Nigeria Security Update #1 310707

Pakistani Construction Manager Kidnapped (VOA)

Seven gunmen abducted a Pakistani construction manager in southern Nigeria on Tuesday and demanded a ransom, a local rights activist said citing sources at the man's company and witnesses.

The attack takes to at least 12 the number of foreigners being held hostage by armed groups in the oil-producing Niger Delta, where crime and militancy have surged since early 2006.

The gunmen, dressed in red, arrived by boat at a road construction site run by Italian firm Gitto near Bodo community in the Ogoni area of Rivers state, said Patrick Naagbanton, coordinator of the local Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development.

Bodo has been plagued by deadly fights between two rival "cults" or youth gangs and the gunmen's red clothes suggested they may be members of Deebam, one of the cults.

"They held everyone at gunpoint before seizing the Pakistani manager and taking him away by boat," Naagbanton said by telephone from Rivers.

The abducted man was in charge of dredging for Gitto's road project, which is financed by the federal government. The road will cross several creeks and rivers.

Contacts at Gitto said the kidnappers called demanding a ransom but they did not disclose the amount, Naagbanton said.

Militants who criticised the neglect of the impoverished delta and demanded local control over oil revenues launched a violent campaign against the oil industry in early 2006.

They have forced the closure of several oilfields and oil output from Nigeria, the world's eighth-biggest exporter, is down by about a fifth.

But violence has spiralled out of control with numerous criminal gangs using the militancy as a cover to carry out abductions for ransom and armed robberies.

Over 200 expatriates have been kidnapped since the start of last year and almost all have been freed in exchange for money.

Chronology of Recent Abductions

Below is a chronology of some major attacks and kidnappings involving the Nigerian oil industry since President Umaru Yar'Adua was sworn in on May 29.

• June 3 - Gunmen kidnap six staff of United Company RUSAL, the Russian aluminium giant, in Ikot Abasi in the southeast. The men were working at the Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria.

• June 15 - Gunmen kidnap two Lebanese men, working for Italian firm Stabilini, near Ogara in Delta state.
  
• June 16 - Militants release 10 Indian hostages held since June 1. The hostages included at least three senior executives of Indonesian petrochemical company Indorama.
  
• June 23 - Four hostages, from Britain, France, the Netherlands and Pakistan, employed by oil services giant Schlumberger are released unharmed. The men were abducted on June 1 from Port Harcourt.
• June 25 - Two Indian construction workers, kidnapped near Sapele in Delta State on June 15, are freed.
  
• July 4 - Armed men attack a Shell facility at Soku and abduct five expatriates, two from New Zealand, one Australian, one Venezuelan and one from Lebanon. They are released on July 11.
  
• July 5 - A 3-year-old British child, Margaret Hill, is abducted in Port Harcourt. She is released on July 8.
  
• July 7 - Oil major Royal Dutch Shell said one of its teams had been attacked in Rivers state in the delta and two Nigerian workers taken hostage. The Nigerians are released on July 11.
  
• July 8 - A Briton was among two foreign workers kidnapped from a production barge near Calabar in Cross River state.
  
• July 12 - Francis Samuel Amadi, the 3-year-old son of a traditional ruler in the community of Iriebe, is kidnapped near Port Harcourt. He is released the next day.
  
• July 31 - A Pakaistani man, a manager in charge of dredging on a construction site run by Italian firm Gitto, is kidnapped near Bodo community in the Ogoni area of Rivers state.

Predicted Peace May Make Oil Flow Again (Reuters)

Nigeria's new government and militant groups in the oil-producing Niger Delta are moving towards talks that could restore lost output from the world's eighth-largest oil exporter.

An 18-month campaign of guerrilla attacks on Western oil facilities has prompted thousands of foreigners to leave Africa's top producer, reduced output by a fifth and helped oil prices rise to record highs.

But since taking office two months ago, President Umaru Yar'Adua has moved swiftly to engage the militants. He has met two of their demands by freeing two jailed leaders of the Ijaw ethnic group, the most populous in the Niger Delta.

In response, 25 armed groups have joined into a united front for talks with the government. The two sides are now working on preconditions for formal talks to address militant demands for more regional control over the delta's oil.

"I am very optimistic. The militias are ready to cease fire and give negotiations a chance," said Dimieari Von Kemedi, an Ijaw activist involved in the talks.

A truce called by several armed groups has held since Yar'Adua's inauguration on May 29. However, a crime wave continues to sweep the delta's largest city of Port Harcourt, posing a threat to the peace drive, he added.

Armed groups protesting against neglect and poverty in the vast wetlands region have stepped up violence against oil workers and industry facilities since the 1990s.

But the line between militancy and crime is blurred and dozens of criminal gangs use militant rhetoric as a cover to kidnap foreigners for ransom or steal oil from pipelines.

BLIP?

Security consultants working for international oil companies are split over the significance of the peace moves. Some see them as a temporary respite in a long-term decline in the vast region of swamps and mangrove-lined creeks.

"Though violence has eased in the last few weeks, the perception of companies is still negative," said one security consultant working for Western multinationals.

"Companies see a long-term deterioration in security. It may not be linear, but each cycle of violence is worse than before," added the consultant, who is not allowed to talk to the media.

There are still good reasons to be worried.

One powerful militant who leads a faction of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta has so far refused to take part. His fighters have been responsible for some of the fiercest attacks over the past 18 months.

"The government is attempting to resolve the unrest in the delta through selective appeasement. This will secure a cease fire but how long this 'peace' will last, I cannot tell," said the leader, who uses the pseudonym Jomo Gbomo, in an e-mail.

"They will attempt to stall and pacify dissenting voices financially. Let's watch and see where things go. We will attack without further warning if there is a need to," he said, adding that he saw no prospect of better use of resources in the delta.

Despite these concerns, some projects and investments that had been on hold because of a surge in attacks in the first half of the year are now going ahead.

Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has moved some workers back to its western delta oilfields, where 500,000 barrels per day has been shut since they were evacuated in February 2006.

It has resumed pumping 36,000 barrels per day from one oilfield and two tankers are expected to load from the Forcados terminal in August, the first shipments in 18 months.

U.S. oil giant Chevron has lifted a ban imposed in May on non-essential staff in offshore operations, industry sources say. And construction workers have begun setting up work sites to start building a new $1.8 billion highway across the delta, which had previously been frozen by security concerns.

Nigerian Army Retires 40 Top Officers (AP)

The Nigerian Defense Ministry has asked 40 top army officials to retire, a Nigerian defense spokesman said on Tuesday, two months after the country swore in a new president.

"There's no big deal about it. It's a continuous process," said Col. Mohammed Yusuf, who said the process was routine.

He said that under new Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua, the armed forces would be sticking strictly to rules that said members must retire at the age of 60, or after 35 years of service.

"They will now try to follow the process very properly, like it did not happen before. Once it is time, there is nothing you can do," he said.

Yusuf said the retirements had no political motive.

"There is nothing like mass retirement," he said, pointing out that classes of officers often graduate over 100 at a time.

He refused, citing national security concerns, to say how many generals were in the Nigerian armed forces or how many generals were among the 40 top officers being retired.

Nigeria has undergone several tumultuous decades of military rule and seven coups since wresting independence from Britain in 1960, but last April's elections that marked the country's first civilian-to-civilian transfer of power.

The elections were widely condemned as rigged by domestic and international observers, but some Nigerians were simply grateful that there was a peaceful transfer of power at all. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo had also previously been a military ruler of the country in 1975. He returned to power in 1999 on the back of a popular vote and also proceeded to retire a number of generals shortly afterward.

Most Nigerians do not believe that a coup is currently likely.

Before he promoted current President Yar'Adua as his protege, several of Obasanjo's supporters tried to force through a constitutional amendment that would have allowed him to run for a third term.

Although the country receives tens of billions of dollars in oil revenues annually and is rated as one of the most corrupt in the world by Berlin-based Transparency International.

Bank Manager, 3 More Killed By Armed Robbers in Lagos (Daily Champion)

ONITSHA branch manager of a second generation bank (name withheld), Nnamdi Obi and two policemen were killed by yet-to-be identified gunmen in separate incidents Sunday in Onitsha and Enugu, respectively.

Similarly, armed robbers yesterday stormed the domestic wing of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, (MMIA), Lagos, leaving an unidentified man dead, and several others wounded after their operation.

Daily Champion gathered that Obi who hailed from Nawfia in Njikoka local government area of Anambra State, was shot dead inside his car near the abattoir in Onitsha where he had accompanied his wife to.

Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) for Anambra command, Mr Felix Agbo, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) confirmed the killing.

He told our correspondent on telephone that investigation was on-going to unmask the killers.

Other gang of armed robbers Sunday night shot and killed two policemen in what appeared to be a planned attack on a police check point along Ogui Road, Enugu and about a 100metres from the police station on the same road.

The hoodlums also snatched the service rifles of the slain cops after, as eyewitnesses recounted, hurling abuse on and kicking their corpses.

The police check point had been mounted near two popular fast food shops and restaurants that are the favourite haunts of Enugu's rich and famous and had been targets of armed robbery attacks in the past.

The permanent police presence there had helped to keep the hoodlums at bay. The weekend's attack on the check point is widely viewed as an act of vengeance by the criminals against the men who had prevented them from operating freely in the area.

Eyewitnesses said the incident occurred at about 8.30 pm when the robbers who were travelling in a flashy car whose make could not be ascertained suddenly opened fire on the unsuspecting policemen as they approached their checkpoint. The hoodlums were said to have climbed down from their cars and after molesting the corpses of the cops, took their service firearms.

"It all happened in a flash, we suddenly heard gunshots and the next thing we saw were some people climbing down from a car and rushing at the policemen who were already lying on the ground. They kicked at the bodies and shouted insults at them before taking their guns and escaping in the car", said one witness, who pleaded anonymity.

Enugu State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr Mike Abattam, who confirmed the incident, said the bodies of the two dead cops had been recovered, adding that a massive man-hunt for the hoodlums had commenced.

"We have alerted all units to hunt down those hoodlums and I can assure you, we will get them in no distant time. They cannot escape", he said.

The hoodlums are also suspected to have been behind several robbery incidents in different parts of the city on Sunday night shortly after the attack on the policemen.

It also came barely a week after robbers killed a policeman and wounded another in a failed attempt to rob a bank at Nsukka.

Daily Champion learnt that the robbers, who started their operation at about 2am, tied up the six security operatives on duty and the three plain clothed caps seizing the gun of one of the victims.

According to some of the workers the alleged mad man was also shot dead on the spot. It is not the bureau de change office when he accosted the armed robbers.

What the rampaging hoodlums carted away, extensive damage to most of the offices and the vehicles that were parked there.

The chairman of the bureau de change, Alhaji Aliyu Abubakar, who spoke with Daily Champion confirmed the incident and stated that there have been strict orders to everyone at the bureau de change not to keep money overnight.

"We have a very strict order that nobody should keep his money overnight in the compound, so that order has been very helpful; because nobody kept money and the robbers did not find any money in the safe that were forced open," he said.

According to him, three safes opened and almost all the offices in the bureau de change were broken into by the bandits who went on a rampage riddling bullets on vehicles and windows when they found nothing to steal.

Airport Command police authority are yet to comment on the incident not reacted to it.

It is recalled that a similar incident took place early in January at the Nigeria Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) where over N120 million was carted away and the suspects not been captured.

Unlike Sunday afternoon's robbery in Isolo, Lagos where the robbers allegedly trailed the bullion vans, yesterday's robbery in Lagos witnessed the raiding of some bureau de change offices at MMIA.

A police officer's rifle was allegedly snatched during the operation.

Nigeria Security Update #2 190707

Youths Threaten to Blow Up Shell Facility (Vanguard)

Youths of Obe community in Orhionmwon Local Government Council of Edo State have threatened to blow up the Shell flow station this weekend, should the state government fail to re-constitute the membership of the newly constituted Oil and Gas Producing Communities Commission and appoint some body from the area as the chairman.

The angry youths had last Tuesday shut down the flow station protesting the composition of the committee but with the intervention of the over one thousand mobile policemen deployed to the area by the state Police Commissioner, Mr Bala Hassan, the flow station was brought back to life against the wish of the youths.

The crisis in the area erupted after Governor Oserhiemen Osunbor sent a list of seven members and three ex-official members of the committee to the state House of Assembly for approval.
The youths insisted that as the highest oil producing community in the three oil producing Local Government Councils in the state, the area should produce the chairman of the committee.

The youths led by Prince West Ogienwonyi asserted to Vanguard in Benin, yesterday, that “because they are controlling the police and the soldiers they went and opened the flow station. But we want to say that our resolve on the issue has not changed. If by weekend and that committee is not re-constituted as we demanded, we are going to blow up the entire flow station.

“Is it because we have been keeping quiet and they think that we are fools. If one visits our community you will not know that you visited an oil producing community. They have marginalised us in infrastructural development and that is why we said we want our person to be made chairman of the commission because he knows our problems better than some body who hails from where they produce little or no oil” he argued.


New Militant Group Holds Expatriate Hostages

There is apprehension over the failing health of two expatriates currently being held hostage by a militant group at Alabeni, Ekeremor Council in Bayelsa State.

The hostages, a Bulgarian and a Scot, working for Peak Petroleum, a contracting firm to Chevron/Texaco, were abducted last Monday by some militants aboard a marine vessel, "Monipo", which was reportedly hired by the firm.

The hostages’ poor health may not be unconnected with the absence of medical facilities in the area.

Reports said the vessel was halted by armed youths who invaded the area with four speed boats. They fired several shots into the air before kidnapping the foreigners.

Already, a group, Authentic Emancipation of the Movement for Peace and Development in the Niger Delta (EMOPEND), has claimed responsibility for the abduction.

The group threatened not to release the foreigners until its demands are met.



U.S. Ambassador Pledges Support (This Day)

The United States (US) has said it would continue to stand beside Nigeria in its journey towards sustainable development and democratic governance.

US High Commissioner in Nigeria, Sir John Campbell yesterday restated his country's commitment to Nigeria Project at a briefing in Abuja, adding that the US would strengthen trade relations with Nigeria, especially in oil and gas among other common areas of interest to both countries.

Campbell seized the briefing to comment on the US visa process, stating that "our visa service have been improved by opening of our consular section in Abuja. We strive to provide the best consular service we can to all Nigerians whether dual citizens or those seeking to visit their families."

When asked to mention some areas of US-Nigerian relations, the out-going ambassador said the relationship between Nigeria and the US "is multifaceted," noting that his country "relates well with Nigeria in oil and gas."

According to him, with respect to stable economic growth and development, I would like to see our trading relationship become stronger, and more foreign investment by American companies in Nigeria.

He called on the governments to improve its infrastructure, educational system, power and communication sectors, remove trade barriers and other tarrifs in order to make Nigeria more competitive for direct foreign investments (FDIs).

He said: "Nigeria must continue to work for peace, stability and economic progress because democracy building is a never-ending process. "The United States will continue to stand beside Nigeria on its pilgrimage toward democracy. Through the US Agency for International Development, we provided fifteen million dollars for technical and other assistance with 2007 elections, and we will continue supporting both Federal Government of Nigeria and Nigerian Civil Society in strengthening electoral law, the tribunal system and the independent courts and assemblies. This is vital to build a strong nation.

"The notable economic and political reforms achieved over the past few years can be broadedened and translated into an improvement of the living standard of all Nigerians," Campbell stated.While commenting on the monumental growth experienced by Nigeria since its transition to democratic regime, Campbell assured that the US would hesitate to assist Nigeria-both in kind and cash-in such areas as education, health and investment among others.

"I have been glad to experience a growth in ties between America and Nigeria's Muslim community during my time in Nigeria. Our example is Arewa House's project to catalogue, preserve and make bettwer known Nigeria's wonderful collection of Islamic manuscripts, supported by Northwestern University, the Library of Congress and this Embassy.

"America has a significant Muslim community, and we welccome students and visitors, especially from Nigeria, and value their contribution to our culture, society and educational system," he stated.

Drwaing inference from a native America proverb common in the Sioux tribe which says with all things, in all things, we are relatives, Campbell said "this saying is apt because of the strong partnership that America has with Nigeria. Our ties are cultural, political, educational, economic financial and familial among others.

Campbell said millions of Nigerians had dual Nigerian-American citizenship, adding "millions more have their family members living in the United States."

Niger Delta in Turmoil - An Analysis (This Day)

Against a background of incessant hostage taking and communal strife borne out of poverty, concerned citizens seek elusive peace for the troubled oil-rich Niger Delta region. Abimbola Akosile reviews inputs made by various stakeholders at home and abroad on a vital process

Toddler Dimension

In the past few months, some desperate inhabitants in the Niger Delta region have resorted to kidnapping innocent citizens and returning them for ransom. Scores of expatriates from different nations of the world have suffered this fate, and some only secured their release after money exchanged hands.

However a more frightening dimension to the kidnap saga is the taking of little kids for money. Three of them who were kidnapped in recent times include 3-year old Michael Somiari-Stewart, son of a Rivers State law-maker; 2 year-old Samuel Amadi, son of Eze Francis Amadi; and 3 year-old Margaret Hill, daughter of a British father and Nigerian mother.

Although the three kids have since been released, a frightening precedent has been set, and only quick intervention can save the region from further toddler kidnapping and anarchy.

Turning Spears into Plows

In the restive Niger Delta region, aggrieved youths have been accused of hostage-taking, bank robberies and other crimes. A recent attempt to convince said youths to down their weapons in exchange for implements of peace was boosted at a reformatory home in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

A notable attempt to find a lasting solution to the continual violence and restiveness in the Niger Delta took place in Aluu, Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State; at a skills acquisition center, where youths, some aged 14, and numbering well over a hundred, gathered and camped for weeks.

Above scheme, mid-wifed by a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) named Academic Associates Peaceworks (AAP) led by Dr. Judith Asuni, was in conjunction with various leaders of the cult groups who have resigned and are pursuing a reversal of roles they had played so that up coming youths would not fall into the vicious circle of violence.

Another aspect of the programme was to ensure that there would be elections in the Niger Delta region, to ensure emergence of credible and true leadership that would lift the region out if its current economic and infrastructural doldrums.

Above programme, an eye-opener, is a welcome development in the restive Niger Delta region. Such youth programmes, when combined effectively with government peace and developmental efforts in the region, would go a long way to clean up a previously un-conducive atmosphere; and in turn usher in an era of peaceful co-existence and rapid growth. Kudos to AAP and other concerned stakeholders.

Executive Neglect

According to Professor Julius Ihonvbere, Special Adviser on Project Monitoring and Evaluation to ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo, leadership has failed in the Niger Delta region of the country.

The activist-technocrat, while presenting a book titled "Towards an Integrated Development of the Niger Delta", which was compiled by the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) in Abuja, chided the Niger Delta governors (especially the out-gone executives) for not managing the resources that accrued to them for the overall benefit of the people of their states.

He said these States received over N600 billion since 1999, which they failed to channel into developmental projects. According to him, if the governors had spent at least N30 billion effectively, problems associated with the people of the Niger Delta would have been adequately solved.

Ihonvbere called on the government to put in structures at the local government levels, to help take governance closer to the people, tackle militancy in the region and resolve abject poverty.

The detailed book was compiled through research by the trio of former Executive Director of CDD, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, Miss Stella Amadi, Regional Coordinator of CDD and Ololade Bamidele. The book has six chapters and 270 pages.

To underline the vital importance of the issue of the Niger Delta, among the personalities who attended the book presentation were Dr. Tajudeen Abdulraheem, Chairman of CDD Governing Council; Dr. Kole Shettima, Africa Country Director of MacArthur Foundation; Professor Omafume Onoge; Honourables Dino Melaye and Femi Kehinde of the House of Representatives.

Others included Dr. Jibrin Ibrahim, current Director of CDD; Mr. Turhan Saleh, UNDP Representative in Nigeria; Odia Ofeimun of Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), who reviewed the book; Mr. Waziri Adio of Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI); Barrister Femi Falana, President of West African Bar Association (WABA); Miss Nyree Triptree of United States Embassy; and the chairperson Ms Nkoyo Toyo of Gender and Development Action (GADA).

Toward a Lasting Solution

According to Dr. Chukwuma Nwaonicha, a Nigerian living abroad, the solution to the Niger Delta crisis requires honest dialogue backed with infrastructural or public utilities developmental efforts from the stakeholders.

These include the Federal Government through the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), State and Local governments, the international and local organisations and other agencies operating in the Niger Delta region.

He claimed hostage taking and killings are wrong, and the use of force to settle the problem of the Niger Delta, a wrong agenda. "The criminal activities, including bunkering, killings, and hostage taking in the Niger Delta had become an obstacle to the development of the region. Hostage taking is no fun. It is a serious criminal act. What the militants are demanding is unrealistic goal".

He believed that if it takes over forty-six years to 'destroy or neglect' the region, it may equally take more than forty-six years to develop it. "Development does not occur overnight, and development cannot occur along side violence. Development is a gradual and continuous process", he said.

To Nwaonicha, the key factors in developing the Niger Delta region and promoting peace are good governance, enforcement of the rule of law, public trust, fairness, peace, safety and security among others.

"We strongly encourage the stakeholders; the Federal, State and Local governments to be committed in spending the resources meant for developing the region in the region. This region cannot be developed if funds budgeted for the region are not honestly used or embezzled. You can't eat your cake and have it".

He also recommended that the various governments should set-up necessary developmental goals for the region. These include short-term goal of community policing, peace initiative and conflict resolution committees, various types of job training (1 year); mid-term goals of infrastructural development (low capital intensive projects) thereby creating jobs (five years) and long-term goal of high capital intensive infrastructural development projects there by creating jobs (more than five years).

To him, the Federal, State and Local governments need to do better for the Niger Delta region and the other states in the nation; and the difference between development and destruction is awareness.

Implementing an Action Agenda

Timely adoption and implementation of a seven-point development agenda recommended in the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) 2006 Niger Delta Report would ensure desired progress in the restive region.

Agenda 1: Peace-Building

Peace in the Niger Delta has been adversely affected by militarisation of the region, lack of effective dialogue, lack of negotiation of conflict between interests, lack of access to economic benefits and opportunities, and inability to protect human lives and enforce human rights. Past efforts at addressing genuine grievances have been ad hoc and flowing top-down rather than from the communities themselves.

Recommendations

- Set up credible institutions whose membership will include interest groups and people acceptable to aggrieved communities and other stakeholders; address the issue of resource control to ensure community ownership and use of natural resources for development and environmental protection. True fiscal federalism should be practiced. In the interim, the percentage of derivation should be increased to 50 percent;

Agenda 2: Local Governance

Democratic local governance is crucial to solving the crises in the Niger Delta. The prevailing reality is that there is no participatory local governance. Both the Federal and particularly the State Governments have hampered autonomy of the local governments. Local government autonomy is therefore a key goal in the attempt at resolving the crisis in the Niger Delta. There is need to devolve power and create mechanisms to assure that local governance is transparent and accountable to the people.

Recommendations

- Provide a legal framework to ensure constitutional autonomy of LGAs as opposed to the present practice of making them just administrative third tier of government; promulgate laws to recognise and regulate Community Development Associations (CDAs) as an integral component of local governance;

Agenda 3: Economic Diversification

There is high dependence on oil and gas resources, which provide over 90 percent of the foreign exchange earnings of the country, thereby making it a monolithic economy. The oil sector has limited capacity for employment and spread of industrial development. Agriculture has been relegated to the background and food security is threatened.

Recommendations

- Encourage oil and gas companies operating in the Niger Delta to establish ancillary industries to add value and boost employment opportunities for the people of the region. Recommended areas include electricity generation, refineries, petrochemicals and others which could produce the much needed oil and gas sector-based goods and services that are still imported.

- Provide easy access to micro-credit and extension services for farmers and those engaged in agro-allied industries; create awareness and sensitise the people on the opportunities available in the agricultural and solid minerals sectors.

Agenda 4: Social Inclusion

Sustainable development in the Niger Delta has been considerably hampered by the limited involvement of women, youths, children, physically and mentally challenged and disadvantaged groups in the conception, planning and implementation development programmes.

Recommendations

- Build capacity of community institutions for participatory development with greater involvement of disadvantaged groups; provide increased access to quality education, including building structures, massive supply of science equipment and recruitment of science teachers, especially in rural/riverine communities; provide infrastructures for skill acquisition relevant to the Niger Delta, and greater access to credit facilities by disadvantaged groups;

Agenda 5: Environ-mental Sustainability

The continued degradation of the Niger Delta environment makes the path of sustainable development challenging and difficult, if not impossible to attain. Traditionally, the deltans were farmers and fishermen, hence the loss of their environment is a major threat to their traditional occupation. This has therefore denied host communities the needed sustainable livelihood opportunities and human development.

Recommendations

- Undertake a comprehensive assessment of the physical environment of the Niger Delta taking into consideration impact of oil spillage and exploration; and democratise access to environmental information; build affirmative actions for host community participation in the oil activities; enforce environmental laws and compensation regimes for the oil gas activities; and empower communities to participate in community budgeting and environmental protection measures and processes.

Agenda 6: Integrated Approach to HIV & AIDS

There is increased prevalence of HIV&AIDS in the Niger Delta attributable to poverty, limited education/ awareness, frequent job mobility, presence of oil and gas workers, military and para-military personnel and harmful traditional practices, with the most vulnerable groups being women, youths and children. It was also observed that malaria, tuberculosis and cholera are serious health issues afflicting the people.

Recommendations

- Promote behavioral change, through social mobilisation and access to information; ensure empowerment of state and local action committee on AIDS (SACA and LACA) for them to be more result-oriented in their primary mandates; increase access to comprehensive gender-sensitive preservation, care, treatment and support services for the general population, including free ant-retro-viral drugs for the people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWA), Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) and mitigate HIV/AIDS impact on the people and economy;

Agenda 7: Building Partnership for Sustainable Devt

There is absence of partnership coordination in the region. In addition to the fact that oil companies' community development activities are not integrated into the mainstream development planning, international development partners also operate in the region in an uncoordinated manner. In fact, most Niger Delta states do not have database of development partners' activities in their domain. Capacity building is desirable for partnership.

Recommendations

- Establish, immediately, a unit that will coordinate partnerships in the region. Also establish project monitoring units (PMUs) in all the states of the Niger Delta region to monitor various development activities. Unlike what happens in the past, there should be a steering committee comprising of representatives of CDAs, NGOs, private sectors, religious bodies and government officials. The PMUs are to undertake the Monitoring & Evaluation of development programmes and projects based on established indicators.

Unveiling a Crisis Report

A detailed report by the International Crisis Group (ICG) claimed root causes of the Delta insurgency are well known. Violence, under-development, environmental damage and failure to establish credible state and local government institutions have contributed to mounting public frustration at a slow pace of change under the country's democracy, dogged by endemic corruption.

Nigeria had estimated oil export revenues of $45 billion in 2005 but the slow pace of systemic reforms and the lack of jobs, electricity, water, schools and clinics in large parts of the Delta have boosted support to insurgents such as MEND.

Observers warn that a worst-case scenario could lead to a one to two-year shutdown of the oil industry in the Delta, where most of Nigeria's 2.3 million daily barrels of crude oil originate, the report said.

Illegal oil 'bunkering' has accelerated the conflict and provided militant and criminal groups with funds to purchase arms. Another factor is the scale of poverty.

Community groups frequently charge that projects are derailed by bad management, compounded by corruption at local, contractor and company levels. These accusations are often difficult to judge, although several oil company officials have privately acknowledged that internal corruption is a serious problem they are trying to address. Broken promises and charges of favouritism have further soured relations between oil companies and communities.

Resolution Steps

Governments and corporations must change direction if they are to lessen the likelihood of violent meltdown in the Niger Delta. Attempts to secure energy production have too often been heavy handed, alienating large segments of the population and boosting support for militants, the report stated. While laudable attempts have been made to initiate development, many have been poorly executed or hijacked by outsiders and local elites.

Although Delta militants are responsible for their own share of the brutality, it is a symptom of a wider problem that has created a reservoir of anger against the government. Care should be taken not to reward violence or encourage copycat attacks, by merely co-opting individual militant leaders into the Nigerian elite.

The militants' demands for devolved resource control is legitimate, however, and steps should be taken to bring this about transparently, increasing oversight of elections and elected officials and allowing broad-based community structures to play a leading role in their own development.

Defusing the militant time bomb requires a commitment to negotiate with residents that goes beyond the commissions and committees of the past. There has never been a better opportunity to increase state and local resource control, according to the report.

Urgent measures are needed to promote transparency and stiffen penalties for corruption. While the Yar'Adua Government does a better job than its predecessors at opening its financial activities to scrutiny, it is not enough to reveal financial allocations to the states and localities. How that money is used is key to resolving the conflict in the embattled oil-rich region.

Nigeria Security Update #1 170707

Two American Carriers Add Nigeria Routes

TWO American airlines are set to commence operations on lucrative Nigeria - United States routes.

The visiting four-member team from the United States Federal Aviation Administration that arrived on Sunday for the initial technical assessment of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority and three Nigerian carriers, said this in Lagos on Monday.

The leader of the team, Greg Michael, who spoke with our correspondent on Monday in Lagos, said that Delta Airlines and Continental Airlines would begin services into the country, after meeting all the requirements of the Nigerian aviation regulatory bodies.

Michael said that the team was pleased that the NCAA had worked very hard to make the airspace safe.

The commencement of flight operations by the two carriers will bring to three, the number of American airlines operating into Nigeria.

North American Airlines started operations into Nigeria, July last year under the ‘Open Skies’ Agreement between Nigeria and the US Airlines, with Nigeria designating three carriers, Bellview, Arik and Virgin Nigeria to fly to America.

Delta Airlines is a US-based airline headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. It operates a large domestic and international network that spans North America, South America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the Caribbean.

Delta Airlines currently flies to 463 destinations in 95 countries.

The Director-General, NCAA, Dr. Harold Demuren was confident that after the successful passing of the International Air Safety Assessment for the category one audit, Nigerian carriers would fly seamlessly to the US, from Lagos.

Demuren said, “This is the initial assessment of that, initial review if you like. We are happy that they are here. They will still come back to do the theory aspect, so that Nigeria can pass and be certified.



Asari Calls for Trial of Obasanjo

HEAD of the Niger Delta Volunteer Force (NDVF), Alhaji Mujaheed Dokubo-Asari, has said that the Niger Delta will not witness peace until former President Olusegun Obasanjo is tried in the International Court of Justice for crimes against humanity.

He maintained that a sovereign national conference was also needed to be convened by President Umaru Yar’Adua to discuss how justice would be done to the people of the area by the Federal Government.

Dokubo-Asari, while speaking with journalists in Ibadan on Monday at the burial of one of his guardians, said the former president’s eight-year tenure was characterised by injustice which he said demanded prosecution.

He disclosed that he had instituted a legal action against the former president for the alleged injustice meted out to him and for depriving him of his fundamental human rights.

He claimed that Chief Obasanjo did not have respect for the rule of law and humanity, this he said made him to deprive people of their fundamental human rights.

According to him, “a lot of people were murdered. He destroyed Odi and other communities, where he killed many people. There was no security of lives and property in all parts of the country, even in Ibadan here, nobody can move out freely.

“He facilitated crisis in the town. He took power from a democratically elected president and installed a stooge. He is a devil, he must be tried at the International Court of Justice and I can assure you that he will surely face the trial.”

The NDVF chieftain said, “I will not rest the struggle until Obasanjo is brought to book. He has committed crimes against humanity. A lot of people were killed during his tenure, but we shall let him know that he is not above God.”

Speaking on his detention which he said was just a mere threat to stop his fight against injustice, Dokubo-Asari said that though “it was a bad one, experienced in a positive way.”

According to him, “it was just a threat. That will not stop me from the struggle. The struggle has just begun. We shall not stop it until our prayers are answered in Ijaw land.

“Our land has been taken over. We are deprived of our rights in Ijaw land and in the entire Niger Delta. We must be liberated from the economic shambles, oppression and poverty,” he said.

Asked if the people had any hope in the Vice President Goodluck Jonathan as a saviour to fight for the cause of the land, Dokubo-Asari said: “He may try, but a tree does not make a forest. I don’t think that he can solve the problem alone,” he said.

A sovereign national government, he suggested, would provide a lasting solution to the crisis.

He maintained that such a conference should not be politically motivated, but should comprise various groups from all the Nigerian nations to discuss the sources of problems ravaging the country.

Speaking on kidnappings, especially of toddlers, in the area, he described them as “heinous acts that are evil and criminal in nature.”

According to him, “kidnapping is evil and nefarious. It is a sin against humanity which should be condemned by the entire Nigerians.”

He called on President Yar’Adua to ensure that the “sovereign national conference is convened to bring justice, equity, peace and tranquility to the country."

Dreams of Biafra Still Alive

The wife of Nigerian secessionist leader Ralph Uwazuruike says she is still committed to his cause, even though he has spent two years in jail.
"The struggle continues - it is not negotiable," Ngozi Uwazuruike told the BBC about the desire for independence for the south-eastern Igbo people.

Mr Uwazuruike's treason trial is due to resume on Monday in Abuja.

Mrs Uwazuruike, however, said the children had been affected by not seeing their father for two years.

"Our four children are out of school now and they miss their father," she told the BBC's Network Africa programme.

Mr Uwazuruike was arrested in October 2005 and has been in detention since then.

"The little one is emotionally sick now," Mrs Uwazuruike said.

"He needs to see his father. But I don't know how I could possibly take that little boy to prison to see his father."

The Movement for Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (Massob) says 37 years after the Biafran civil war ended, the Igbo people are still "marginalised" in Nigeria.

"We are not wanted," Mrs Uwazuruike said.

Recently, former Biafran leader, Emeka Ojukwu said the Igbo have more reason today to seek independence from Nigeria.

Mr Ojukwu's declaration of independence on 30 May 1967 led to a three-year civil war, in which more than 1m people died, mostly from hunger.

Mr Uwazuruike, a lawyer, abandoned his law practice to take up the Biafran campaign.

New Trend in Nigeria's Most Lucrative Illicit Industry (Daily Champion)

Michael Stewart was the first, Margret Hill, second and now it is Samuel Amadi all minors who have had a taste of the kidnap experience.

Michael Stewart is the son of a female house of assembly lawmaker, Margaret Hill, a daughter of a Briton and Samuel, a prince.

What makes their abduction unique is that the three took place as the children were being taken to school respectively.

Another unifying factor is that their cases have only sharpened a sudden developing trend of child abduction in the volatile Niger Delta Region.

The most recent of them which calls for a lot of concern in the child abduction cases is that of Samuel Ovundah Amadi which happened barely four days after the release of Margaret Hill.

According to the driver of the Chief, identified as Knneth Akobezuko, the event took place at the East-West road at about 7am.

The act, he said was perpetrated by four armed men.

"I was taking the boy to school as I usually do. Then some people used a Volvo car to block me.; four of them carrying guns. All of a sudden, I heard a big sound on the glass door beside me.

I thought it was a gunshot because one of them had entered and pointed a gun at my head.

"After two of them had entered into the vehicle with me, they told me to drive on towards University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT). The brown volvo car was following me.

When we got to a bushy place, they took the boy and told me that I should go. They collected my phone so I could not make any call. So I came back here," he said.

Not long, the abductors called the Iriebe community chief, Francis Amadi.

According to him, they demanded N50 million ransom. He was also told to pay the said amount into a First Inland bank account with name, Dyke Otuonye and account number 301450821801.

Later the kidnappers called to say he should not pay the money into any account rather he should stack it in N1000 denominations and wait for further instructions.

According to Amadi, he tried negotiating with them adding saying that he told then he could pay only N5 million. The chief who is from Iriebe community. Obiakpor Local Government Area suspecting foul play in the accused his driven Kenneth of complicity.

Not long after, the abductors called Chief Amadi again saying that his driver was not involved in the abduction, when the local chief wanted to ascertain the driver's innocence in the kidnap. They also added that if Amadi did not heed to their instruction, they would chop off Samuel's hands and send to him in an envelope.

As the conversation was going on, a neighbour and Computer Science student, in Rivers State University (RSUST), Innocent Onokure eavesdropped into the conversation and it seemed to him that he recognized the voice of one of kidnappers speaking.

He alerted the traditional chief and when they called his friends number, he said he was in Lagos. Not satisfied with what was , Chief Amadi stated that he called in men of the police force to arrest the duo. His reason for arresting Onokure is that he had not seen him for over one year now and why must he come back to his village after over a year on a day his child was kidnapped.

Rivers State police spokesperson Ireju Barasu who confirmed the abduction said that the kidnappers have been in contact with the family of the boy.

At the end of the day, boy Samuel was released to his father. Though it is not clear how much was paid as ransome, it is an open secrete that ransom is paid for every kidnap though the family of the person will not disclose it.

The Obiakpor Local Government Area Chief confirmed the release of his son adding that he has since taken him to the hospital for medical examination.

Recall that this was exactly what happened in the case of baby Margaret and had also attracted a lot of attention.

For the mother of three, the experience was simply a nightmare.

Even the governor of the Rivers State, Sir Celestine Omehia did not mince words in condemning the act.

"What has happened is very unfortunate, criminal, inhuman and evil and we shall not tolerate it any more. We are no longer going to tolerate this type of criminal action." he said at the Government House, Port Harcourt when he received, Mr. and Mrs. Mike Oluchi Hill, parents of the three-year-old British girl that was abducted on Thursday, July 5,2007 on her way to school.

Hostage taking, kidnapping or abduction is now a daily occurrence in Rivers State and every other area of the Niger Delta region. Before now, it was limited to Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers states but now every part of the region has one tale of kidnapping or the other to tell.

Miss Margaret Hill was being taken to to school in the morning of Thursday, July 5 when some yet to be identified gunmen smashed the passenger's side of the vehicle she was traveling in and snatched her to a yet to be disclosed hideout.

Margaret was released after four days due to an international outcry and pressure particularly put on the Nigerian government to secure her safe release by her home country, the British Government.

A week before Margaret was abducted, Master Micheal Stewart, a son of a member of the Rivers State House of Assembly was abducted by gunmen on Tuesday June 26 within his school premises when her nanny was taking him to his classroom few minutes after he alighted from the vehicle that brought him to school. Stewart is about three and a half years. He was released few days later after the family allegedly paid a ransom of N10 million. A news agency quoted Oluchi Hill as saying that her daughter kidnappers were ready to free the girl but had asked for an undisclosed amount as ransom.

Though security agents and government officials claimed that both Margaret and Stewart were released unconditionally without any payment of ransom. As the saying goes they can tell that to the Marines.

A day before Miss Hill was abducted, five expatriates working for Lone Star Drilling Nigeria, an oil servicing company working for Shell Development Company in the Soku oil field in Kalabari Kingdom of Rivers State were taken hostage by some unidentified gunmen who are yet to claim responsibility or state their demands.

Even Omehia has had a taste of the agony of kidnap victims' families. Few days after he was elected governor, his mother was taken hostage.

Alluding to this incident, Omehia empathized with the Hills thus: "I know how you feel since your daughter was taken some days ago and we share your agony. The government and people of Rivers State are with you in these agonizing moments of your life and we pray that it comes to an end soon."

Condemnation for the abduction of baby Hill came from far and wide even the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta [MEND] a militant group was irked by the abduction of Margaret and announced its decision to fish out the culprits and ensure safe release of the child. Nsirimovo lamented that the current trend of kidnapping is nothing short of a disastrous development in the region.

Condemning the kidnapping of children,Nsirimovu called on all those who have profited from kidnapping to recognize that this senseless industry cannot continue. Atake Tom, leader of the Niger Delta Vigilante Movement directed the immediate stoppage of all forms of kidnapping and hostage taking in RIVERS STATE. Ateke appealed to youths and youth groups in the state to sheate their sword.

Inspector general of Police, Mr. Mike Okiro on his part declared that those involved in hostage takings and other anti social activities in the Niger Delta should be regarded as criminals and treated as such. Okiro who disclosed that some of these criminals are non-indigenes of Niger Delta, declared that they are doing it for their selfish interest.

Some years back hostage taking was alien to the Niger Delta Region. It was a taboo among the people and can lead to communal or tribal war. While in some communities' culprits of this act and their families could be banished from their community as a punishment for abduction. Hostage taking was only tolerated during war or during the various boundary clashes among communities in the region. But times have change and things are no longer at ease.

Hostage taking took a center stage in the region when some groups resorted to it as a means of drawing attention to the plight of the robbed, neglected, oppressed and marginalized people of the oil rich Niger Delta who live on the bank of a river but wash their hand with spittle. Hostage taking was seen as a legitimate weapon that could be used in the struggle for the control of its oil and gas resources and emancipation of the region from an oppressive Nigerian Government.

Kidnapping in the region took a new dimension when the leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunterer Force, Alhaji Mujihad Dokubo Asari was arrested for alleged acts of treason. Most of the groups involved in hostage taking were claiming that they were doing this to press home their demand for the unconditional released of Asari. But last month Asari was given bail by a Federal High Court in Abuja. Regrettably, kidnapping has not abated. Infact, Asari himself is a victim of the criminal agents who now parade their region as freedom fighters: an SUV van belonging to his was snatched a fortnight ago at gunpoint. Speaking at a stakeholders meting in Port Harcourt, Omehia lamented "The truth is that kidnapping has become business and no more a fight for the emancipation of the NIGER Delta."

Though some schools of thought believe that kidnapping gangs proliferated when Asari was in detention and would reduce when he is free, the reverse has been the case. Even Asari wife, Alhaja Mujuhadeet held the opinion that the release of her husband would reduce hostage taking. Some are of the opinion the rising wave of kidnapping is to show that Asari is not really in charge of the entire so-called militant group in the region. Some of these groups and their various sponsors are angling to get the kind of relevance and attention that Asari receives from both the federal government of Nigeria and the international community. Asari has admitted that he has no control over the criminal gangs operating in the region and his release may not be an immediate antidote to kidnapping in violence in the Niger Delta.

A wise man once said that wherever there is original there must be a counterfeit. Though there are genuine groups in the region that are agitating for improvement of the welfare of the region others have latched to this struggle to perpetuate crime and violence. Some people claimed that some of these criminal elements were originally part of the Niger struggle but greed overwhelmed their "patriotic" view and they decided to help themselves. Having been identified with the struggle the boys decided to go into hostage taking, bank robbery and other violence crimes. Like they say in Akwa Ibom, a dog that has tasted the entrails of an animal will not stay away from the bush. These boys have tasted fast money from these crimes and they are not ready to repent of it.

A spokesperson for NDPVF, who claimed to be Asari second in command, General Gabriel Asabuja absolved members of the Asari group from the crime of kidnapping and other acts of terrorism. He disclosed that the boys involved in hostage taking cannot be controlled again because of the pecuniary gains inherent in the bisiness as "the monetary involment has opened the floodgate for formation of more militant groups in the state and until government establishes community police to checkmate them, there will be no end to this terrorist acts."

Asabuja regretted that kidnapping and hostage taking is yet to stop despite the release of Asari and blamed government for this development.

According to him, government officials who benefit from these activities have been the major hindrance stalling all sincere efforts to curb the activities of these criminal elements.

On Monday, July 2, 2007 Vice President Goodluck Jonathan on behalf of the Federal Government inaugurated a Peace and Conflict Resolution Committee. The committee is expected to coordinate similar committees set up by the various Niger Delta states to see how the current violence in the region can be brought under control. Before now, Rivers State Governor, Omehia has set up a Peace and Rehabilitation Committee for the state headed by Alhaji Hassan Douglas. Omehia promised a reward of a million naira for the first one hundred cultists and militants who would repent of their criminal activities. But this reward for repentance has drawn a lot of criticisms from the public. There is a story going roun that during former Governor Peter Odili administration, a self acclaimed repentant cultist collected money from the government and instead of using the money to set up a business he used it to buy guns, which he rents out to criminals.

Ledum Mitee, President of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People [MOSOP] described the offer of money for repentant cultists and militants as an incentive for violence. According to Mitee, there is every reason for people to go into violence to get millions overnight. We are against giving money to cultists and militants for them to renouce cultism. There has to be a comprehensive strategy to be sustained in ensuring that the money does not go into wrong hands," Mitee maintained. Chairman of the Niger delta Civil Society Coalition, MR. Anyakwee Nsirimovu recalled "In 2004 we saw the mistakes of careless distribution of cash for weapons and so-called rehablitation of youths which had little credibility and no follow up. Now we are seeing promises of one million naira to youths with absolutely no sign of a strategy." Rather than the rewarding of violence, Nsirimovu suggested a roadmap, which would address resource control, accountable government, self determination and the protection of the environment.

Nigeria Security Update #1 090707

Toddler Home

Margaret Hill, the three-year-old British girl kidnapped in Nigeria, has been freed.
She is back with her family who say she is in good health. No ransom was paid.

An offical said the youngster was handed over to state security servces in Port Harcourt, where she was snatched on Thursday.

Her father Mike Hill told Sky News she had been in the jungle and was covered in mosquito bites Otherwise she was fine.

Mr Hill, who works in the Nigerian oil industry, said: "She has not told us anything yet."

He added: "The pressure has been unbelievable. We stopped eating and couldn't think of anything else.

"The kidnappers did not say who they were, but we don't think they were rebels

"They wanted to swap Margaret for myself but the police said 'no'.

"They also demanded a ransom, but we did not pay anything."

Gunmen grabbed the child from the car in which she was being driven to school when it got stuck in traffic.

Margaret's mother Oluchi said the kidnappers had called her, first demanding the swap and then money.

Mrs Hill said the kidnappers had also threatened to kill her daughter.

Abductions for ransom are common in the oil-producing Niger Delta, where Port Harcourt lies.

However, it is rare for children to be targeted.

Margaret's abduction sparked outrage in Nigeria, not least among militant groups.

They said it would only serve to undermine their campaign for greater local control of oil revenues.


Oil Companies Fed Up

Total SA, Europe’s third largest oil company has said crude production in Nigeria is threatened by insecurity in the West African nation.

“We have decided with other oil companies, especially Shell, that the situation cannot continue like this over the long term,’’ the Chief Executive Officer, Total, Christophe de Margerie, told reporters on Saturday on the sidelines of a conference in Aix-en-Provence.

“We need lasting solutions for this instability.”

Oil production, the mainstay of Nigeria’s economy, fell to 2.15million barrels a day in the first quarter from 2.34million barrels in the same period of 2006, the Central Bank of Nigeria on Saturday said.

The drop was caused by the “continued restiveness in the Niger Delta area,” which accounts for all the country’s oil output, it added.

More than 200 expatriates have been kidnapped since the start of last year by militants and other criminal groups in the oil-producing region.

A three-year-old British girl was abducted on July 5, the third child to be kidnapped in the area, according to the British Broadcasting Corporation.

A day before the girl’s kidnapping, Nigerian gunmen abducted five expatriate workers from a Lonestar rig that was working for Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s Nigerian venture in the Soku field.

Shell’s venture, the Shell Petroleum Development Co, pumps about half of Nigeria’s oil.

Almost two-thirds of the company’s daily production has been halted as a result of leaks, community disputes and militant attacks.


Asari Vehicle Carjacked

A Land Cruiser Jeep, belonging to the leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF), Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, has been snatched by suspected armed robbers in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

According to sources close to the Niger Delta ‘nationalist’, as he prefers to be called, Dokubo-Asari was not in the black Jeep when it was snatched around the Agip Junction area of Port Harcourt at gunpoint.

The sources said that the jeep was being taken to where it was bought for servicing when the robbers blocked it with their vehicle and took it at gunpoint, adding that it was bought just a day before it was snatched.

"The robbers took the car with its occupants as 'hostages', drove them to the waterside and ordered them out.

The leader and spokesperson of the Joint Revolutionary Council (JRC), Cynthia Whyte, confirmed the incident, but said since he was not in town when the incident took place, he did not have enough details on it.

When called for confirmation, the Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Felix Ogbaudu, said no such report had reached his office.

In another development, there are fears that three unidentified expatriates might have been abducted by a group of armed hoodlums in Port Harcourt on Sunday.

The expatriates, said to have been abducted around Elekahia area of the city, could not be identified as at press time.

Though Police Public Relations Officer, Mrs. Ireju Barasua, said she had heard of the kidnap, she said she had no further detail.


Airport Traffic Causing Missed Flights (Nigerian Tribune)

Road traffic situation at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, has worsened as many travellers now miss their flights as a result of frequent traffic congestion.

The congestion, which has made movement for airport workers and passengers difficult, was traced to the right granted vehicles outside the airport to use the airport road as an alternative to get to their destinations.

This negates the civil aviation rules as against emrgency periods. According to findings, most of the vehicles now drive through the airport as a way of beating traffic on public roads and for safety.

Some of them are said to be prepared to pay any amount as toll at the gate to have access to the airport road.

Following the problem, especially between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m., when international flights begin their chek-in, it takes travellers close to two hours to move from the local to the international wing, a situation which makes them miss their flights.

The development is coming even as the terminal building of the international airport is becoming congested for passengers.

The congestion is noticeable at the departure hall and the passport control areas where arriving passengers are screened by security officers before going to board.

The situation often leads to passengers going through inconveniences during check-in of their luggage and other security protocols, a situation further compounded by the influx of passengers’ relations who come to see off their loved ones.

Some passengers who spoke with the Nigerian Tribune on the development said that there was urgent need to expand the airport to change the situation and make the atmosphere more conducive.

How Militants Paralyzed Bayelsa's Economy (Nigerian Tribune)

Although the constancy of hostage taking in the oil-rich Niger Delta region has nose-dived in recent times, Soji Ajibola examines its impact on the socio-economic development of Bayelsa State, which has struggled tenaciously to end the scourge in its areas of jurisdiction.

Created in 1996, Bayelsa State remains one of the underdeveloped states in the country, no thanks to hostage takings and other related vices perpetrated by the suspected militant youths under the excuse of fighting for their legitimate rights. Multi-national oil companies operating in the state are on the verge of relocating to neighbouring states as a result of what they described as insecurity to lives and property.

Successive administrations in the state had tried to put a stop to what the vice-president, the then the governor of the state, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, described as “criminal act”, blaming some traditional rulers in the state of aiding and abetting the committal of these crimes. This development has led to the abandonment of most of the on-going developmental projects in the state. Besides, millions of naira are also being deducted from the monthly allocation of the state as debts incurred as a result of ransom paid on hostage taking in the state.

Also, the ongoing dualisation of the East-West Road has been temporarily stopped as a result of threats to lives and property by one of the major contractors handling the project. The development was confirmed by the outgone president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, during the ground-breaking of the Brass Liquified Natural Gas in Twon Brass. One of the contractors wrote to the president of his intention to pull out of the project because of threats to the company’s property and lives of its workers, especially foreigners.

As if this was not enough, the monthly allocation of the state for the month of June 2007 dropped sharply to N4billion and this may affect the continuation of some of the projects embarked upon by the former administration in the state. This development has forced the present administration to cut down its expenses. To redeem the image of the state, Governor Timipre Sylva, after being welcomed into the state by the militants with the kidnapping of nine oil workers at the platform of the National Agip Oil Company, took the responsibility upon himself to defy every odd to visit the militants in their den.

Sylva left the state capital with some top government functionaries and headed for Ogboinbiri in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of the state to engage the militants in what could be best described as meaningful discussion. The visit eventually paid off as the governor was not only recognised and accorded due respect by the militants, but the captives were also released without payment of any ransom. The governor, who said he identified with the plight of the militants, said before any discussion could take place, the hostages must be released and they obliged his request, after which they were told to be civil in their approach to issues, most especially issues relating to the operations of the oil companies in the region. After the discussion, the governor returned to the state around 12 midnight with the hostages.

The people of the state actually heaved a sigh of relief with the visit of the governor to the area. But, then, this was short-lived as militants struck again on what they described as “reprisal attack” in protest against the killing of their colleagues by the government’s task force set up to dislodge them and end militancy in the region. The militants took over the Agip flow station and forced the stoppage of the oil exploration.

This development led to the state losing millions of dollars. Apart from this, nine militants were felled by the soldiers’ bullets. Although some soldiers were said to have been wounded, the casualties’ rate was more on the part of the militants than the security forces. The governor was disturbed on hearing the news and decided to engage in meaningful talks with all the stakeholders in the state so as to find lasting solutions to the militants’ attacks on the oil installation, having known the danger it portends for the socio-economic development of the state.

Most of the attacks were hinged on the call for the release of the self-styled leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, Alhaji Mujaheed Asari-Dokubo. But the surprising aspect was that barely a few days after Asari was released on bail by the Federal High Court, Abuja, the militants struck again, leaving 12 of his (Asari’s) members dead. Many people, including indigenes and non-indigenes of the state, fled the area as a result of insecurity. Also, the staff of NAOC stopped exploration activities.

However, the governor, while receiving Asari, allayed the fear of the people over the development, saying that the military was now fully in charge of the flow station while exploration activities were expected to resume any moment from now.

End to hostage taking, in the governor’s opinion, is the responsibility of all and sundry, including elders from the region. This challenge prompted Asari to volunteer to fight hostage taking to a standstill in the state. “Ijaw people are not known for criminality and the struggle has nothing to do with hostage taking and related vices”, he told the governor.

Although the multi-national oil companies operating in the region are largely said to be insensitive to the plight of the people, that does not justify the involvement of youths in the area in criminal activities. Asari said that there are other civil ways to make their demands known not only to Nigerians but also to the outside world. Asari has begun consultations with various interest groups in the region with the aim of finding lasting solutions to the social menace (particularly hostage taking) in the region. Many youths, according to him, are jobless, that is why they take to crime.

On his part, he said that he has established a skill acquisition centre in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. This, according to him, would go a long way in addressing the problem of hostage taking in the region if other state governments established similar centres to train their jobless youths in various vocations.

In any case, the state governments and the respective oil companies are part of the problems. Many top government functionaries are said to be serving as intermediaries between the government and the militants ostensibly because of what they tend to gain from the ransom paid to the militants before the release of hostages in their custody. It is wrong, according to Asari-Dokubo, for both the government and the affected oil companies to pay ransom before securing the release of the expatriates.

Asari stated that shortly after his release, some suspected militant youths went after the staff of Schlumberger and demanded for N100million before they could be released. The company said they could only pay N24million and the militants refused. "Even though some of the militant youths have been threatening to kill me because of my uncompromising stand on the issue of ransom, the more I hear of this death threat, the more I become annoyed. When I was informed of these militants' demand for the N24m ransom, I told them that if truly these people are held hostage because of my incarceration, now that I have been released, these people should also be released.

"I told the company not to pay them more than N24million and this is what they were given. Even though the said amount has been paid, the approach is wrong. The act must be discouraged. Bayelsa is the only state that we, Ijaws, can call our own and if we pursue all the foreigners away from our land, then, how can we be talking of development?" That indeed is food for thought for wayward “militants”, who have criminalised the genuine struggle for the development of the Niger Delta region.