Fuelling Resentment
According to reports published on the anniversary of the hanging of Saro Wiwa, the situation on the [Niger] delta means “more violence, more and better-armed criminal gangs and militias, and more corruption in the procurement and marketing of oil and gas” (9). There are an average of 1,000 violent deaths a year on the delta, which is becoming a grey area similar to Chechnya or Colombia.
The oil economy also causes indirect casualties. Last year in Bayelsa state the poisonous mixture emitted by gas flaring, a practice that has now been banned by Nigerian courts, caused 5,000 cases of respiratory diseases and some 120,000 asthma attacks (10). To escape the pollution affecting the food chain, thousands of environmental refugees leave the centre of the delta for the ghettoes of Port Harcourt or Ajegunle, on the outskirts of Lagos, the economic capital. ...
Trouble is brewing, with an alarming increase in the number of small arms in circulation. New armed groups advocating secession have emerged since January, such as the (Ijaw) Mend, which is demanding the release of Alamieyeseigha and Asari. These groups have increased their attacks on oil facilities and the kidnapping of foreign executives. ...
“The whole of Bayelsa is volatile and could ignite, especially if something happens to Alamieyeseigha or Asari,” said Andy Rowell, a British journalist. “Many of the issues - such as resource control, corruption, poverty and pollution - will feature in the election. They are a product of the continuation of the exploitation of the delta by Britain and the United States. What will also be interesting at the election is what the US and British governments do.”
The British Labour MP John Robertson, who chairs the all-party parliamentary group on the Niger Delta and visited the area with Rowell in August, thinks the situation is explosive: the people of the delta know that oil produces huge riches, which provide almost no benefit to them. He says the present situation is fuelling resentment towards the companies involved in creating the riches and towards community leaders, who are accused of conniving with the oil companies. To make matters worse, unscrupulous people are exploiting discontent to carry out attacks that undermine the source of future prosperity (12).
For Robertson, the key question remains: how would a revolution in Nigeria affect the rest of Africa?
http://mondediplo.com/2006/04/06nigeria
The oil economy also causes indirect casualties. Last year in Bayelsa state the poisonous mixture emitted by gas flaring, a practice that has now been banned by Nigerian courts, caused 5,000 cases of respiratory diseases and some 120,000 asthma attacks (10). To escape the pollution affecting the food chain, thousands of environmental refugees leave the centre of the delta for the ghettoes of Port Harcourt or Ajegunle, on the outskirts of Lagos, the economic capital. ...
Trouble is brewing, with an alarming increase in the number of small arms in circulation. New armed groups advocating secession have emerged since January, such as the (Ijaw) Mend, which is demanding the release of Alamieyeseigha and Asari. These groups have increased their attacks on oil facilities and the kidnapping of foreign executives. ...
“The whole of Bayelsa is volatile and could ignite, especially if something happens to Alamieyeseigha or Asari,” said Andy Rowell, a British journalist. “Many of the issues - such as resource control, corruption, poverty and pollution - will feature in the election. They are a product of the continuation of the exploitation of the delta by Britain and the United States. What will also be interesting at the election is what the US and British governments do.”
The British Labour MP John Robertson, who chairs the all-party parliamentary group on the Niger Delta and visited the area with Rowell in August, thinks the situation is explosive: the people of the delta know that oil produces huge riches, which provide almost no benefit to them. He says the present situation is fuelling resentment towards the companies involved in creating the riches and towards community leaders, who are accused of conniving with the oil companies. To make matters worse, unscrupulous people are exploiting discontent to carry out attacks that undermine the source of future prosperity (12).
For Robertson, the key question remains: how would a revolution in Nigeria affect the rest of Africa?
http://mondediplo.com/2006/04/06nigeria
posted by Jay Taber at 5/02/2006 01:45:00 PM
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