Shell has outright refused to the deadline from what I have heard, and either way the ban was put in place years ago, and should have been enacted as soon as the civillian govt came to power.

END GAS FLARING!

http://allafrica.com/stories/200506300525.html

Excerpts: "For many years, we have been living with continuous flaring of gas from TotalFinaElf. Our farmlands have been polluted. We labour hard to plant but little comes out. Our roofs are corroded. Our air is polluted. Our children are sick. Even the rainwater we drink is contaminated with black soot from the gas flares. We cannot continue with this suffering. We need to take legal action to protect ourselves, our children and our future"

He said more gas was flared in Nigeria than anywhere else in the world, and flaring in the country has contributed more greenhouse gas emissions than all other sources in sub-Saharan Africa combined. According to him Bassey during a press briefing in Benin City, gas flaring has been prohibited under environmental regulations since 1984.

He said the annual financial loss to Nigeria from gas flares has been put at about US $2.5 billion, while over two-thirds of the population have been impoverished, living on less than $1 a day.

"Everyone agrees that gas flaring should stop because it is bad for people's health and the environment. Nevertheless, the oil companies continue to prolong it. Last month, Shell announced that it would not abide by its commitment to end gas flaring by 2008. Shell's decision to continue to ruin people's life for more years is totally unacceptable".

Most Bollywood films aren't exactly top notch either .

Its terrible that the ONLY films they show there are American. American cinemas show American films, chinese cinemas show chinese films, yet we think it serves us to completely ignore the creative skills of filmmakers at home and make the already full pockets of American film companies, actors, and directors even fatter. Its ok to have SOME American films, but that seems to be all that they show. I don't know when it will be possible for Nigerian films to be shown, but hopefully it will be soon....

Seun:

ILN, what really is the difference between assembling and manufacturing?  Even companies like Dell and HP could be said to be assembling their PCs and laptops since they don't actually produce the components.  The components are produced by their predominantly Asian suppliers and assembled by technicians.

Correct me if I'm wrong ... I couldn't find any web references to back up my assertion.

Looks like you're right about dell & hp . Assembling & manufacutring are not at all the same, however, as assembling is making the circuit boards & other components from scratch. It appears that just about ALL manufacturing is done in China and Taiwan, while assembling is done anywhere. Circuitboards for everything from modems, to routers, to computers are made in china & taiwan.

we need more INDUSTRY and fewer services. Fast food is not a good investment. I would have no complaints with south africans updating our railroads and steel mills, but we should not be supporting Mac Donalds and their ilk.

IAH:

Is Zinox really manufacturing or just assembling?

Assembling, as they use gigabyte made hard drives and components from different companies. If only there was better infrastructure in Nigeria with which to manufacture.

The way forward for Nigeria: Step one

[The progress of Nigeria] is obviously a several step process, but this is an excellent start:

"... a lasting solution to this incessant increases (in fuel price) was to have a situation where our refineries work.

"Our major problem as organized labour is government fixation with the belief that Nigerians are so unpatriotic or incapable of running our four refineries. There must be something wrong with this kind of fixation. We contend that other countries have public refinery that work. Why not Nigeria?.

"Take Singapore, which does not have crude oil, but a third (1/3rd) of the world’s refined fuel is done in Singapore. Take other examples like Indonesia or Venezuela that has 18 refineries, or Norway. All these are public, government owned refineries, so why should Nigeria be different.

"So we still make the point that we can’t say that Nigerians are so bad! Nigerians are so unpatriotic that we are not able to have the wherewithal to keep our refineries going.

"What has happened over the last 10, 15, 20 years is that because some syndicates, some cartel find it convenient to import fuel because of the mega dollar profit they make out of this, they now hold the entire country to ransom by ensuring that the refineries don’t work, either by physical criminal sabotage or by ensuring that the turnaround maintenance are not carried out."

"The construction of refineries is where Nigeria needs to start for the Nigerian people to really reap the benefits of oil. Manufacturing of other goods must also take place within the country, however, first we must maximize the benefits of our natural resources while we can, then diversify further."

The entire article[i](an Interview)[/i] is very informative and may be seen here: www.nlcng.org/january2005/gsinterview.htm

What do you think?

I say ABB for president (anybody but Babangida).

I think that cellular phones and accessories should be manufactured within Nigeria and not just imported. Comments?

Hidden_Hunter:


I think an excellent example is the United Arab Emirates, country of similar ways to nigeria before the discovery of oil but 30 years later there now a first world country comparable to many westernized culturals with there own distinct way of life.
Oil money has definatly improved the way of life for everyone there including just everyday people.

I have to disagree with you based on the fact that the United Arab Emirates is far smaller than Nigeria (under 3million people) and their population is DOMINATED BY EXPATRIATES (over 50%!!!). Therefore, unfortunately, a country cannot live on gas alone. If the UAE was the size of Nigeria, it would be desperately destitute.

Oil cannot be considered either a blessing or a curse. Oil truly has no value to Nigerians, unless it is seen as a means of achieving growth, as opposed to an end. Oil is not our problem, OIL OVERDEPENDENCE is. Crude oil continues to be exported at whatever the market price is, and such growth is absolutely UNSUSTAINABLE. Instead, a several step process is needed:

1. SAVE the money made from crude oil, and use it to construct refineries so that more profits can be made AND to create jobs

2. Use the excess money from selling REFINED oil to improve base infrastructure (railroads, power, highways, etc.)

3. In doing this also pump money into economic diversification. Agriculture needs to be improved so that it reaches its earlier levels "Cash or Exports crops like Cocoa in the West, Oil Palm and Rubber Plantation in the East, Groundnut Pyramid of Northern Nigeria" can only return when money is diverted to them and they in turn will generate far more money IN ADDITION to oil exports. To restate, oil is not the problem, but overdependence.

4. In addition, mining must make a comeback through investment/government support. Also, the manfacturing of minerals is crucial. Bitumen & Natural gas, in turn, can be burned locally and used to improve the power supply.

5. MANUFACTURING  has been critical in EVERY nations rise to the top. Japan, India and China all have significant manufacturing operations. Profits from agricultural and petroleum sectors can help manufacturing take root. Of course, technological transfer of knowledge is required for manufacturing to become significant. For example if we are to buy cars/ cellular phones/ PC's from a corporation based in foreign nation, we should still assemble them in Nigeria, and our workers or university students should be trained so that some day, a Nigerian company can manufacture cars. Self reliance in all areas is crucial to development. Even India today is exporting vehicles. As the cliche goes: "give me a fish, I eat for a day; teach me to fish, I eat for a lifetime."

Again, I reiterate, these cannot be taken as mutually exclusive, but they are all necessary to keep a vibrant and growing economy. A nation needs several things to fall back on, not just one area of dependency.


As you can see, each of these creates more jobs in addition to leading to advancement.