating in the Niger-Delta region to give employment to youths of the area in order to discourage them from going back to the creeks and engaging in pipeline vandalisation and hostage taking.

The vice president, who spoke while receiving the leadership of the Nigeria Economic Summit group in his office, said though government was determined to bring about changes to the situation in the volatile Niger-Delta region, the co-operation of other agencies in ensuring that the youths are gainfully engaged would go a long way in ameliorating the situation in the region.

"We are not too comfortable that a country like Nigeria cannot provide jobs for our youth and of course, when you do not have jobs, even those people who ordinarily would not have been criminals would take up criminal activities.

"We pray that by God's grace, we will resolve the Niger Delta matter. We also call on well-meaning Nigerians, especially in the private sector, to also help the youth of the Niger Delta because as many youth we pull out of the creeks, the better for us. We noticed sometimes that the opportunities are not given by companies that operate in the area and now it is now biting hard on the country," he observed.

He said what the country is suffering as a result of the problems in the Niger-Delta region today was as a result of several years of neglect of the region by the successive governments and promised that this government would strive to correct the ills of the past.

Speaking on the economy, the vice president said this administration was determined to make a difference by concentrating on the improvement of the economy of the nation.

"The economy is vital and we are quite happy with the composition and calibre of people that are driving the process. For a country to develop, the economy is first because you cannot even talk about building roads if you do not have the money to build the roads.

"You cannot talk about water if you do not have the money to provide the water. So, everything boils down to a well-planned economy for this country.

Speaking on the economic situation in the country, the vice president said, "One of the top most things on the agenda of the President is security. Security is like the economy because the economy cannot even grow without adequate security. So, there must be security of life and property."
Three-Year-Old Kidnapped (Guardian)

ANOTHER dimension has been introduced to the criminal act of hostage taking in Rivers State as a three-year-old son of a state lawmaker was abducted in Port Harcourt yesterday.

Sources told The Guardian that the child, Master St. Michael Steward, was seized from a private nursery school, at Elekahia Housing Estate, Port Harcourt, in the early hours of the day.

The kidnapped child is the son of a new member of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Mrs. Linda Steward, representing Okrika Local Council.

Eye-witnesses said that three young men in their mid 20's drove to the school in an ash coloured Mazda saloon car and proceeded to the child's class and took him away.

One of the kidnappers wore a white shirt and a blue jeans trousers, while the two others that accompanied him wore coverall suspected to have been used to conceal their weapons in case they encountered any resistance.

It was learnt that the three men who were not resisted by anyone did not shoot during the incident.

After the abduction of the child, the kidnappers drove off towards the Iwofe area, which has remained a major exit to the creeks for hostage-takers.

Attempts by The Guardian to reach the lawmaker proved abortive as her phone was switched off. Another lawmaker who spoke to The Guardian on the condition of anonymity, said Mrs. Steward acted that way because she was traumatised.

The Rivers State Police Command yesterday ordered a stop-and-search of all vehicles in Port Harcourt and its environs as it intensified investigation into the saga.

The state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Felix Ogbaudu, who confirmed the abduction to The Guardian, said that the motive had not been ascertained.

He said: "For now, we don't know the motive. There are two possible areas that the police are exploring. One, there might be a political opponent of hers who is trying to embarrass the woman and secondly, we are looking at those who take care of the child."

Yesterday's incident was the second child abduction from a private school in Port Harcourt in the last two months. The first child has since been released to the parents.

Lagos Plagued By Bandits (Vanguard)

Residents of Lagos, Nigeria’s former federal capital and its environs now live in fear as the sprawling city has been under the siege of armed bandits in the last few weeks. These days, it is commonplace to hear tales of one robbery incident or the other in different parts of the city.

Indeed, there are indications that hoodlums in the city have not only become more sophisticated in their style of operation but more daring. For instance, many attacks by men of the underworld no longer take place late in the night or very early in the morning as was the case in the past. Instead, most of these raids now take place between 7 and 9 p.m.-thereby catching unsuspecting victims off-guard.

Samplers:

At about 7 p.m. penultimate Wednesday, a couple was robbed while they were trapped in a terrible traffic jam near Toyota Bus Stop, along the ever-busy Oshodi-Apapa Expressway. It was learnt that after the couple was dispossessed of their cash and other valuables, they were so rattled by the encounter with men- of- the- underworld at that time of the evening, that they abandoned their car along the express road and fled. The red-coloured car was still at the spot where it was abandoned when Vanguard Features (VF) arrived the spot at about 9 p.m.

A day earlier, there was mayhem on the section of the same road which runs through Mile Two Bus Stop- where the road is a fly-over. A gang of dare-devil robbers had descended on several motorists who were caught in another nerve breaking traffic jam at about 8 p.m.

The gang fired several volleys of shots into the air before they began robbing motorists in the traffic jam. An eyewitness who identified himself as John Odion told VF that the car that was in front of his was being robbed when himself and all other occupants of his car sneaked out and took to their heels.

Akin Idris a resident of Aboru area of Alagbado was not so lucky few weeks ago when hoodlums invaded the area and shot him in the abdomen. VF learnt that a large gang of robbers had invaded Idris’ neighbourhood one Thursday evening and had successfully raided several houses in the area. It was gathered that the robbers were already on their way out of the vicinity and were apparently looking for a get- away- car, when they ran into Idris who had just arrived at the front gate of his house.

When the robbers accosted Idris, they ordered him out of his car but he refused. Instead of complying with their instruction, Idris was said to have challenged the robbers and engaged them in an argument. This was said to have infuriated one of the gangsters who immediately shot him in the abdomen and fled from the area. It was the shrill screams of the injured man’s wife that alerted their frightened neighbours that somebody had been shot by the fleeing robbers.

Residents of the area who rushed to Idris’s rescue took him to several hospitals in the area but he was refused treatment for fear of incurring the wrath of the police which had some years ago issued a directive to medical institutions in the state to refrain from treating persons with bullet wounds without clearance from them.

It was also gathered that most victims of the bandits' raid on the area were residents of tenement houses popularly called face-me-I-face-you, who were mainly robbed of their cash and mobile phone handsets.

At nearby Opeilu, which is in the neighbouring Ifo Local Government Area of Ogun State, residents of the area have continued to thank God that men of the underworld who raided the area last week did not put a bullet through anybody. But nonetheless, some of them remain traumatised by the events of penultimate Sunday when a horde of hoodlums stormed the area at about 9 p.m. The gangsters had invaded a hotel in the area and robbed both guests and staff they met there. The robbers had caught their victims unaware. However, hoodlums operating in the area have not always had the last laugh. Some of them met their waterloo two Mondays ago.

On that day, police in the area arrested seven of them who had been terrorising residents of Abule-Egba and Alagbado.

The hoodlums were robbing their unsuspected victims at Kollington Bus Stop when policemen from Alakuko Police Station received a distress call around 5 p.m. revealing that some robbers were dispossessing passers-by of their valuables. The bandits were overpowered when a team of Anti-Robbery Policemen from the station swiftly raced to the scene and arrested seven members of the gang.

Some of the items recovered from the robbers included a mobile telephone handset, one cutlass and some cash.

Police spokes person in the state, Mr. Olubode Ojajuni (SP) who confirmed the incident in a press statement, stated that the arrested suspects had made useful statements and that the case was undergoing investigation.

A member of another gang of hoodlums who recently robbed some passengers in a commercial bus along Ikorodu Road was caught by the police while he was trying to escape.

The police arrested the gangster believed to be a member of a notorious catch-on-the air armed-robbery gang popularly called one chance, along Ikorodu Expressway while two others escaped. The armed bandits had boarded a commercial bus with registration number XB 271 DGB which was said to be heading to Ikorodu.

However, while the vehicle was in motion, the hoodlums had robbed the unsuspecting passengers of their personal effects ranging from assorted handsets, jewelries, wristwatches and cash including the N6,500.00 which the bus driver and his conductor made for the day. One of the victims reportedly put a distress call to policemen in the area who swiftly raced to the scene and intercepted the bandits. The robbers on sighting the police took to their heels but luck ran out on one of them who was identified as residing at Ketu as he was caught and taken to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) Panti, Yaba. A locally made pistol was recovered from him.

At Apapa area of the metropolis, a gang of robbers which operate with motorcycles nearly succeeded with their nefarious operation three weeks ago when they attempted to rob a middle-aged man who had just withdrawn a huge sum of money from one of the banks in the area.

The man had withdrawn the money from a bank at Westminister Bus Stop -a section of Apapa/Oshodi Expressway- and was heading towards Mile Two when the armed bandits attacked him after which they ordered him to hand over all the money he had on him.

The victim was said to have obeyed the robbers but was reportedly shot by one of them after handing over all the money he had. But a team of policemen from Trinity Police Station attached to one of the new generation banks in the area, heard the gun shot, raced to the scene and engaged the bandits in a gun battle.

The ensuing gun fight which lasted for about 15 minutes ended when the robbers reportedly surrendered to the superior fire power of the police and were forced to escape, abandoning their unconscious victim and a bag containing the total sum of N639,600.00, one Nokia hand set and two identity cards one of which bore the name Adelani Wasiu. The victim was later rushed to an undisclosed hospital where medical personnel confirmed he was alive.

Freedom of Press Threatened in Abuja as Government Destroys TV/Radio Stations

Nigeria's leading independent broadcast network says it will take the government to court next week after authorities demolished three new station facilities in the capital, Abuja.

African Independent Television (AIT) plans to sue for damages after the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), a local government entity, last week bulldozed without warning three structures, including a digital studio, a technical operations office, and a common room for news anchors.

The FCT said the station contravened city planning rules and encroached on neighboring property when it built the structures over the past year, Issa Shuaid, FCT director for urban development, told CPJ. He also accused the station of using commercial premises for residential purposes.

The FCT charges regarding the land encroachment were announced for the first time on the day of the demolition, said Ladi Lawal, head of operations for Dar Communications, AIT's parent company. He denied the other charges, saying the station altered its building plans in July 2006 at the direction of authorities, who then inspected the site on several occasions.

AIT Chairman Raymond Dokpesi said he believes the demolition was politically motivated and was intended to intimidate the station because of its critical coverage during the recent elections in May. The station, for instance, aired a public forum during which members of Nigeria's assembly critically appraised former President Olusegun Obasanjo's tenure.

AIT, which broadcasts across Africa, has several other facilities in Lagos and Abuja.

"We are deeply disturbed by this arbitrary demolition," said Joel Simon, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists. "African Independent Television had no chance to defend itself against the charges brought by the authorities. Given the station's history of critical reporting, it is hard to escape the conclusion that there is more behind the razing of its new offices than a planning code violation."

AIT has been the target of frequent harassment in connection with its broadcasts. In April, intelligence agents raided its studios in Abuja after the station aired a paid political program that was critical of former president Olusegun Obasanjo.

CPJ is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit organization that works to safeguard press freedom worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.cpj.org

Asari Owed Money, He Says (Daily Champion)

LEADER of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF), Alhaji Muhajeed Dokubo-Asari has warned that unless Federal Government pays N137 million owed him two years ago, militants in the region would not surrender their arms.

Speaking in Yenagoa, he declared that, he would not allow himself to be deceived this time around as the government was still indebted to him to the tune of N137million which was to be paid to him when militants in the Niger Delta surrendered their arms two years ago at different occasions.

"Nobody will surrender arms this time unless it is paid for. The last time we were disappointed. These arms were bought with money," he declared

The Ijaw militant leader who disclosed this last Sunday in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital, however assured that militants in the region have resolved to sheathe their swords for the interest of peace and development in the area.

He charged state governments and oil companies operating in the region not to pay ransom to kidnappers, just as he condemned the recent attack in Yenagoa and Otuoke residence of Vice President Goodluck Jonathan.

Describing the action as senseless and cowardly, he said "people should not use the name of the struggle to blackmail in order to make money. I condemn hostage taking, it is not part of the struggle. For 11 months we fought in the Nigerian nation, some of us died. We never took anyone hostage."

We are going to do everything to eradicate this evil that has crept into our struggle.

Asari regretted that former Governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha was the only person languishing in prison, among all the impeached governors in the previous administration.

He added that "the others are walking freely even when some committed more grievous crimes. "All those who were impeached and went to court had their cases tried and they returned to their government houses. Monies stolen in office were neither accounted for nor returned. What sort of selective justice is this," he queried.

While he said this must be addressed, he appealed to people of the Niger Delta and the Ijaw nation to give Vice President Goodluck Jonathan the chance to enable him succeed, especially as he is one of their own;.

According to him, "our enemies will exploit our refusal to give Jonathan the needed support. I will not like another Ijaw man to be betrayed."

The militant leader however called on Governor Timipre Sylva of Bayelsa State to ensure that massive industrialization was achieved in the state so as to create wealth for the people, and attract development to the predominantly riverine state.

Youth Leader Killed in Port Harcourt (Daily Champion)

Unknown gunmen in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital have assassinated a youth leader in Rumuolumeni in Obio/Akpor local government Area, Mr. Golden Isi.

The Killing of the youth leader which happened on Sunday night in the community left the villagers in a panic situation as most people are fleeing to neighbouring communities for safety of lives and property. The killer of the youth leader allegedly escaped arrest.

Speaking to Daily Champion on the incident, the chairman of the Community Development Committee (CDC) of the area Mr. Innocent Nwani called on the security operatives in the state to check the activities of criminals in the community.

Mr. Nwani also appealed to the police to properly investigate the real killers of the youth chairman and bring them to book.

Contacted on the incident, the director of the state security services of the state (SSS), Alhaji Kolawale Adesina while confirming the incident appealed to the youth's in the area to remain calm promising that investigation into the matter would be carried out.

He assured the community and the public that peace would soon return to the area.

It will be recalls that, a prominent chief in Ikwere land was killed last week by unknown gunmen in Port Harcourt and no arrest was affected by the police in the state.

The killing of the Ikwere chief which forced women in the community to stage a peaceful protest to the governor Sir celestine Omehia at the government house to reduce the high level of killings, kidnapping and criminal activities in the state.

Nigeria Security Update #1 240607

Unions End Fuel Strike (BBC)

Nigeria's trade unions have called off their general strike over a recent rise in petrol prices, after talks with government officials.

Union leaders said they had accepted the government's proposal to freeze petrol prices for at least a year.

The government had already agreed to reduce its increase in prices as one of a series of compromises offered before the strike began on Wednesday.

The stoppage had brought Africa's top oil producer to a standstill.

Unions had called the strike over rises in fuel prices and value-added tax and the sale of two major oil refineries.

The unions were angry at a series of measures pushed through in the last days of the presidency of Olusegun Obasanjo, who stepped down last month.

The price of petrol was increased from 65 naira (51 US cents) a litre to 75.

"There is no winner or loser," Babagana Kingibe, who led the negotiations for the government, was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.

"If there's a loser, it's the Nigerian people."

Saturday's move could be seen as a victory for the unions, but not a total one, the BBC's Alex Last in Lagos says.

Sensitive issue

In the end, the unions accepted a series of government compromises offered before the strike started and ditched their initial demand for a complete reversal of the recent hike in the price of subsidised fuel, our correspondent says.

He says the price of fuel is a sensitive issue in the country because it is one of the few benefits Nigerians get from the government, which receives billions of dollars in oil revenues but fails to provide even basic amenities.

New President Umaru Yar'Adua has emerged from this first major test just about intact, our correspondent says.

Nigeria is Africa's biggest oil producer but has to import most of its petrol because of the poor state of its refineries.

AGIP Threatened with Reprisal Attack (Vanguard)

The Joint Revolutionary Council (JRC), an umbrella body of the militant groups in the Niger Delta has threatened to carry out a reprisal attack against the Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NOAC) in Ogboinbiri, Southern Ijaw in Bayelsa State.

According to Cynthia Whyte, spokesperson of the JRC, the reprisal attack would be a response to the clash between the militants and the military in Ogboinbiri, where 12 youths were allegedly killed.

Berating Ijaw elders for keeping mute while such injustice was visited on them, the militants vowed to visit the oil company and any other interest group that was party to the killings, promising to inflict the same number of casualties they suffered in the attacks.

Whyte in an online statement said the attack was a move to recapture the flow station earlier seized by the militants with casualties recorded on both sides. But the statement from the militants only spoke of 12 of their members being killed by soldiers on Thursday, June 21, 2007.
Whyte however said the planned attack was only for reprisal purposes and would not vitiate the earlier promise by JRC to cease hostilities against the Nigerian State and its interests following the release of their leader, Alhaji Mujahid Asari Dokubo.

"It is with great sadness that we announce that hours ago, precisely in the very early hours of Thursday, June 21 2007, the security forces of the Nigerian state once again attacked and killed 12 youths of Ogboinbiri in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area in Bayelsa State, who were protesting against the unwanted and criminal killing of their kinsmen weeks earlier by the armed forces of the dubious Nigerian state.

"This unfortunate incident has proved beyond all doubt just how far the Nigerian state and her agents can go to ensure that they sit tight on our God-given resources. Let us therefore inform all those who were party to this evil against our people that they will get their rewards in time to come. Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) will be visited by the same number of casualties, pain and misfortune," they threatened.

The militants said the killing of their members at a time they had promised to keep the peace was a proof of the desperation of the Nigerian State to hold on to their land. "We will not forgive this," read the statement.

"Let us also inform all men of goodwill that all measures and reprisal actions taken against AGIP and her conspirators will be in no way related to our earlier decision to cease hostilities against the Nigerian state. This will simply be a 'payback' activity and will cut across AGIP's operations in Rivers and Bayelsa States.

"The death of these young men must be repaid in the same manner. Justice must be done by any means necessary and however crude!" they concluded.

Four Hostages Freed

Four foreign hostages employed by oil services giant Schlumberger were released unharmed on Saturday after more than three weeks in captivity, security sources said.

The men, from Britain, France, the Netherlands and Pakistan, were abducted on June 1 from the company's residential compound in Nigeria's oil capital Port Harcourt by kidnappers disguised as riot police.

"They are unharmed but said they had been threatened during captivity," an official of a private security firm said.

More than 200 foreigners have been kidnapped in Nigeria's oil producing Niger Delta since the beginning of last year, and militant attacks have closed about a quarter of the OPEC nation's oil output.

Militants who say they are fighting for regional control over the delta's oil wealth have been responsible for some of the violence, but the instability has been exploited by criminal groups and most kidnappings are motivated by ransom.

Effects of Strike Around the Nation (The Sun)

Abuja

Aminu is a staffer of one of the numerous construction companies owned by foreigners in Nigeria. He survives on a daily pay of N450. Like most workers in Abuja, he works in the metropolis but resides in Mararaba, a suburb in Nasarawa State, which is about some 15 km from Abuja city centre.

Like every other day, he woke up by 5.a.m last Wednesday, a time he considered early enough to enable him catch the long truck, which ordinarily are designed to convey anything but human beings, but which convey them to work every morning.

On getting to the bus stop, Aminu did not find the truck. Sensing that he may have been left behind that morning, he quickly jumped into a waiting bus. To his amazement, a bus that usually charges between N70 and N80 to Area 1, in Abuja, insisted that the commuters part with N200.

Aminu, who had thought that the strike called out by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) would not hold, got to the site in Area 1 disappointed as he later found out that the strike was for real. He ended up sleeping in the site with the security guards as he had no means of returning back to Mararaba.

Aminu's predicament is no doubt a representative of what most artisans suffered in Abuja following the strike called by the NLC. In fact those of them, who went to work on Wednesday, did not contemplate it the next day.

For instance, a motor mechanic told Sunday Sun that he decided not to go to work on Thursday because he felt he wasted the transport fare he used to go to work the previous day, as no customer visited his workshop Wednesday.

A few filling stations that sold fuel in the early hours of the morning, though at N75 per litre (even after the Federal government had announced a reduction in price by N5) had somewhat eased movement of vehicles in the early hours of the morning. But once the union leaders and National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), led by the NLC President, Abdulwaheed Omar, began a procession through major areas in Abuja to monitor compliance, a few of the filling stations that had opened for business immediately closed their gates, apparently to forestall any attempt by the labour leaders to picket their business premises.

On why some of the filling stations had to open for business, one of the petrol attendants, who identified himself as simply Ojonugba told Sunday Sun that "You know some of us got our supply based on the fact that we would sell N75 per litre. Now, you know that the government has brought the price down to N70. If we don't come and sell today, we will be running at a loss after the strike because you people will not agree to buy it N75 after the strike.

"Abi you think say we know like the strike? If no be say government reduce the price, my brother, na sleep I for dey sleep for house. Because for this Abuja, especially for people like us and una wey be Journalists wey no dey get Saturday and Sunday, na period like this person dey get to rest. Abi I lie?," he asked rhetorically.

Ibadan: patients shut out of public hospitals
BY AKEEB ALARAPE, IBADAN

As at late evening of Monday, the people of Oyo state were still hopeful the strike might eventually not be, especially with the announcement that the Federal Government had conceded some grounds to the aggrieved workers. This led to few people preparing for the strike period.

But by Wednesday, it was glaring that the labour group meant business. A survey by Sunday Sun across the state showed that the decision of the Senior Staff Association of Universities, Teaching Hospitals, Research Institutes and Allied Institutions (SSATHRIAI) to join the industrial action worsened the situation at the foremost University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, as Staff Nurse, Nursing Officers and Senior Nursing Officers (SNOs) stayed off duty.

The resultant effect was the closure of the clinic section of the hospital manned by the senior workers. Also, serious cases of accident and other ailment could not be attended to as the senior staff to handle such cases were no where to be found.

Same situation obtained at the state-owned hospital, clinics and maternity centres as workers in these government health centres refused to report for work.

Individual experiences of the strike also revealed lost of huge revenue and productive hours due to the strike as relayed to Sunday Sun by some people in the capital city of Ibadan. Pharmacist Alani Azeez, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Alan Pharmaceuticals, Iwo, Osun State, said he was already in Ibadan to book a flight to Abuja for a three-day workshop organized by Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) when he got a call that the workshop has been called off as a result of the impending strike.

Lamenting his loss in term of time and financial commitment to the trip, Alan as popularly called, disclosed that the workshop was meant for Pharmaceutical Inspection Committee of PCN.

“Now, all preparations made for that trip are now waste. By the time the organizers fix another time for the workshop, one has to start fresh preparations again”, he lamented. He also disclosed that a similar event being sponsored by the United Nations’ Drug Control Department in conjunction with NAFDAC centering on drug abuse and illicit drug trafficking had to be postponed at the last minute due to the strike.

Edo: Benin residents brave odds, want strike to continue
By Tony Osauzo, Benin

The fall-out of the lingering labour strike is having a telling effect on Nigerians, but in spite of this, a Benin resident said that his family was n total support of the industrial action.
Mr. Edosa Okunbor, a Correspondent of Midwest Herald said: “I am buying fuel now for N130 a litre. That constitutes a big drain on my purse. Cost of living has taken a toll on the entire family, including my immediate and extended families. Before the increase, we used to spend a minimum of N7, 000 a week on feeding and miscellaneous housekeeping. That amount hardly lasts two days now.

Okunbor, however, supports the strike as he hopes that its outcome would be beneficial. “I am all for the strike. Man dies but once. If the strike will yield good results and make life more bearable, we support it. I want government to revert the price of fuel to N65 a litre and to make kerosene available to the common man,” he said.

Also speaking, former chairman of Newspapers Sales Representatives in Edo State, Mr. Ayo Oisemaoje, said the strike has affected sales of his wares badly. “The strike has affected us badly, especially in sending papers to our outstations. Many of our vendors are not turning up because of high cost of transportation. The reading public is also not responding and sales are low. We are losing heavily,” he complained.

Sokoto: Delayed toll in the Caliphate, environs
By AHMED OYERINDE, Sokoto

In Sokoto, the impact of the action was yet to be fully felt by the third day Friday.
However, Chairman, Sokoto State chapter of NLC, Comrade Garba Liman said that the strike would take its toll yesterday and the days ahead, in the event that it was not called off before today.

Aside from a few banks that closed their offices and some Federal Civil Servants that stayed away from work, all other public offices, schools, business premises including markets remained opened for normal business activities with a litre of fuel (PMS) selling for N110.

A state civil servant who pleaded anonymity said: “I blamed our union leaders here for this lukewarm attitude. They are not very effective. We definitely have a peculiar problem here.”

Plateau:Jos residents face hardship
By Mariam Aleshinloye Agboola, Jos

Life has been difficult for residents of Jos and environs in Plateau State since the beginning of the strike Wednesday.

Business premises including banks, shops, markets and motor parks have remained closed since that date, making it difficult for residents to purchase items or move about.
Apparently caught napping, some residents of the Tin City complained that they did not believe that the industrial action could be sustained that long hence they did not make adequate preparations. “We had taken it that one way or the other labour would settle with the Federal Government and they would not go on strike. We did not go to the bank to withdraw money for use, yet we did not have food in the house,” a civil servant lamented.

Commuters were, in the circumstance, compelled to trek long distances as public transporters withdrew their vehicles from the road.

Where fuel was found at all, a litre sold for between N130 and N140.

Meanwhile the Civil Liberty Organization (CLO) applauded the NLC and NUC for the action.

The CLO in a statement by its President, Titus Mann urged the two parties not to waver on the demand for “total reversal of the cruel and insensitive fuel and VAT rate increases as well as the brazen theft of Kaduna refinery in the name of privatization” as the only condition for ending the strike.

Enugu
Labour, police clash over enforcement
By GODDY OSUJI, Enugu

The strike reached its climax in Enugu Friday as the executives of various industrial unions moved into town to ensure compliance, forcing markets, petrol stations, banks and other private business establishments to close down. The union executives were, however, challenged by the police for forcing people to comply.

Chairman of NUPPRO, Daily Star chapter, Mike Ohagwu, cheated death by the whiskers as the DPO of Awkuananaw Police Station allegedly ordered him to be shot for challenging his orders. But the timely intervention of the State chairman of NLC, Comrade Eugene Ugwu averted the near tragedy.

The union leaders, Sunday Sun gathered, were later moved to the State Police Headquarters on the orders of the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Charles Dawodu who after consultation with his lieutenants, interrogated them and later pleaded that the number be reduced as they were constituting a public nuisance.

According to Mr. Gordon Ekeugo, an Enugu based businessman: “Everybody knows what is involved when there is strike. Generally, it has not been easy for me because of the fuel scarcity that has affected every segment of my business.

“The arbitrary increases in the cost of foodstuff and transportation. Everybody is suffering and I do believe that the way I feel is also how every other person feels it in his own home.”

Delta
Citizens feel the pinch, lament govt’s insensitivity
By BUCHY ENYINNAYA, Asaba

The adverse effect of the nation-wide strike took its toll on the residents of Asaba, Ibusa, Agbor towns, and their environs in Delta State, as the action paralyzed economic activities in the state.
Banks, public schools, filling stations and other establishments remained closed while transporters withdrew their vehicles from the roads in compliance with the NLC and TUC order.

At the Ogbogonogo Market along Nnebisi Road in Asaba metropolis, traders were seen lamenting poor patronage.

Operators of Cold Rooms in Asaba also bemoaned their fate as their businesses were being gradually crippled like several other sectors of the economy with unavailability of fuel to power their generating sets and unreliable public power supply.

They lamented “the Federal Government’s insensitive to the plight of the masses” by failing to yield to the demand of labour.

Anambra
Social, economic activities grounded
By NWABUEZE OKONKWO, Onitsha

In Onitsha, the commercial nerve center of Anambra State, social and economic activities were badly affected by the strike.

Although most private business premises were open in the commercial town during the period, the traders lamented poor patronage.

The major reason was inability for the prospective buyers to access their funds in the banks. A litre of petrol sells for between N130 and N140.

Commenting on the development, President-General of Anambra State Markets Amalgamated Traders Association (ASMATA), Mr. Sylvester Odife (Jnr) said that the markets were opened because the leadership of labour did not sensitize and carry them along.

Rivers
Commerce, families suffer in P.H
By Henry Chukwurah, Port Harcourt

The story is no different in Port Harcourt, capital of Rivers State. As at last Friday, the third day of the nationwide strike, commerce and family life in the Garden City had tumbled.

Leading to the scarcity of petroleum products in the State, residents experienced excruciating difficulties going about their private business even as public offices remained closed.

With few vehicles on the road, those who ventured out of their homes either paid as much as thrice the normal fares or resorted to trekking long distances.

A trader, Mrs. Grace Tamuno lamented thus: “Very few people bother to come to the market these days. It is either they bought enough to last them for some time or they have run out of cash.”

Abia
Customers shun fast food joints
By CHUKS ONUOHA, Umuahia

Activities in Abia State have been grounded to a standstill as the nationwide labour strike prolonged beyond their expectations.

Helpless, most people chose to stay at home, to conserve the little funds they had at the onset of the industrial action.

In fact, fast food eateries that used to have good patronage thinned out while the strike lasted. The reason, Sunday Sun was told, is because of limited cash in circulation.

Dan Okonkwo, a welder at Nkwoegwu said he had cut down their expenses as he was sure when the strike would end.

Nigeria Security Update #1 230607

Union Orders Shutdown of Export Terminals

THE Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has directed its members in export terminals and production platforms to shut down operations from yesterday in continuation of the strike to protest the last increase in fuel prices and sale of the Port Harcourt and Kaduna refineries.

Labour said all production platforms and export terminals in the Escravos flow stations operated by Chevron were shut down yesterday. It also alleged plan by the Federal Government to procure "a black market injunction" to abort the on-going strike, and asked the judiciary not to allow itself to be used against the popular will of the Nigerian people.

Meanwhile, 40 goods-laden ships are now stranded outside the Lagos ports on account of the on-going strike. The ships will pay $10,000 daily for each day the strike lasts.

PENGASSAN secretariat in a message to all branch chairmen in the upstream sector yesterday said: To all PENGASSAN branch chairmen in producing companies, please ensure that all export terminals and production platforms are shut down by 12 midnight today (yesterday) in compliance with the directive that the strike must be total."

At a press conference in Lagos, after monitoring people's compliance with the strike on the second day, Chairman of Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), Lagos State chapter, Comrade Abubakar Sulaimon, said organised labour and its allies were resolved to continue with the strike until government reduced the pump price of petrol to N65 per litre.

Comrade Sulaimon who is also the Lagos Zonal Chairman of PENGASSAN, said: "In the oil and gas sector, the strike is in two phases. Wednesday, all downstream operations were shut down. As we speak, there is no loading in any depot. From Mosimi, Ejigbo to all others. In the upstream, the shutting down has begun and within the next three days, it would be completed.

As we speak now, Escravos flow stations are already shut down. It is unfortunate that our leaders are making us go through this road, the road of hardship. Today, the five major producers in the upstream are producing about 2.2 million barrels of crude daily, while the minors are producing close to one million barrels. Together, the nation is producing over three million crude barrels per day.


Negotiations Break Down, Unions Dig In for the Long Haul

Nigerian unions dug in for a long battle with the government on Friday after the collapse of talks on the third day of a general strike over fuel prices.

Unions threatened to extend the strike, which has already crippled most sectors of the economy, to essential services such as water and power.

Authorities in Africa's biggest oil producer said they would no longer turn a blind eye to illegal union tactics such as blockades and harassment of people who wanted to work.

Oil officials feared an extended protest could lead to a shut down of oilfields and tanker terminals, which have so far survived the protest in the world's eighth largest exporter.

Talks with the government broke down shortly before dawn on Friday as unions insisted on the reversal of a 10-naira (8-cent) increase in the price of petrol.

The government stuck to its offer to reduce the price by five naira.

Informal contacts continued, but neither side appeared willing to give ground.

"We expect before Monday this issue will be resolved, otherwise the strike continues," said Abdulwahed Omar, head of the Nigeria Labour Congress, an umbrella union body.

Brent crude oil futures rose 95 cents to $71.17 a barrel, partly on fears of further disruptions in Nigeria, where militant attacks on oil facilities in the Niger Delta have already curbed output by a quarter.

The dispute has ended a honeymoon for newly inaugurated President Umaru Yar'Adua, who inherited the highly unpopular price increase from his predecessor, Olusegun Obasanjo, when he took office on May 29.

Streets in the central business district of the main city Lagos were deserted, but for a few small groups of gangsters and street hawkers selling consumer goods.

Government offices and most private businesses, including banks and markets, were closed.

Hospital patients left their beds to visit traditional healers because doctors were on strike.

TERMINALS LOADING
Most oil workers complied with the strike order, but oil companies maintained exports by replacing union staff with management.

"So far we don't have any problem. All our terminals are loading," said Aminu Baba-Kusa, head of crude oil marketing at state company Nigerian National Petroleum Corp.

Contingency plans could keep plants operating for a matter of days, but companies would be forced to begin closing them down if the strike extended much beyond a week, industry sources said.

Unions issued a statement threatening to interrupt power and water supplies unless the government gave in.

Mike Okiro, acting inspector-general of police, said after a meeting with the president: "My men have been instructed to arrest any group of labour activists or leaders trying to shut down any public utilities."

Opposition party Action Congress urged Yar'Adua to back down.

Many Nigerians supported the strike because most lived in poverty and the fuel price increase had raised prices of most basic goods. They viewed fuel subsidies as one of the few benefits they received from a notoriously corrupt government.

The general strike was preceded by a separate stoppage by road tanker drivers, which caused a nationwide fuel shortage that has strengthened the unions' hand.

Public transport collapsed and most filling stations no longer had fuel to sell.

Government Threatens Sanctions Against Unions (This Day)

The Federal Government has threatened to invoke the relevant labour laws if workers continue with their indefinite strike action, which has paralysed business activities in the country.

The government, which appeared to have finally run out of patience in its quest to end the 4-day old nationwide labour strike, warned after Friday's negotiations in Abuja with members of the organized labour, that failed to yield the much needed result, it would henceforth implement the relevant aspects of the labour laws that deal with strikes and lock-outs.

The threat to come down hard on labour was followed with a warning by the Acting Inspector Gen-eral of Police, Mr. Mike Okiro, who said his men would not hesitate to arrest any labour leader that atte-mpts to disrupt the smooth operations of essential public utilities.

Worried by the deadlock, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), yesterday also offered to mediate in the crisis. The NBA President, Mr. Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, is expected to lead a delegation to meet with the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Alhaji Baba-gana Kingibe in Abuja today. A member of the NBA delegation, Carol Ajie said it was imperative that contacts are made "to avert further lose of resources to our ailing economy and the untold hardship on the masses."

Kingibe who spoke to newsmen after the early morning negotiations yesterday said the government had resolved to do everything within its powers to ensure that Nigerians live a normal life, despite the disruptions caused by the labour strike.

"The Government will now consider all other options, which it has so far been reluctant to apply in ensuring that labour laws are fully respected, that the laws governing strikes are fully respected and enforced and we would ask and urge our country men and women to bear with the obvious disruption for the time being," he said.

The SGF, while reacting to the outcome of over 9-hours of talks with labour yesterday, regretted that after such excruciating hours of deliberations, the two parties could not arrive at any major break through.” It appears labour is bent on continuing the strike and government will put in everything it can to ensure that those citizens who want to exercise their fundamental freedom to go to work, do so without molestation and that petrol stations and depots are secured,” he said.

Kingibe alleged that there were efforts during the labour strike to disrupt the normal functioning of the depots and that there were harassment of those who wanted to work.

According to him, workers were chased out of the office while some offices generators were locked up and their keys made away with. "These kinds of acts which are clearly against the laws will no longer be tolerated and we will try as best as possible to bring life back to normal as soon as Labour is willing to cooperate. I do not think that Nigerian people deserve to be held hostage by a group purporting to represent the people's wish as indefinitely," the SGF said.

An obviously worried SGF expressed regrets that despite government's engagement with the labour which lasted from 6pm to about 2 am, not much progress was made to end the strike.
Kingibe said while the government had made some concessions by reversing the increases in VAT and pump prices of Petroleum products, labour appeared not ready to let go its insistence on the complete reversal of petrol price to the old price of N65 per litre.

The SGF said the government's refusal to grant the complete reversal of petrol price incr-ease was based on financial estimates which clearly show that the country's budget for 2007 cannot absorb the huge expenditure from the extra subsidy.

"To pay the 15% salary increase, which were unpaid from January to March, would cost government some N18.3bn and this has not been budgeted for, " he said, adding that if government were to foot the bill and remove the N5 fuel price hike, it would negatively impact the entire budget for the year.”

Kingibe said that as an alternative, the government had proposed to labour the setting up of a joint committee to understudy the mechanism applied for the fuel price increment and to recommend whether such new price is tenable or not.

He said on their part, labour had insisted that of all the items they presented to the table, must be met. “Negotiations do not work that way,” he stated.

"You do not go to negotiate on the bases that you must have 100% of your wishes met. So on this basis, it is with deep regret that the government would continue to appeal to labour to consider the plight of the Nigerian people, to consider the jeopardy in which the situation has put the Nigerian economy and ceased the opportunity of the options placed before them where objectively, this matter of N5 difference can be resolved by both sides looking at the figures and arrive at a meaningful resolution."

However, the labour representatives, who came out of the meeting threatening to extend the strike to more sensitive areas of the economy such as the oil export terminals and the electricity sector, insisting the government had refused to appreciate the plight of the suffering masses by sticking to its position on the increase.

The National President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) Comrade Peter Esele said the meeting was not successful because the federal government team came to the meeting not prepared to make concessions.

"There was no shifting of grounds by both parties and this led to the collapse of negotiations," he said.

The TUC President said his group and NLC would meet yesterday evening to adopt fresh strategies for engaging the government over the contentious issue.

THISDAY gathered that the meeting of NLC and TUC was as a result of tremendous pressure on the labour leadership to consider calling off the strike.

Esele confirmed this, saying the labour movement has been under intense lobby by some persons to accept government's proposal in order to end the national crisis.

In the meantime, Okiro emphatically stressed that labour leaders do not have the right to stop workers on essential services from reporting to work and performing their duties.

Okiro, who gave the warning while speaking with State House Correspondents shortly after meeting with President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, yesterday said to ensure that the organised labour does not have its way, security personnel have been deployed to arrest any labour leader that attempts to stop workers from providing essential services.

“We have found out that some labour leaders are stopping those who went to work. In law, there are some people engaged in essential services that are not supposed to go on strike, but labour leaders are going about stopping them from going to work. In as much as we feel that labour leaders have the right to go on strike, they have no right to stop those who want to work,” the IG stated.

He added: “Security men have been told to go around and if any body is seen picketing, or stopping those who are supposed to work from going to work, they should be arrested and the law will take its course. If a labour leader goes to somebody who is supposed to be on essential duties, who is not supposed to be on strike, and goes to disturb him. For example goes to a PHCN technician to disrupt him from working, it is an offence; he will be arrested and dealt in accordance with the law.

Also yesterday, the former President of NLC and Action Congress (AC) gubernatorial candidate in Edo State, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, paid a solidarity visit to the labour house in Abuja.
Oshiomhole during the visit debunked allegations that the NLC was playing politics with the current strike.

Oshiomhole during his visit to the labour house said: “Though, we may all have different challenges at different point in time, but the bottomline is that we all mean well. Nigerians mean well for their country and the organised labour as always been on the patriotic side.
“We are all in it together, if it works, we all have collective benefits and we all want it to work so that we can have something to smile.”

Treatment of Indian Hostages not Bad


A petrochemical engineer from Surat in Gujarat who was abducted in Nigeria has said that he was yet to decide whether he will continue to work in that country.

"I would like to stay with my family for at least two months. Then I will decide about the future," said Patel, who reached his home in Surat on Thursday.

Patel, working for oil exploration firm Indorama, was kidnapped with nine others by armed rebels from their residential quarters in Nigeria's oil rich town of Port Harcourt on May 31. They were released after 15 days.

His wife Hetal hoped Patel stays back.

"We hope he will not go back to Nigeria," said the mother of two.

Patel said the kidnappers treated all the Indians well.

"They killed two guards posted at the gate of our quarters and kidnapped us. They took us to the beach of Port Harcourt by a pick-up van. From where we were taken to an inhabited island in boats," Patel told reporters.

"We were kept in tents on the island. The kidnappers told us we have been kidnapped for money. If we try to run away we will be killed. Otherwise, we will be safe," he said. According to Patel, the hostages were given food three times a day.

"Two children were also kidnapped with us. On our demand, they provided generators and fans for the children as it was hot," he said.

Asari not Treated as Well as Indian Hostages (Vanguard)

The leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, Alhaji Mujahid Asari-Dokubo gained his freedom last week after twenty months and twenty five days in detention. In this interview with journalists in Port-Harcourt, he spoke extensively on his prison experience and other sundry issues.

How has it been with you since your release?

As you know, I came back on Saturday and after the reception in Port Harcourt, I went to Buguma. Then we went to Obuama where I was accepted into the Obuama Council of Chiefs. Then, I came back to Buguma, my father’s place. My mother’s people also made me a chief. And now my name has changed. I am now Alhaji Mujahid Abubakar Dokubo Asari Edbali. In Kalabari land where I am from if you become a chief, you will take the title and the name of the chieftaincy house where you are becoming a chief. The house in which I became a chief is known as Edbali.

The Amanyanabo of Kalabari, His Majesty, King Theophilus Amachree, the 11th also gave me a title, “Sebromabo”,meaning saviour of the nation. The nation, “Sebromabo” maybe the Ijaw nation. So, as the day proceeded, against my will, I was admitted into the highest Kalabari cult. I was initiated into the Kalabari Ekini Society, which is the highest Kalabari mystery organization.
What was your prison experience like?

Let me start by saying (that) I will fight General Olusegun Obasanjo until he is brought to justice for the gross abuse of human rights and inefficiency that were widespread in his government. In eight years of Obasanjo’s government, there is nothing to show for it, no roads, infrastructure dead.

In the cell in which I was kept for ten months in solitary confinement, you can’t find mosquitoes, there were no cockroaches, no living being, it was complete darkness when they took light. That’s where I was kept for almost ten months because 30th of June would have made me ten months in solitary confinement.

In that environment where I was detained, many people went mad. At least, I know four people that went mad and started stripping themselves naked. They did all sorts of things, using their faeces to throw at people, to smear the wall. I was kept alone. I was treated like an animal. Food was passed through metal gauge to me. I ate and gave it back to them.

In my upbringing, I’ve never seen poverty and suffering. I’ve always had more than enough and the best of all things. But General Olusegun Obasanjo thought he could break my spirit and every morning when he came up, he found me that I was very strong. I was doing my exercises and reading my Koran 24 hours a day.

If we don’t bring General Obasanjo to justice, whatever we are doing, whatever government that had come in place, if we don’t bring him to justice, there is no way this entity called Nigeria can move forward. A man who invested N1.3 trillion in the power sector, 60 times more than what had been invested all the period of the existence of the entity called Nigeria, he could not generate up to 3,000 megawatts of power. I say he destroyed Nigeria.

I am not a youth. I became 43 years on the 1st of June this year. I was born in 1964. On the issues that we are canvassing, let us look at it vis-a-vis other nations. In Canada, they have Quebec, they are fighting for self determination. Nobody has gone there to arrest people and lock them up and occupy Quebec. Quebecois have carried out three plebiscites to see whether they could leave Canada and each time, the plebiscites would be defeated and they are still in Canada.

In South Africa, there is agitation among the Zulus for a Zulu nation. Nobody has gone to arrest Zulu leaders. They talk of apartheid. But myself and Uwazurike have never been given fair hearing. Judges were imported. Judicial processes were manipulated. The Nigerian entity is a rotten entity.

What sort of justice is this? That there can be justice for some and not for others. But that there cannot be justice for Alamieyeseigha .There can be no justice for Mujahid Dokubo Asari? They said Alamieyeseigha stole money, accusing Alamieyeseigha, you are a thief. You are stealing your people’s money. Now, other people who are thieves are going out and they are patting them on the back and say return property. And they kept Alamieyeseigha for almost two years in prison and the man is dying presently. As we are talking, Alamieyeseigha is having a heart by-pass surgery in Dubai. Obasanjo’s policy was that he’s going to teach us a lesson and nothing would happen. They killed Boro, Saro-Wiwa, bombed Odi, Odioma nothing happened. We would kill Asari and nothing will happen.

People are saying I shouldn’t talk but we will talk. We will strike, fight. My mother died at 28, I am alive today, I am 43 years old. So, if I die today, it makes no difference. The issues we are talking about are fundamental and any lover of truth and justice will know that we have been unjustly treated. Look at Port Harcourt, in 20 years from now, Port Harcourt will be the same. I was in detention in Abuja, I came out I couldn’t recognize Abuja. As we were leaving, I asked my chief, ‘is this Abuja Area 1?’ I couldn’t recognize it again. They were building bridges on land while they cannot build bridges over river. People say Asari talks anyhow. The issues at stake are fundamental. We have inalienable rights. It is our fundamental right to own our land and this is not negotiable. It will never be given up.

Ten million collaborators can be with them (government) but only ten people who refuse to collaborate with them will have victory because we stand on the side of truth and justice. People say ‘don’t talk, you are old enough, go and enjoy yourself; you have 11 children’ and I laugh. What is enjoyment when my people are suffering? I am not a poor man. They wanted to bribe me. I was told they would give me oil bloc.

I asked them: ‘When you give me oil bloc, what about my people?’ I rejected it. I was offered Director of Youths in NDDC, I rejected. If it’s money I am looking for, there is so much money in the creeks. I don’t need to go to Abuja to make money. Obasanjo decided to lay pipeline to build Olokola LNG, while Brass LNG is comatose. We are going to see whether it will work.

If there is justice, we will allow them to build refinery anywhere. We will allow them to build LNG anywhere. But when there is no justice, somebody will tell me that the oil which flows from the North is sedimentary. The time when they will bring their armies to frighten us is over. You cannot crush the Ijaw people, the Niger Delta people. The only way these problems can be solved is to convene a sovereign national conference where the mistakes that have hounded us since 1914 will be re-examined.

In Ijaw land, Kalabari signed a separate treaty with Britain. Bonny, Nembe also signed separate treaties with Britain. So, Nigerians should sit to talk on the way forward. Where did we decide to become Nigeria? That document you called a constitution is a fraud. Open the constitution, it says people of Nigeria.

You and I know that there was no time we sat down anywhere to fashion out that constitution. And they say “we the people of Nigeria.” When did “we the people” sit down? So, from the very beginning the constitution was dubious and fraudulent. That document cannot stand the test of time. One day, it must surely crumble. What we are saying is that we don’t want bloodshed, let us sit down and talk.


What is your stand on hostage-taking?
We come to the inhuman practice of hostage-taking that has gotten into our struggle which is unknown. We must condemn it in all ramifications. If we want people to do justice to us, we must do justice to others. The people we are taking hostage and keeping against their will, is it justice? They are businessmen. They called them to come and do business anywhere. But they too have their blames. We say ‘leave our land’ but they are trespassing on our land. We say go, they say the Nigerian military is there to protect them. They should leave our land, they should go home peacefully. When we have resolved at the Sovereign National Conference, they should come back.

If Ijaw people say we want to be Nigerians because I have children from Ibibio land, I used to have a Fulani wife, so I would not want to miss these people. Ninety percent of my friends are Muslims, amongst them, 80 percent are Yoruba. And the others are scattered in other tribes and nations. I can say because of my children, I want to be a Nigerian.

Hostage-taking is evil. It has brought easy wealth, laziness, criminality in our midst. It has destroyed the moral fabric of the Ijaw man. What I am saying is this, you are Igbo, Yoruba, you have all assisted in releasing me. But if you stand for justice, there is a legal maxim that says he who owns the land owns everything. And the legal maxim is used in Nigerian courts. If they want to acquire oil rich land in Niger Delta, one square meter is 15 kobo. But in Abuja , one plot can be up to N100 million. Arid land will be more expensive than resource filled land! They make laws, so one square mile of oil rich land is 15 kobo! What sort of injustice is this? When there is oil spillage, I have never seen, I have never shared oil spillage money and I will never share. I am not a fisherman. I don’t have nets and traps.

This is what they do, they say economic tree is 5 kobo, debt 2 kobo. This now force people to build many shrines, claiming that their gods have been polluted, then they will pay them. Before, there’s no oil spillage that Shell will pay you N20 to N30 million.

Now, there are the people they call militants. That word has been abused, I don’t even know the meaning of that word. It’s an insult to call me that. Me, I am not a militant. I am an Ijaw nationalist in the Ijaw struggle. Look, nobody should call me a militant. I am not militating against anything. So, for me, the issues, if you want hostage taking to end, you must do the right thing.

Then the oil companies. As far as I’m concerned, the corporate social responsibility of an organization is to pay its taxes. Why should you ask them to go and construct roads? That is the duty of the government that collected tax from them. No company has any corporate social responsibility other than that provided for by law of that land. And you cannot force them. You see the whole African presidents go to G-8 meeting and be begging for money.

They are not ashamed. All those African leaders going to G-8 to beg should be disowned by their people.

While Nigeria is selling public corporations, ARAMCO is buying the world. Indorama is buying our petrochemical plant. Indonesian company is coming to buy our petrochemical. World Bank imperialists are telling us to sell our national patrimony. America is now putting in place new laws to prevent ARAMCO from ravaging them. United Arab Emirates is buying everywhere. Their companies are buying everywhere. The world is changing.

The Arabs are using the petro dollars to upturn the world. Malaysia is constructing the world’s longest pipeline. Somebody will be talking and then you journalists will be praising them. Why should Indorama come here and buy our petrochemical and the same world Bank will not tell Indonesia to sell Indorama? Why should ARAMCO go to United states and buy refinery? Why should Yugoslavia be building refineries all over the world? Do you know where all the PMS we use comes from? Sometimes, when I sit down and hear them talk, I say, these people, where did they get their professorship, PhDs from? Do they think we are all fools?

Everyone of you has a responsibility to stand up. It is not Ijaw matter now. It is what Nigeria has that these men are selling. For me, as you know, I’m not as educated and articulate as you. I say things as raw as I see them because truth is not in black and white. Truth has only one colour which is white.

Concerning my release, they said they released me on bail. I was not in court when they did that. I never knew I was granted bail. I was inside my cell when they came and said I had been granted bail, and that I should go. I said: The judge don die? They say im dey alive. I say, wetin make una grant me bail now? They say they don grant me bail. I say no problem. I went to the IGP, I asked him, wetin happen, they say I’ve been granted bail.

If I am not in court and you say I should not attend political rallies, I am not a politician. I am not a PDP man or AC man, that I’ll come and address political rally. If my people come, I’ll talk with them. And in talking with them, if it is a rally, so be it.

What’s your view on the new political leadership at the centre, particularly with Goodluck, an Ijaw man as Vice-President?
On the issue of Goodluck Jonathan, because I know you will ask me, I am 100 percent in support of him if his activities will be in the interest of the Ijaw and Niger Delta people. But if he goes there to sit down, them say kill us and them come kill us, then I no go fit support am. We no go accept that one. As I came out, I found out that Jonathan has overwhelming support among Ijaw people. Ijaw people feel that for the first time, an Ijaw man has been placed in such a high position. Then who am I if I say I am an Ijaw leader to go against him? My own personal opinion in this issue does not matter.

If the opinion of my people is overwhelming in support of an individual in this position, then I will have to join the majority. And for that purpose, Jonathan cannot bribe me because the money with which he will bribe me is my money. So, I support Goodluck for as long as he is doing good.

Now that he is starting, I’ll encourage him with all my powers and all that I can muster for him to succeed. Since I came, I’d been talking to people. When I came out, some people took some hostages in Schlumberger. They met me and I said I was tired.

They met me again and said, ‘na we take the Schlumberger Oporobos. So, I said na una take the Schlumberger Oporobos, they say yes. I said, wetin una want, they said call Schlumberger make we release the people, make them go because you don come. So, I called Schlumberger, they said the man talking has no authority, he will call somebody else tomorrow, I said I’ll call him.

When I told him that I’m Asari, he said are you sure you are Asari or you are one of those people?

I said there’s no way I can convince you I am Asari but I am telling you that I am. And these people told me that they have your staff. This is the stage hostage taking has reached in the region. What I am going to do, I’ll assist but it has gone beyond what an individual can change overnight because the money don sweet for people mouth. So, anytime dem see oyinbo, dem go catch am and if them see you sef dem fit catch. Because dem no say money fit come.

So, these are the issues that I want to raise. I believe that if Yar’Adua is sincere to have a nation that will be strong and compete with other nations in the comity of nations, he should do the right thing by convening a Sovereign National Conference.