The New York Times
April 16, 2006
Editorial

Blood and Oil

Just as things seemed to be calming down in the delta region of Nigeria after a spate of kidnappings and insurgent attacks, the militant group calling itself the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta — MEND — announced last week to all who would listen that it was planning new violence against oil facilities in the region. Apparently unconcerned about tipping its hand to the authorities, MEND even gave a date for the start of its new campaign: April 25.

The guerrillas could not have hoped for a better reaction. Crude oil prices immediately jumped on the news, hitting $70 a barrel, as new fears about a supply squeeze hit the global oil market. Adding to the concern is that the latest message, sent to various news organizations, seems a lot angrier and more violent than previous missives. The references to endless buckets of blood sounded more like an Al Qaeda rant than a threat from oil-market saboteurs.

This really should serve notice to Olusegun Obasanjo, president of Africa's most populous country, Nigeria. MEND's tactics — kidnapping oil workers, attacking facilities, killing government soldiers — are despicable, and deserve international condemnation. But the demand for more local control over oil wealth cannot be dismissed just because of its source.

Ever since Royal Dutch Shell discovered oil in the Niger Delta back in 1956, revenue from oil wells has gone to line the pockets of Nigeria's elite: military dictators and corrupt federal and local government officials. Very little has gone to help the impoverished communities in the delta, which remain among the poorest in the world. Environment degradation, caused by oil slicks and gas flares, has gone untreated.

Under Nigerian law, oil revenues go to the federal government, which then passes on a percentage to the states. In 2004, for instance, the 36 Nigerian states received $6.2 billion. Supposedly, about one-third of that went to the four major oil-producing states. But thanks to theft, corruption and mismanagement, on both the federal and state levels, very little of that money reached the local communities.

Traveling through the delta region, it is difficult to comprehend that this is actually an area wealthy in natural resources. Despite generating hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue since oil was discovered, the Niger Delta is one of the poorest and least developed parts of the country. A Wall Street Journal article last week described Warri, the western delta's oil capital, as a "crime-ridden sprawl of rutted streets and cinderblock shops." Lydia Polgreen of The Times reported earlier this year on Obioku, an impoverished delta village that is completely isolated. "With no fast boats available, the nearest health center or clinic is a day's journey away," Ms. Polgreen wrote. "No telephone service exists here. Radio brings the only news of the world outside. Nothing hints that the people here live in a nation enjoying the profits of record-high oil prices."

It is time for Nigeria's government to begin taking into account the plight of the people who live around the oil wells that have sustained the country for so long.

Robot  Villager

# 1 @import url(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/c...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 16.04.2006 17:38

positubosun

# 2 Let us be sincere-what is happening in the Niger Delta is the consequence of long neglect, corruption, and the refusal of the Federal Government to listen to the people's plight over the years. Nothing happenend to the reoprt of the Willink commision on the fears of minorities at independence in 1960. Isaac Adaka-Boro, Ken Saro-Wiwa, Alhaji Asari-Dokubo. Thses are all familiar names. But these people have long been pushed to the wall. Certainly this Government is a deaf one, and the only language it understands is that of violence. I am sure that the Niger-Delta agitations, together with the ill-timed 'third term agenda of General Olusegun Obasanjo is the beginning of the end of the corrupt contraption nicknamed Nigeria. Enough is enough. Posted by positubosun| 16.04.2006 18:54

Ijwdaa

# 3 I wonder what part of Nigeria has benefited from the huge increases on crude oil prices since OBJ’s second/third coming.. The end is near and only God, not OBJ and his ego, can determine who survives the impending earthquake. Ijaw give conditions for peace, want presidency in 2007 Posted to the Web: Monday, April 17, 2006 LAGOS — THE Ijaw National Congress (INC) has laid down conditions for peace and demanded that the impoverished Niger Delta should produce the next president in 2007. “The Ijaw can no longer be mere spectators but would want to be effective participants in the Nigerian national project, including the issue of producing the next president of Nigeria,” it said in a statement. The INC said denial of the Ijaw their rights has forced their youths to engage in armed struggle, including the kidnapping of oil workers and vandalisation of oil installations. “Without constructive dialogue to address the decades of neglect and deprivation, our youths would not stop at anything but radical and violent expression of our collective grievances and plight,” the statement said. The INC demanded more political and economic participation, creation of two new states for the Ijaw, employment for its youths, and repair of its damaged environment and control of oil resources. They also demanded the release of the immediate past governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, and Mujahideen Asari Dokuba being tried for felony and corruption, as well as the immediate demilitarisation of the region. President Olusegun Obasanjo is due to chair a committee meeting tomorrow to mull development projects designed to improve the lives of residents of the Niger Delta. Since January this year, militant groups claiming to represent the interests of the Ijaw have stepped up their attacks on the Niger Delta’s oil industry. Militants have killed at least 24 members of the security forces, kidnapped and released 13 western hostages and blown up several pipelines, forcing firms to cut Nigeria’s 2.6 million barrel-per-day exports by more than a fifth. Posted by Ijwdaa| 16.04.2006 20:18

Free Publius  Villager

# 4 This is one area that i dont know whether OBJ is the only one to blame. OK, you increase the derivation, etc. but what if the governors in these states are so corrupt that the money never find its way to the people in the area? Is OBJ still to blame for that? Unfortunately, the international media blame the federal government for the sustained impoverishement of people in the Delta area. There should be something within the law to allow the federal government to embark on environmental remediation efforts in the area within crossing swords with the state governments. Posted by Free Publius| 17.04.2006 01:03

Nnodi

# 5 ".........but what if the governors in these states are so corrupt that the money never find its way to the people in the area? Is OBJ still to blame for that?" Of course Obj is to blame. Are we to believe that the Federal government has NO MEANS of monitoring how state allocations are spent? Are we really that dumb? Posted by Nnodi| 17.04.2006 03:21

Marie-Jay ABRAXAS  Villager

# 6 For good or for bad, the government and mainstream press in the USA appear to be very persistent, in their loud criticism of the government of General Olusegun (3rd Term) Aremu Obasanjo on the handling of the simmering crisis in the Niger delta region of Nigeria, in clear contrast to the non-committal posturing and fuzzy indicators from the EU, Russia, or Canada. In a sense, the USA is standing out to be counted as having shown proactive concern and interest in the stability of the Niger Delta territory, significantly more than the rest of the other potential competitors for access to petroleum from the Gulf of Guinea. Given the emerging scenario in the Middle East (Iraq, Iran, Palestine, Afghanistan, etc), coupled with sustained threats of international terrorism (specifically, al-Qaeda), the significance of getting access to alternative sources of petroleum (crude oil and natural gas) in locations like the Gulf of Guinea, and by extension, both on-shore and off-shore locations in the Niger Delta region, becomes more than self-evident. In other words, whatever were the assumed previous ratings, weightings or importance factored into the perception of the worth of the Niger Delta region MUST be re-calibrated, and revised upwards, in line with prevailing global realities. From every indication, it appears like US President George W. Bush (II) is subtly hinting General Olusegun (3rd Term) Aremu Obasanjo that if he keeps handling the Niger Delta question in the usual “I-don’t-care”, “Nigerian way”, the USA may be constrained to find alternative creative solutions that are reasonably optimal to the “global strategic economic and diplomatic interests” of the United States of America, which may not be palatable for the Obasanjos of Nigeria to swallow. And so, it came to pass that Establishment USA had to resort to sustained and robust prodding, subtle arm-twisting, covert ball-squashing, and migraine-grade pressurization on a glaringly unwilling, wistful, and intransigent General Olusegun (3rd Term) Aremu Obasanjo. A most interesting game that is being played is one with a script like this: SCENE #1: Messiah (General) Baba 3rd Term (The Great) runs his private banana republic of Nigeria, alternately from his bedroom in Aso Rock Villa in Abuja, and his avian flu-prone farm in Ota, as he only knows best. SCENE #2: Nigeria heats up. SCENE #3: Niger Delta region boils over. SCENE #4: General OBJ snarls and brandishes his fangs. SCENE #5: In Washington DC, US President George W. Bush (II) condemns the repression of minorities worldwide. SCENE #6: MEND invites some citizens of the USA, the UK in the Niger Delta region for a brief chat in special un-charted territories of the creeks and mangrove forests of the God-forsaken part of Planet Earth: the armpit of Africa!. SCENE #7: The price of crude oil shoots up! SCENE #8: The White House gets jittery. SCENE # 9: The US State Department releases negative travel advisories on Nigeria. Concurrently, the Federal Ministry of Information (and National Orientation) advises all potential foreign investors that Nigeria is safer than ever before for business. SCENE #10: US president George W. Bush (II) summons Nigerian President General Olusegun (3rd Term) Aremu Obasanjo to Washington DC in suppressed anger. SCENE #11: His Imperial Majesty, Oba General Olusegun (3rd Term) Aremu Obasanjo returns to Nigeria and adjusts (slightly, condescendingly, and visibly grudgingly). SCENE #12: Go to Scene #1, ad infinitum, ad nauseam! (Applause! Adios! Muchas gracias!) Posted by Marie-Jay ABRAXAS| 17.04.2006 03:26

UNREGISTER

# 7 E nogo better for these oyinboman self. Even if we cut our head give them, na so dem go dey hala. If dem like Niger Delta so much why dem no give them environmental development grant directly? Even when Abacha de kill people, oyinbo still de come Obodo Nigeria - to pursue oil. Me, I smell rat for this editorial. Na coni-coni dem dey use. Na de oil dey dem eye. If we begin fight now, de oyel go dey sweet dem for bele. Last week dem say the Venenzelan guy na area boy, yesterday, dem say Gloria Orroyo dey oppress Philipinos, day before dem say Nigeria go disintegrate, Today Niger Delta go explode. Tomorrow ... make una dey guess! OKAY, President Olusegun Obasanjo, transform Niger Delta with immediate effect effect and automatic alacrity OR lose your job by April 25... to Asari Dokubo! Posted by UNREGISTER| 17.04.2006 09:13