Nigerian factory fire kills 45 workers
By WSWS | Published 25 September 2002
At least 45 workers lost their lives on the night of September 15 when a fire swept through a Nigerian plastics factory—West Africa Rubber Products Limited—in the Odoguny Industrial Estate, Ikorodu, 40 kilometres north of Lagos. The fire gutted the factory and the adjacent Super Engineering Limited, both of which are owned by a conglomerate based in Shanghai and Hong Kong. There has been much speculation about the number of workers killed in the fire. The Nigerian Red Cross reported that seven bodies were found by the police on the night of the fire and 37 more were retrieved the next morning.
Yoruba Incompetence: Nigerian regime loses legal dispute over oil
By WSWS | Published 18 October 2002
Nigeria has lost its eight-year legal battle with neighbouring Cameroon over the Bakassi Peninsula, an area rich in offshore oil and gas deposits. The International Court of Justice at The Hague ruled against Nigeria’s claim over the land that dates back to a 1913 deal between the colonial powers, Britain and Germany, giving the peninsula to Cameroon. According to the Nigerian newspaper This Day, Cameroon will gain reserves of at least 100 million barrels of oil and four trillion cubic feet of gas. Although this only represents about 0.3 percent and 2 percent respectively of Nigeria’s total reserves, in a country entirely dependent on oil wealth it is seen as a serious loss of face by the military elite.
Ammunition dump explodes in Lagos
By WSWS | Published 1 February 2002
Hundreds of people were killed in Nigeria late on Sunday January 27, after an ammunition dump in the centre of Lagos exploded. Lagos is Nigeria’s largest city, with a population of 12 million, and the main commercial centre. The explosion forced thousands of people to flee for their lives. No official death toll has been released. Lagos’ daily newspaper, the Vanguard, has estimated that more than 2,000 people were killed in the explosion, whilst state television cited unnamed witnesses claiming that between 750 to 1,000 bodies had been recovered in various parts of the city.
Death toll from inter-communal violence mounts
By WSWS | Published 29 November 2002
At least 215 are confirmed dead and several thousand injured after six days of rioting between Christians and Muslims in the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna. It is estimated that 12,000 people have been made homeless. Many have fled the city as whole residential areas have been burnt to the ground. The riots followed mounting tension over the decision to hold the Miss World beauty pageant in Nigeria. The immediate spark was an article in the Nigerian paper This Day, which said that the prophet Mohammed would not have objected to the event and would have chosen a wife from among the contestants.
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- What Ails the American Economy?
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By Kevin Phillips, Barry Gewen
28 Feb 2009
Even if his pessimism doesn’t seem wholly warranted, a sense of foreboding surely is, which is why his warnings have to be taken seriously. Mr. Phillips writes that the inventors and marketers of the new financial instruments didn’t entirely understand them. An executive of Fidelity International says a panicky feeling has set in on Wall Street because no one knows where the risks really are. The finance minister of France observes that investments may have reached such a level of complexity that no one can assess them. And Charles R. Morris, in his own gloomy book, “The Trillion Dollar Meltdown,” reports that even Citigroup’s chief financial officer “did not know how to value his holdings.
- What Ails the American Economy?
-
By Kevin Phillips, Barry Gewen
28 Feb 2009
Even if his pessimism doesn’t seem wholly warranted, a sense of foreboding surely is, which is why his warnings have to be taken seriously. Mr. Phillips writes that the inventors and marketers of the new financial instruments didn’t entirely understand them. An executive of Fidelity International says a panicky feeling has set in on Wall Street because no one knows where the risks really are. The finance minister of France observes that investments may have reached such a level of complexity that no one can assess them. And Charles R. Morris, in his own gloomy book, “The Trillion Dollar Meltdown,” reports that even Citigroup’s chief financial officer “did not know how to value his holdings.