demmy:

Who is this WE you're referring to? You must be part of the looters, thieves and kidnappers like MEND using the unfortunate situation in Niger delta to extort for money because I can't imagine one poor common person from Niger delta with an ignoble opinion like that otherwise if not you need to wake up and see who your real problems are. MEND and their likes are not acting in the interest of ordinary people of Niger Delta. They are thieves. As for your coming days of reckoning nothing would give me more joy than to see looters accountable for their looting.

@ Demmy
You are free to call all the names and use all the adjectives that you can muster but it will not change the fact that ", you have no portion nor inheritance in the Delta".
Going by the example that you cited, it is certain that you know next to nothing about the workings and the issues that are the order of the day in the Nigerian Oil industry. Its a shame and you should be keeping quiet when the people that know are talking. You need to read up and have some first hand experiences.Go get some better facts

If you knew up to 5% of what we know, only God knows what you would do.

Fabrications like what you have stated in your last post will do you no good because the aim is to ensure that poverty remains perennial in the delta.
It is also obvious that you consider the Delta to be a cashcow that should be milked dry and then left to rot. Be sure that it will not happen. Certainly it will not happen.

@ono

You are making more sense than the tribal obsessed owo and I agree with you on that. I never deny that fat theives in Abuja are looting more oil money than local thieves in the creeks. As far as I'am concern they are all thieves and should be dealt with. In fact from the begining of this thread I've said that our problem are our looting leaders. I also believe that the current 13% derivation or the proposed 18% are not satisfactory. However I won't stand for it when someone try to turn it into a tribal issue or that extortionist groups like MEND represent the interest of Niger Delta people.

I've tried to show all along that Niger delta people contrary to owo's claims are not marginalized in the federal bureaucracy (Niger delta indigenes are second only to Yorubas in the federal civil service) or that their elites are powerless (e.g CDS Ogomudia, Daukoru and Omiyi and others all in very high positions) and that their fortune would have been better if their national and local leaders had made better political choices in the past instead of choosing for instance Shagari who merely deprived them more of their oil earnings.

Now my position is this we should put collective pressure on the national and local leaders by demanding for accountability. I think this is clear enough. owo's tribal ranting about inheritance and portion are very far from my personal principle.

Pardon my ignorance in advance, but in which part of the government is the corruption most evident and causes the most impact? Is it mostly in the state governments? The federal government? Is it the bottom, middle, or top levels of government?

A.

demmy:

You are making more sense than the tribal obsessed owo and I agree with you on that.

@ demmy
Who started this 'tribal stuff"?
see what you wrote on March 8 - But I guess none of that matter because according to you he is a stooge and the real problem are (the yoruba) tribalists who are hindering the likes of him. In one of your earliest posts on this thread.
What made you to think that the Yorubas are tribalist in the context of this discourse? Was a reference made to that (Yorubas as tribalist) in any of the posts preceeding your statement?


B.

demmy:

I never deny that fat theives in Abuja are looting more oil money than local thieves in the creeks.
As far as I'am concern they are all thieves and should be dealt with.
In fact from the begining of this thread I've said that our problem are our looting leaders

Please show where you had stated that the the Delta's problems are the looting leaders (In Abuja). Contrary to that you have stated over and again that the Deltans and its looting 'leaders' are to blame.
see what you wrote on April 11
, but when this are instead diverted to looters' bank accounts then Nigerians has the right to ask them to be accountable before asking for more.
Here you stated clearly that the 'looters leaders' should be held accountable (maybe for the absence of 'development')"before the asking for more.
You even went further:
On March 08 you wrote
1. The point is he head the company that is destroying his very own environment and you mean to say he can't do nothing about it? I understand he has just taken over but I would still expect him to have some kind of plan at least as the gas flaring is concern.
Here in reference to Omiye who is shell's MD, you question the patriotism of Niger Deltans to their cause. In effect they are to blame. You went on in other posts to mention oritsejafor , Daukoro and the likes as being "lame'.

2. And despite this even today South-South are still aligned with the North politically.
Here you have blamed the collective choice of the Delta's citizens for the regions predicament. Good and fair that seems until you look under the table and get startled by some raw facts.

I put it to you, Chief Demmy, that you have never stated in this thread that the looting leaders in Abuja should shoulder the blame (or the bulk thereof) for the state of the Niger Delta. Rather, you have blamed 1. The collective choice(s) of the Niger Delta's citizens 2. Citizens if the the Niger Delta that are business leaders or government appointees 3. The "looting leaders" of Niger Delta origin.

3.

demmy:
I also believe that the current 13% derivation or the proposed 18% are not satisfactory.

Based on your previous submissions, this claim is at best a 'repentance' that has been inspired by the gods. However it must be taken with a bucket of salt unless you state it again with no strings attached so that the quantity of salt can be reduced to a pinch (or two).

4.

demmy:
However I won't stand for it when someone try to turn it into a tribal issue or that extortionist groups like MEND represent the interest of Niger Delta people.

JUMP and PASS. It is evident you know too little about the Delta, its peoples and the politics/technicalities of oil production in Nigeria to make that assertion.

5.

demmy:
I've tried to show all along that Niger delta people contrary to owo's claims are not marginalized in the federal bureaucracy (Niger delta indigenes are second only to Yorubas in the federal civil service) or that their elites are powerless (e.g CDS Ogomudia, Daukoru and Omiyi and others all in very high positions) and that their fortune would have been better if their national and local leaders had made better political choices in the past instead of choosing for instance Shagari who merely deprived them more of their oil earnings.

Who gave you the figures on the Delta's people in the Federal bureaucracy? the same government that could not conduct a sucessful census and refused to include ethnicity in the questionniare?
the Issue of the Delta coosing to go the NPN way in the late seventies instead of the Following Azikiwe , Awolowo etc will certainly distract from this thread. But it suffices to state clearly that the Delta's problems have been well analysed in better and more informed fora and this is certainly not a factor. It takes an unlearned reading of Nigerias political development to make this type of assertion.

6.

demmy:

Now my position is this we should put collective pressure on the national and local leaders by demanding for accountability.

Should this be taken as your new position?. If so, please state the relative percentage of accountability begining from the fact that 87% of the Delta wealth is shared accross board to even the remotest local Government in Nigeria, therefore all the beneficiaries of this wealth have a responsibility.

Attahs latest expression or definition etc of resource control did not start yesterday.
Check this link.

http://www.dawodu.com/attah1.htm

These thoughts as expressed by Arc. Attah are the product of a well thought out development initiative to which he subscribed (added a lot of great inputs) and gave it political prominence/relevance since 1999. This demand and the related Onshore /Offshore Oil dichotomy sustained the tension that existed between Attah and the president for five years.
Infact the late Aret Adams (former NNPC GMD) was called all sort of names when, he along with others, pushed the concept of marginal fields and local participation into the consciousness of the Oil and Gas industry long before 1999.

The Federal Government, NNPC and those that have the interest have been aware of this since 1999.

@owo

Apparently you are choosing to forget the point of my argument with you. You're forgetting that I stated those quoted facts to debunk your earlier claim that the problem in Niger-delta and largely in Nigeria is due to tribalism. I disagreed and still does that this is the case and I tried to show you what I think with my "unlearned reading" complicate the Niger delta problem in addition to our general lack of competence leadership: a) the complicity of its local and national leaders in the continue degradation and b) the region's lack of political autonomy.

Now these as you claimed are irrelevant factors as already analysed at better informed fora but you're still to show what in your opinion the real factors are. The Attah's suggestion you mentioned simply coroborate my contention that the region lack political autonomy. Is PDP the party from where he can give "political prominence/relevance" to radical thoughts like that?

This thread started on Feb 26 and by the 27th I stated the folowing about what the Delta wants -

They want to control their money, resources, future, dreams, aspirations and destiny.

They don't want another person to administer it for them.

They are tired and sick of receiving their own money as an allocation in addition to insults.

They wish the larger Nigeria well but not at the expense of their 'living' bread.


Being what the geo-polity seeks, the problem therefore is the lack of these things.

Though the means, methods, materials and men deployed to accomplish these goals may vary from time to time, the goals remain cast in stone (unchangeable)

Enough said.

am convinced that the problem with the Niger Delta and indeed most of Nigeria has to do with the leaders which are always fighting for their own selfish interests ultimately.

ddd

And then this:


THE recurring Niger Delta crisis would have been redressed five years ago if the recommendations of a presidential committee on the issue were implemented, The Guardian has learnt.

Some of the recommendations were in line with the demands of the Niger Delta militants and some recommendations of the recent National Political Reforms Conference (NPRC).

It was chaired by then Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Alexander Ogomudia, and had as members all the Service Chiefs, secretaries to the governments of the oil-producing states, representatives of the oil companies and government agencies. The committee, which was known as "The Special Security Committee on Oil Producing Areas", was inaugurated on November 8, 2001.

According to volume one of the report, which was submitted to the President on February 19, 2002, solutions to the intractable crisis were grouped into immediate/short-term, medium and long-term.

The long-term solutions were industrialisation of the area and repeal of the Land-Use Act, Petroleum Act, Gas Re-injection Act and other laws that dispossess oil-producing areas of their land.

The short-term measures included upward review of the 13 per cent derivation to at least 50 per cent, mobilisation of youths to form labour vanguard for community development and training of indigenes of oil-producing communities for employment in the oil companies.

Communities were to be made to diversify into agricultural production unique to their environment while laws to make it mandatory for the creation of manufacturing companies to produce local content for oil companies were to be enacted.

The provision of marine/coastal mass-transit transportation system in the region and immediate take-off of the trans-coastal highway from Ondo State to Cross River State were also recommended.

On the medium term, the government was advised to carry out control of ocean surge and submergence of coastal areas, erosion control, sand-filling of swamps to create new towns, provision of social amenities such as electricity, water and roads, among others.

Before making the recommendations, the committee visited the nine oil-producing states and got input from major stakeholders.

The committee was specifically set up by the Federal Government "to address the prevailing situation in the oil-producing areas which have, in recent past, witnessed unprecedented vandalisation of oil pipelines, disruptions, kidnapping, extortion and a general state of insecurity, especially of the oil and gas industry."

Five years after, most of the recommendations of the committee have not been implemented.

Source:
http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/news/article05

I actually wanted to make this Niger Delta a topic when I discovered that it is already in hot debate.

I am a Yoruba man, I have a liberal mind but not to some sections of this country who derive pleasure in destroying other sections of the country in the name of Political power.

I am living in the south-south presently, Port Harcourt is in a state of disrepair when I entered the city, the entire villages are crying for help. My initial thinking was to see a city glowing with light like tinkling stars, good roads, fly overs and reasonable level of Power (electricity) delivery, but the reverse is the case.

If you are not from the south-south, and you have never being to any part of the south-south, especially if you are a Yoruba descendant please don't join them to be against the steps being taking by the Niger Deltans. They have been robbed of their right. Infact their is no fair of God in this country. They have been neglected and destroyed, they have been looted face to face, they have been massacred and nobody could help them. They have to come out and fight for themselves and we all have to join them in this struggle, for it is a struggle for justicce.

Chief Obafemi Awolowo has said that it is the poor that will fight for themselves. The time for the fullfilment of this prophecy is at hand.

God almighty has placed so much resources underneath their soil to enrich the south-southerners to the extent that their generations to generations will never lack, but the political feudalist have impoverished them.

I want to give you an instance. The Nothern autocrats and feudalists conspired about 30 years ago to build another city by moving the capital city from Lagos to Abuja, which began in 1982 and 1991 it was actualised, under 9 years, it shows that their is an hidden agenda. "According to Professor Wole Soyinka, somebody is thinking very fast somewhere" (Arewalising of Naira). why such speed if there is no hidden agenda. The construction of Abuja could not have been possible if Oil reserves had not been found in the Niger Delta, the Nothern Feudalists would not have embarked on such huge capital intensive project if mother Niger Delta had not, in her love for her children, released her rich milk for the survival of this nation. But instead for the political power to do justice and ensure even distribution of these resources, they decided to vulture on the right of the rightful owner.

I swear that the head of Lugard will never rest in his grave from the last Generation to this generation and the generations to come. The queen of England shall cry for the rest of her life because his children shall be destroyed and scattered. As it was for the Jewish during the Hitla hollocust, so shall it be for the the generation of those that put this country together and called it Nigeria. For they have done internal damage to us, they have pitched us one against another for the benefit of their generations.

Imagine Abuja being the finest country in Nigeria, a formal desert where the abuja aborigines used to grow yams. Because this Northern oligachy, the so called caliphate, never wanted the Power to leave their hand, they moved power to Abuja and from there ruled over the resources of the owner. Look at Major General Buhari, when Abacha made him the PTF chairman, this man has no feelings for the Niger Delta, he left the roads here in delapitaed forms and embarked on building the Northern roads, from Abuja to Kano is a straight, wonderfully tarred road. Please come to Niger Delta and see Neglect and Destruction. And Buhari believes that he has moral right to contest for the presidency of this country, if he comes back he will definitely do what is happening in the Darfur region of sudan now, "Ethnic cleasen". He will destroy the entire Niger Deltans and bring those almanjere to occupy the place. Buhari will never rule in my generation, not possible.

If you go to warri, the chevron base in this city is like heaven on earth, but a few meters away from this place is an abbsy of abject poverty, neglected and destroyed.

Those mentioning America, George Bush, please don't bring this person into the issues of Nigeria, they are the master minders of all problems in Africa. They are evils and that is why God has pitched them against the Arab nations to be torns in their flesh. It is America that inflicted AIDS in Africa. If you care to know the fact I will send my facts and figures to you, send me your email address. They are part of the Niger Delta problems. All they care to know is how many billions of dollars can enter into their economy if Niger Delta is engulfed by fire nobody cares.

God knows how to deliver the powerless from the hands of those afflicting him. Africa does not have power to fight America and UK, but God fights for Africa by causing natural disasters (Tonadoes, Hurricanes, fires and so on) which the powerful can not stop to be destroying them. The God that Africa serve will deliver Africa, He is not sleeping. Look at the issue of Iran,I pray that America sends nuclear weapon there, that will be the first time that nuclear bomb will land in America. I don't know what Obasanjo is doing with them.

So the Niger Delta youths have every right to fight for what belongs to them from the federal government. What should be their focus now should not be the guerrilla war which they are already prepared for. War will not solve our problem. They should follow suit with Yoruba people, we don't need war what we need is our intellectual reasoning to get power away from this northern feudalism and ensure that power rotation within the south continues for the next 30 yrs, by that time the generations of these evil northern feudalists would have died off and by then the better constitutions would have been written and by the time power rotates to their end we would have gotten stron grip over the entire economy and the central government will be very weak, so even a dog can go and rule no one cares.

We all from the south (south-east, west south) need to unite ourselves together and fight this battle so that the vulture (Nothern feudalists) will not eat us to the bones. Let us push them to the extent that they will desire to secede from Nigeria. South West wants Oodua republic, South east wants Biafra Republic, why is it that the north does not want Arewa republic, just because of the oil. They were the one to stop agriculture in the 70's when oil was discovered in the south. Where is the groundnut pyramid of kano.

We must all be united to stop the carnage of these vultures.

It is not actually that all these northern people are bad, that is why I am emphasing feudalism. The number of them doing these things are very few, even look at their less priviledge, they do nothing for themselves. A current example is Atiku, he is busy building a school that an average Adamawas can not send their children. This guy do nothing beneficiary for his people, instead he is threatening anybody, in his state, that is against his political ambition. These are nonentities that should not be given space to live in this country.

I am really bittered about this issue of Niger Delta. An advice I will give is the Government to budget separate money directly, if resource control is not possible for now, from the federal government. As they are planning building Abuja, let south-south be also planned for and build this people who have been magnanimous to the entire Nigeria with their resources at the expense of their own development instead of this prejudice that is being measured against them.

Now, this entry is the best so far, from a non Niger Deltan.

Thank you and Godbless.

WE WONT STOP FIGHTING FOR OUR RIGHT UNTIL IT HAS BEEN

FULFILLED, WE ARE NOT ASKING FOR THE IMPOSSIBLE

IF THE OIL AND GAS WHERE TO BE IN THE NORTH, WEST OR EAST WE

NIGER DELTANS WOULD HAVE SEEN NOTHING OUT OF IT

President Olusegun Obasanjo has announced the governments decision to make the development of the Niger delta a reality. The decision was announced yesterday at the Banquet hall of the presidential Villa, Abuja during the inauguration of a 50 member consolidated council on Social and Economic Development of Coastal states of the Niger Delta.

Whether this solves the problem of the Niger Delta is something we must wait to see.

The Niger Delta issue is one that a lot of you know nothing about, especially those based outside the region. I am a Yoruba man working with one of the oil & gas multinationals in the south-south and I feel for the people of Delta, Ondo, Bayelsa, Rivers and Akwa Ibom. I know the politics which the oil companies exhibit when dealing with the communities. They release/discharge all sorts into the environment because they know that the government agencies involved in monitoring their activities are their partners-in-crime. They cause confusion in the south south in order to perpetrate their illegalities. We should ask ourselves what happened in Ogoni land some years back that eventually led to the hanging of late Ken Saro Wiwa? Bayelsa state is the only state in the country that is not connected to NEPA's national grid. The only road that links the south south with other parts of the country is in a terrible shape. A larger percentage of the people leave in the shanties, like the ghettos in south africa.

Militants targeting oil installations in Nigeria's southern Niger Delta on Wednesday denounced plans unfolded by President Olusegun Obasanjo to redress grievances in the impoverished region, vowing instead more attacks to increase local control of oil wealth.

"Our halt in attacks was more of a tactical suspension which has come to its end," it said. "At a time of our choosing we will resume our attacks with greater devastation and no compassion on those who choose to disregard our warnings." MEND claims to be fighting for the interests of the impoverished inhabitants of the Niger Delta, who live with no electricity or running water and feel cheated out of the oil wealth by Western oil companies and the government of Nigeria, the world's eighth largest crude producer.

Shebi I talk am say dem no go gree.

igwe4life:

President Olusegun Obasanjo has announced the governments decision to make the development of the Niger delta a reality. The decision was announced yesterday at the Banquet hall of the presidential Villa, Abuja during the inauguration of a 50 member consolidated council on Social and Economic Development of Coastal states of the Niger Delta.

That sounds like another "money for the boys" council. What has he being doing for the last 7 yrs. Why is the special council necessary? Don't we have ministries in place responsible for development? Is the council offering anything special?

More info here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4923734.stm

All i know is that God will Punish Hausa people for all the bad things they have inflicted on Nigeria. Please can we cut them out of Nigeria.

Slimnike: The Federal allocation given to these oil producing states,is the higehest.What else do they want?
I really would like to know who you are, where you are from, and what you do for a living! You open your mouth in this age and time to ask what the people of Niger Delta want? What do they have, by the way?!!! Oil comes from their place and they have nothing to show for it. The terrain that provides the revenue is too bad to be developed. There is virtually no form of local economy. Federalism has recieved a new form of definition in this country. People wake up caught in the 17th century while their resources send the other regions into the 21st century. The list is endless. Look stop insulting the people of the region, whose only crime has been to believe in this fraud called Nigeria. Stop insulting their heroes who died in the past. What do you know of their history? Am sure you know quite a lot of the history of the other "major" tribes. Do you know what they have been tgrough? Do you know the level of poverty there? Yet the affluence of the oil industry is in front of them all day, painfully obvious to all. Have you ever been there? Have stayed there before? Eaten food there? Whjo are you to even open your mouth to talk? You are probably in a cafe sending this.Do you know how many cafes we have in the entire Bayelsa State?
Please find something useful to do with your self.
Its unfortunate, but Nigeria is just being forced to wake up and correct anomalies and if you are a student of history , you will know that resolutions of tis type are either peaceful or violent. It all depends on the mindset of the players. The parochial and arrogant type exhibited by the Nigerian State, coupled with ignorance as in your case, will not help matters at all!!!!

I have not been able to be online for some time now, but I wish people will be bold enough to come online and react to all this nonsense.
God be with you all!

I keep telling those that care to listen that we are threading the path terrorism in Iraq and Basque region in Europe. Whenever there isn't a genuine attempt to solve the grievances of a people, they resort to open or clandestine attack on the perceived enemy/enemies. Even if they are not in a position to defeat the other force, they would cause fear and panic amongst the populace. And nobody likes to live in fear.

The militants know that they hold the Federal Government by the balls. Imagine the millions of dollars the nation is losing per day as a result of the stoppage of crude oil production at certain locations. Look at what happened in Port Harcourt 2 nights ago. A bomb was remotely detonated in the largest army formation in the state, killing 3 people. With this kind of sophistication, NOBODY, NO OIL COMPANY IS SAFE!!!!! Imagine planting a bomb in the car of an innocent Shell, AGIP or Elf worker and the guy drives it to the office unaware of the dangerous parcel therein. I am already scared. The whole thing looks like child's play. But it's catastrophe waiting to happen.

The President did not even help matters with the developmental programmes he announced. What happened to recommendations made in the past? He promised to employ thousands of Niger deltans into the Army, Police, Airforce, the Navy and NNPC. Aside the NNPC, are these jobs to be proud of in Nigeria?

Go the Bonny Island and see what LNG is doing there. IT is a well known fact that if there's a major accident at the Liquified Natural Gas Plants there, the whole Bonny Island, which is not linked by road would be destroyed.

WHERE ARE WE HEADING IN THIS COUNTRY?

Slimnike,Ur question, What are they fighting for.? Well, as a Niger Deltan what we are fighting 4 is nothing more than[b] JUSTICE[/b]

NIGER DELTANS AND NIGERIANS FIGHT 4 YOUR RIGHT!!!!!!!! One can not live by the river and wash his hand with spit. Enough is enough.At the same time nigerians should also fight very very hard for the removal of the immunity claus which enables state governors to continue looting billions of dollas money derieved from crude oil or the black gold money meant for the betterment of the common nigerian people. A minimum jail  sentence of 20years for any corrupt govt official caught stealing or looting govt money meant for the nigerian people.
  The niger deltans are not the only ones suffering, nigerians in general are suffering in the mist of plenty. Thats why we all have to stand up and fight corruption!! You can pump billions and trillions of dollas into the states but if this money is being diverted into pivate accounts of corrupt govt officials, then the people can never feel the impact. Because its like pouring water into a basket.
CORRUPTION IS THE BIGGEST PROBLEM NIGERIA HAS. LETS FIGHT IT!!!!!!!!!! 140MILLION NIGERIANS DON SIDDON LOOK FOR TOO LONG

Igwe4life,
The Niger Deltans issues is much serious when compared with other regions,the reason is just ,the oil in that region and the deversation that have been taking place over any years now ,the government at every point in time will always come with there deciving strategies and at the same time settle some of the leaders of this communities so that they( government )can easly have it's way.The yourth in that region should relent in the struggle for justice to prevail.pls,continue to send more pictures i love it.Nice one,those that will realy express the way the region looks like ok!

love44 "All i know is that God will Punish Hausa people for all the bad things they have inflicted on Nigeria. Please can we cut them out of Nigeria"

Am seriously agaist your statment you don't have to be personal about this issues,and beside raining courses
on the Hausa's does not in any way stop reduce or add to what you personally desire for the nation,what i expected you to say is whoever had a hand in the destrosion of this country should not have the privilage of coming back to rule us again,because those people are still much around.And you don't need to mention there names,because we all knows them.

They are not ready to listen to the President.why?

@Love44 -"All i know is that God will Punish Hausa people for all the bad things they have inflicted on Nigeria. Please can we cut them out of Nigeria"

The Hausa people did not cause the problem of the Niger Delta, its not Hausas that act as militias and destroy and call themselves MEND (what an irony)
The solution of the Niger Delta lies in the leaders of the Niger Delta themselves, they are so corrupt and dont even care about the people, if the Niger Delta leaders were accountable instead of enriching themselves, they could use all that money to better the lot of their people with even what the federal govt gives them as allocation even if its "ONLY "13% its a lot of money and could be put to good use.

So dont go blaming the hausas, Hold ur Niger Delta leaders accountable, the Niger Delta governers are the richest in Nigeria, we all know what happened in Bayelsa,

MEND, NDPVF and all other such groups are despicable! Yes, the Niger Delta is underdeveloped but what happened to the 13% given to the state governments? Some say it's actually not 13% and is more like 7% due to offshore/onshore dichotomy. Fine! But what has Ibori, Odili, Alamco (now Goodluck) and Attah done with that 7%?
Over the last few weeks, the press was filled with stories about how Ibori will reward the Delta athletes who excelled in the just concluded Gateway Games.  Never mind, that the statements were just rhetoric. Is sports Delta's highest priority? Or is a tummy tuck for his excellency(Alamco) the priority? Akwa Ibom is the 2nd largest shareholder in V-mobile while Odili is a director of MTN which suggest that Rivers State is a big shareholder in MTN. We all know how the mobile phone network operators are making a killing especially MTN whose profits account for more than a third of the entire MTN group. What has been done with that?
Granted, oil companies should not degrade the enviroment but surely, providing pipe-borne water, tarring roads, building health centres for the community shouldn't either. Their only business should be to carefully exploit oil and pay their corporate taxes. It is the FG and state governments that should.
The FG has failed time & again to play its natural role by ensuring checks & balances to enhance lievlihood. Let's stop kidding ourselves. Everyone is at fault. Simply getting more money or autonomy is not going to make a difference and is not the answer!


And some people have been surprised about the military playing down the havoc because they should get, in theory, an increased defence budget. This is not the US, this is Nigeria. The norm doesn't necessarily apply. In any case, prevention has and will always be better than cure. What is particularly troubling is that the FG don't seem to have the political will to use miltary might. During the hostage crisis, government spokesmen were making stupid comments like, "These are our children (the militants), that is why we don't want to use force to free the hostages." BOLLOCKS! What responsible father doesn't discipline his child when he misbehaves? Like an armed forces spokesman told the National Assembly committee on defence, not acting decisively is sending the wrong message to the militants and the outside world that the Nigerian militray is not strong enough (even though they are). If undue attention is given to the militants cause it advancing their cause. As Winston Churchill said, "The empires of the future are the empires of the mind." So you can see where the army is coming from.

And finally, the West couldn't give a hoot whether we stay as one or not. If we split, they'll simply cavort whoever is new leader.

Vongauche you just hit the nail on the head, I like your script. what are the damn governors of this regions doing to help and better their peoples living environment. the militias should take their anger out on the governors and they will get better results instead of killing Innocent people and bombing army barracks.

Vongauche:

Everyone is at fault. Simply getting more money or autonomy is not going to make a difference and is not the answer!

Hey! man, let's try that option first. I mean getting autonomy and more money, lets try it first and see if it will solve our problems or not.

I am a Niger Deltan too,but I do not like the way they are fighting this thing.

After another huge car bomb that killed a young girl and two innocent civilians in Warri, the MEND boys have issued defiant notice that more random bombings are scheduled to be targeted at civilians in coming weeks. 

One wonders how MEND hopes to garner international and local sympathy for their just cause when they are now deliberately focusing bomb attacks on the civilian populace who have absolutely NOTHING to do with the historical injustice suffered by inhabitants of the Niger Delta.

Jakumo:

After another huge car bomb that killed a young girl and two innocent civilians in Warri, the MEND boys have issued defiant notice that more random bombings are scheduled to be targeted at civilians in coming weeks. 

One wonders how MEND hopes to garner international and local sympathy for their just cause when they are now deliberately focusing bomb attacks on the civilian populace who have absolutely NOTHING to do with the historical injustice suffered by inhabitants of the Niger Delta. 

No doubt, they are taking this thing too far. My residence happens to be within the blast radius of that bomb. Our house was ''visibly shaken'' by the blast.

I urge all well meaning Delta People to prevail on the MEND boys to take it easy. Those bombs should at best be planted in Aso Rock or Maitama districts in Abuja, or better still at Ikoyi and Broad Street in Lagos. Not Portharcourt and Warri, please.

Bros Jakumo, no casualty was reported for the Warri blast.