A guest post from Benson Eluma, a NigeriansTalk contributor. WHAT ARE THE differences between Achebe and Hart? Achebe says we have to go back 500 years to understand the problem of Africa; Hart says no, the required span is ‘the last century’. I feel that by the time we get to the start of Hart’s… Read More »
Sola Odunfa, Nigerian journalist, writes in an article on the BBC website: I often ask myself: Should Nigeria break up, how many countries will it produce? I am not aware that any three of its more than 200 ethnic groups sincerely agree so much as to come together in a peaceful independent state. There is… Read More »
1. Unmet promises tied to ebb of truce in Niger Delta – NYTimes 2. No. 1 above has led to attacks, which in turn have led to Shell announcing on Sunday that it had shut down three pumping stations in the region – Reuters 3. Gaddafi goes, Bingu wa Mutharika of Malawi in, as AU… Read More »
I just read from the Financial Times, through the PSD blog, that the Nigerian government is considering giving part of the proceeds of oil exploration to indigenes of the Niger Delta region. The amount is about $20 a year. According to its architects, the Nigerian scheme could make about $555m annually available – about $20… Read More »
WSJ: A Lack of Flare: In the oil-rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria, petroleum companies use giant torches to burn off natural gas found with deposits of crude oil. The decades-old industry practice, known as flaring, has long been criticized as wasteful and harmful to the environment because of the carbon dioxide it releases into… Read More »
reports the BBC: Nigerian officials are reportedly planning to give 10% of the country’s oil revenues to people in the Niger Delta, an area plagued by insurgencies. Presidential adviser Emmanuel Egbogah told the UK’s Financial Times that the money would go directly to communities, bypassing powerful state governors. Analysts say the government fears local officials… Read More »
See this presentation on CNN. When we think of the Niger-Delta region and the movements we should remember that the region is one of the most environmentally degraded areas in the world, that this degradation happened in the recent past, and that it is still ongoing. We should not lose sight of that when we… Read More »
Image via Wikipedia It is probably obvious, by now, that I like BusinessDay. This is their editorial today: In what seems to be a major policy thrust in international economic relations and in resolving the festering Niger Delta crisis, President Umaru Yar’Adua on Monday, at the meeting of G8 leaders holding in Japan called for… Read More »