Niger Delta Human Development
By UN | Published 2006
The numerous oil spills and the gas flaring in much of the delta have taken an enormous toll on the environment. Pollution has greatly affected the air, water, soils, vegetation and even physical structures. Perhaps more troubling are problems related to limited access to safe drinking water and electricity supply, poor environmental sanitation and waste management, and the lack of security of land and property tenure as highlighted in both chapters one and three. These are all part of the MDG indicators for measuring progress on environmental sustainability. The incidence of death associated with malaria and tuberculosis in the Niger Delta is still considerably high and will probably remain so by 2015 if current efforts are not stepped up. Estimates by CPED (2004) show that malaria accounts for over 71.2 per cent of the sickness in the Niger Delta. Evidence from the 2003 NDHS reveals that 30 per cent of the children sampled in the region had fever or convulsion compared to 18 per cent in the South-West, 23.6 per cent in the South-East and 24.2 per cent in the North-Central region.
Obasanjo: Tragedy of a would -be statesman
By Chika Onyeani | Published May 19 2006
Of course, one of the most bizarre case being that of the former Governor of Bayelsa State, one of the richest oil producing states in the country. The governor, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, had been charged in Britain with money laundering, arrested by the Police in London and placed under house arrest. After 67 days, under the full view of the Police, he escaped disguised as a woman and returned to Nigeria, where he promptly resumed his office as Governor. He was later impeached by the Bayelsa House of Assembly and his case is before the courts. There is also that of Governor Joshua Dariye from the Plateau State of Nigeria who the London police accused of money laundering, but again returned to Nigeria.
Genocide against the Igbo continues in Onicha
By Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe, usafricaonline.com | Published July 13, 2006
It is now a fortnight since the Nigerian military and police embarked on their “shoot at sight”/search-and-destroy operation in Onicha and neighbouring towns and villages in the Anambra region of Igboland. The rest of Igboland (particularly the central regions that cover the Aba, Umuahia, Owere triangle) is, for all intents and purposes, encircled by these forces with devastating consequences. Nigeria’s President retired army General Olusegun Obasanjo, without any approval or oversight by the legislature, has essentially placed Igboland under martial law and it appears that this declaration is for an indefinite duration.
I am in a state of shock, says man who invented Nigeria’s first car
By Sun News | Published 10 April 2006
Have you written to the President Olusegun Obasanjo on it since it is not just one man’s factory? Yes. We have sent a letter to Mr. President. We have gotten no reply since. They say when a library is burnt, a whole generation is gone. When a scientist, an inventor, loses something in his factory what is lost? Great intellectual property is lost. You can’t even quantify what is lost because you know, it takes a frame of mind to make some designs and even the designer may not remember what he had done in another frame of mind. So, it is like a prophet that is prophesying. It is not as if he prophesies whenever he likes. The spirit comes on him before he prophesies. In the next moment he might not even remember what he prophesied. I think inspiration generally is like that. Writers, you know, you are possessed to write. As at that time you are writing, you are possessed.
Design history, moulds of Nigerian made car stolen by heavily armed men
By Ezema Okwu, Vanguard | Published 18 March 2006
An indigenous motor manufacturing company, Izuogu Motors Limited, Naze Owerri, Imo State, has lost property valued at over one billion naira to burglary. According to the chairman of the company, Dr. Ezekiel Izuogu, some armed men numbering about 12 broke into Izuogu Motors factory, Saturday, March 11, between 1.00 and 2.00 a.m. and carted away various machines and tools including a design history notebook of Z-600, the design file Z-MASS, containing the design history for mass production of Z-600 car, a proposed locally made car and the moulds for various parts of the car.
- Treat Niger Deltans As Humans, Obasanjo Urges Shell, Others
- By Chesa Chesa and Rafiu Ajakaye
Published 27 October, 2006
It does not matter who you are and what you claim to be. (During the civil war) some of us fought for the area which you are claiming today. I got wounded there. Five soldiers who were guarding me died on the spot. Where were you? If you are going to behave the way you are behaving, the government, under my own leadership, will not be overawed. You alone cannot overawe the decisions of government.
- 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.