Nigeria Content Online

Oilwatch Africa, an
environmental group, has described ExxonMobil’s poor reaction to calls
on it to mend its ruptured oil pipeline in some communities in Akwa
Ibom State, as worrisome. The group asked the Nigerian government to
immediately impose appropriate sanctions on the oil multinational.

Multiple spills
from a ruptured pipeline laid by Exxon Mobil in 1968 had gone unchecked
for over three weeks, impacting several communities in Ibeno local
government area, spreading to 15 other communities in Esit Eket and
Eket LGAs of Akwa Ibom State.

The current spill
is coming barely two weeks after over 100,000 barrels of crude oil was
spewed into the ecosystem from the same facility.

Like ExxonMobil, like BP

Oilwatch Africa, in
a statement issued in Port Harcourt, said that ExxonMobil’s action is a
clear indication of their disdain not only for the ecosystem, but also
for the livelihoods of communities that have been impacted by the
spills.

The group lamented
that Nigeria leaks as much oil as the current spill in the Gulf of
Mexico every year, and that in over five decades of oil exploitation
over 7000 separate oil spill events have occurred in the country.

It urged the
Nigerian government to immediately set in motion open and transparent
process to compel Exxon Mobil to take immediate action to contain and
curtail the spread of the spill, restore the ecosystem, and compensate
communities whose livelihoods have been impacted upon.

Government’s romance with oil companies

“It is still a
puzzle that the Nigerian government is still entangled in an unholy
wedlock with the oil industry. By now, we expect the Nigerian
government to take a cue from the US government’s response to the Gulf
of Mexico incident by instituting criminal charges against individuals
and businesses that have destroyed local livelihoods and compel them to
pay for what it would cost to restore the ecosystem,” said Nnimmo
Bassey, International Steering Committee member of Oilwatch
International.

Mr. Bassey
described as “disturbing” the fact that it took vigorous protests of
communities for the oil company to grudgingly accept responsibility for
the spill, make a pledge to clamp the leaking oil pipeline, and to make
available relief materials to affected communities.

“It is even more
disheartening that in addressing this ecological disaster, our own
government decided to hide behind closed doors and allowed itself to
take the unprecedented step of barring the press from being part of the
resolution of an issue which affects us all.” Mr. Bassey said that it
is appropriate to remind the Nigerian government about the steps taken
by the U.S government as the spill in the Gulf of Mexico evolved,
especially the mobilisation of over 20,000 people and 1,300 vessels to
join in the efforts to stop the oil from reaching ecologically
sensitive wetlands and to participate in the immediate process of
remediation of the ecosystem.

“Will the mouthpieces of the oil industry in our government claim
ignorance of US government insistence that BP sucks its spill and
pledge $20 billion as an initial step to deal with the immediate,
medium term, and long term impact of the spill? For true and lasting
peace in the Niger Delta, the Nigerian government must actively pursue
an economic diversification agenda that reduces dependence on oil as a
single major revenue earner, because present global realities is a
world moving towards non-fossil based development,” Mr. Bassey said.

The Speaker of the
House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, on Monday, disclosed that the
country’s lower chambers of the National Assembly will today (Tuesday)
pass the 2010 supplementary budget.

Mr. Bankole, while
fielding questions from aviation correspondents at the presidential
wing of the Murtala Mohammed Airport (MMA), Lagos, disclosed that the
House is operating with the executive arm of government to ensure that
the budget is passed in order to move the country forward.

“As far as the 2010
budget is concerned, we are working with the executive arm of
government to make sure that tomorrow, in the House of Representatives,
we pass it (the supplementary budget),” he said.

It would be
recalled that early this month, President Goodluck Jonathan, while
presenting a supplementary budget of N638.8 billion to the National
Assembly, asked the legislators to re-examine the economic structure of
the 2010 budget, and to revise downwards the budget from N4.48 trillion.

According to Mr.
Jonathan, the development is not unconnected with the drop in crude oil
revenue, as he noted that the implications may have adverse connotation
on the country’s financial level.

“I wish to bring to
your attention, certain challenges posed by the serious shortfall in
the projected revenue and the adverse implications it poses for
financing the level of aggregate expenditure appropriated,” he said.

“Specifically,
recent revenue developments indicate significant shortfalls in both oil
and non-oil revenue, which may well continue for the rest of the fiscal
year, with adverse implications for the financing of the budget,” he
said.

Effect of oil revenue drop

Admitting that
there is significant drop in the country’s oil revenue, Mr. Bankole
disclosed that the designated team in the National Assembly, together
with the Ministry of Finance, will see to the effect of the shortfall.

“I’m sure there is
a reduction, but those things would be worked out between the
appropriation committee of the National Assembly and the Finance
Ministry,” he said.

Foremost democracy
monitoring group, the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) has asked the
new chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC),
Attahiru Jega, to flush out all officers of the commission who worked
with his predecessor, Maurice Iwu in order to ensure credible elections
are held next year.

The group also
asked Mr Jega to commence the review of the voters’ register,
especially with a view to removing names of none existent people from
the from the document. TMG, which hailed the appointment of the new
chairman and the subsequent confirmation, said in a statement signed by
its national coordinator, Mashood Erubami, and publicity secretary,
Auwal Rasfanjani, on Monday, that the country is dangerously transiting
towards the 2011 elections, adding that it is appropriate for him to
take definite steps so that future elections will not fail.

The group said the
removal of those that worked with Mr Iwu and the review of the voters’
register have become necessary if the nation is to hold a credible
election. “In the first instance, most of the people that worked with
Prof. Maurice Iwu are by the current imperatives for fair elections
unnecessary land mines that must be removed from the path of
progressive advancement of the election administration umpire,” stated
the group. “Secondly, the fundamental review of the current fraudulent
and non- transparent and verifiable collated Voters Register is a
desirable step that must be swiftly taken as a good measure to divest
the register of its content of Ghosts and foreign names which have
undermined the register from being an essential ingredient for
conducting free and fair elections.”

Meeting the expectations of the electorate

TMG also advised Mr
Jega to ensure that the foundation of the country’s electoral system is
rooted in the constitution and related electoral laws. This way,
according to the group, the expectations of Nigeria electorate in 2011
will not be doomed. The group also urged the new INEC boss to make
inclusiveness, transparency and accountability, the prerequisites for
peaceful, participative and credible elections in Nigeria. “To this
extent, INEC must be seen to be properly constituted by non partisan
elements from the society and must not be seen to be demonstrating
allegiance to head of state, the ruling party, or show it has political
allies, so as to build confidence in the electorate and build
confidence of the people in the elections it will conduct.

The attitude
of winners take all by any political party, using extraneous means that
are foreign to the electoral laws must not be permitted at anytime, so
as not to worsen the current ethnic tensions and religious bigotry in
the country,” the TMG said.
Reactions to Mr. Jega‘s selection as the umpire for the 2011 general
elections has been mostly positive, but fears have been expressed about
his ability to do the job if systemic problems are not addressed.

The House of
Representatives has ordered the immediate stoppage of another federal
aviation contract over allegations of over-bidding and breach of
procurement regulations.

The House Public
Procurement committee yesterday directed the Ministry of Aviation to
suspend a €17 million (N3.0 Billion) contract for the installation of
Aeronautical Information System (AIS) in airports, after lawmakers
questioned officials over the poor handling of the transaction. “I wish
to state here that the Minister of Aviation and the Director General of
the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) should suspend all
actions on the contract until they appear before us to clarify the
issues being raised by the contractor,” announced Yusuf Tuggar, the
house committee chairman on Monday.

Members accused the
officials of the aviation ministry, Nigerian Airspace Management
Agency, and the Bureau of Public Procurement, of flouting basic rules
and granting the contract to a company that tendered at the highest
cost for the execution of the project.

Inflated

The Minister of
Aviation, Fidelia Njeze, is expected to explain the ministry’s decision
in awarding the deal to a company that bid almost twice what was quoted
by another company.

Basic federal
public procurement rules state that contracts be awarded to companies
with lower quotations, except in special cases and even then clearance
for the award is supposed to be obtained.

In the AIS contract, Mocom/Skynet won the bid despite bidding €17.9 million, against the €9.5 million, bid by Avsatel GMBH.

The job is to set
up an AIS detection system-surveillance equipment in all airports
across the country. Further details and terms of the contract were not
made available, but the House committee chairman, said the contract
will be suspended pending the outcome of the investigation.

Contract flaws

This is the third
time in four months that a committee in the House of Representatives
has reported major flaws in a contract awarded for a major project in
the country.

A contract for the
construction of a new runway for the Abuja airport, was earlier
suspended by the House over allegations of over-costing. Lawmakers also
ordered inquiry into the costing of the expansion project of the Abuja
airport expressways.

In all three cases,
the lawmakers faulted the Bureau of Public Procurement for failing to
detect the over rated amounts, and approving the contract for execution.

For the AIS contract, the bureau spokesperson, NNebolisa Odizie,
said the decision was taken because of an “inadequate” technical and
financial evaluation submitted by Avsatel. He said the bureau abided
“strictly” by the advice of expert consultants in awarding the contract.

Ahead of Saturday’s
visit by Jonathan Goodluck to Oghara, the hometown of James Ibori,
embattled former governor of Delta State, the Urhobo ethnic group wing
of the Delta Elders and Stakeholders Forum has described as hypocrisy
the planned commissioning of the Nigeria Navy logistic base and the
Delta State teaching hospital by the president.

The elders said
most of the projects are not priority projects, as they are not
necessarily essential to the people of the state, and that the state
government squandered tax-payers money on the projects.

Addressing a press
conference in Warri, Delta State, yesterday, the elders, led by their
Chairman, Patrick Ideh; Deputy Chairman, Godwin Ogbetuo; and Sam Kowho,
said it amounted to great hypocrisy for a state government to build a
logistics command for a federal government parastatal when the people
are dying of hunger.

“The federal
government is richer and stronger to bear the weight of expenses than
Delta State,” they said. “Yet, at the expense of Delta State which is
lacking in almost everything, the administration undertakes the
exercise of investing on the Nigeria navy logistic command which is
being handed over to the richer federal government.” The elders also
expressed displeasure aboutthe siting of the teaching hospital in
Oghara, despite the expert advice from the Nigeria Medical Association
(NMA) which warned of the long distance students have to travel between
the university campus in Abraka to Oghara.

No meaningful project

“Since the
beginning of this administration, no meaningful project has been
undertaken in the state. The projects being commissioned by the
president are old projects executed by earlier administrations,” they
said.

The elders also
cited the case of the commissioning of the Olomu and Okpare bridge,
which attracted hostile reactions from the people when the governor and
his deputy were chased away by youth in Out-Jeremi, as one example of a
meaningless exercise.

While pledging to support Mr Jonathan’s reform agenda, the group
called on the president to overhaul the current electoral system in
order to forestall electoral fraud and guarantee free and fair
elections; with one man, one vote.

The Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) yesterday blamed the poor
standard of Nigeria’s technology on its government and the nation’s
institutions of higher education.

Speaking at the
First International Conference of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
held in Abuja, Tunde Salihu, the IEEE chairman, Nigeria Section, said
Nigerians do not need to travel abroad to find solutions to the
nation’s technological problems, as there are experienced technologists
in the country.

“The problems start
from the policy-makers and also the training institutions, I mean the
universities, polytechnics and the technical institutions. The
governments are not funding them enough,” Mr Salihu said.

“In a country like
America, NASA and agencies of government receive the largest vote and
most of the money that goes to defence goes to research, so it’s high
time we consider doing something in this country. That is why we are
having this conference.” Mr Salihu assured that there are a lot of
cheap solutions to our country’s technology problems.

“We know we are in
a developing nation and our income is quite low. We do not need to buy
big technologies that are existing; we can look for small systems,
small principles, and small technologies.”

Indigenous engineers

Stephen Bello, the
acting executive vice chairman of the Nigeria Communications Commission
said it was the desire of the commission to promote activities like the
conference, as telecom engineers have a pivotal role to play in the
country’s technology.

“Nigeria is solely dependant on expatriate workers. If Nigerian
engineers are given the opportunity, they can perform better. However,
we have a lack of adequate skill in our graduate engineers. Most
engineers lack the necessary skill for employment.”

The former vice chancellor of the
University of Lagos, Oyewusi Ibidapo-Obe, has suggested the
reintroduction of handiworks in schools to reduce unemployment.

The don, who is also the chairperson,
Board of Trustees for VolunteerCorps, disclosed this on Thursday,
during a courtesy call the non-governmental organisation paid to NEXT
office.

Mr. Ibidapo-Obe, who led the team on
the visit, proposed an all-round education system that would put
emphasis on problem-solving, rather certificates as the only means of
qualification.

Making school curriculum work

“When we were in school, they didn’t
just teach us arithmetic, composition; they taught us civics, history
of the world; they taught us other skills like how to weave baskets,
how to make tools like a carpenter… All these things have
disappeared; all what we do is to teach our children to pass the
entrance examination…,” he lamented.

Mr. Ibidapo-Obe said creativity must
have a place in the school curriculum, as it is integral to the
creation of jobs and the economy.

“We need to incorporate these skills
into the curriculum, so that kids are employable. We need to develop a
university that allows the kids to turn out solutions,” he said.

The don also said science courses
should be made compulsory for all students in the country, as its
products are fast becoming a necessity.

Science and Technology, he said,
“should be for everybody; it is wrong to say ‘it has to be for those
doing mathematics.’ There is nobody now who does not need science and
technology; for instance, if you are not computer literate, you are not
likely to live in this world; you should live in another planet.”

Public schools losing value

He, however, asserted that volunteer
work, as being done by VolunteerCorps, can help support public schools
provide quality education. He also said the number of accomplished
individuals who had public education has continued to thin, adding that
the disparity between public and private education has widened in
recent years.

The team also requested for a
partnership with NEXT in the support and promotion of volunteerism as a
strategy to develop in the country.

“We want to make volunteerism a
conscious effort for people; and we want to join hands with NEXT to
inspire a change in the average Nigerian by influencing the way he or
she thinks, especially in a project ‘The New Tribe of Nigeria Project’,
which will indeed make Nigeria a better place,” said ‘Tuke Kuku, the
executive director of VolunteerCorps.

On behalf of the team, Mr. Ibidapo-Obe
also presented a plaque which says, ‘Certificate of Appreciation
awarded to NEXT for a tremendous media support of our programmes for
the year 2009’, and was received by an Assistant Managing Editor of
NEXT, Kayode Ogunbunmi, on behalf of the company.

Testing the
intelligent quotient of aspirants on the platform of the PDP in Cross
River State is now a precondition to receiving the party’s nomination
form, the party’s leadership has said.

Those who fail the
aptitude test are barred from even picking nomination forms, following
the resolve not to give power to those that are barely lettered. The
test, which includes both written and oral, is administered by the
caucus members for each of the 18 local government chapters.

This exercise, it
was understood, is also to screen out those who are members of the
numerous cult groups bestriding the political landscape of the state.
This is in line with state governor, Liyel Imoke’s resolve to bar
cultists from holding political office in the state.

“Most of the
politicians in the state know those who are cult members,” said a
member of the party leadership who asked to remain anonymous. “Those in
the know have been feeding the state government and security agencies
with information on such members with a view to disqualifying them and
thus save the state from further embarrassment of violent cult clashes
during and after elections.”

Calabar South
chapter of the PDP took the lead in administering aptitude tests on
aspirants into the council’s political offices. The test was meant to
assess the mental capability of the aspirants in view of the fact that
most outgoing councillors in the area are school dropouts. Party
leaders say poorly educated persons in political positions in the state
have proved to be pawns in the hands of the educated ones.

In 2007, during an
informal screening by the party of those seeking office of councillor,
two aspirants did not know what the three arms of government meant. The
two told the panel that the three arms of government were Mark Four, AK
47 and Pump Action, all referring to the guns that they were familiar
with in fighting rivals.

This stunned the
panel, yet the duo still made it into the council because they had
godfathers to see them through. It is these so-called godfathers that
sponsor street urchins-turned-cultists to fight their enemies on their
behalf during electioneering campaigns.

Prominent PDP
chieftains in Calabar South who conducted the aptitude test include
MGershom Bassey and two members of the state House of Assembly, Orok
Otu Duke and Maurice Orok Edem. The test, which commenced in the
afternoon of last Saturday, ended in the early hours of the following
day.

Local government
chairman aspirants who participated in the test include: the incumbent
council chairman, Andem Ekpo Bassey; his deputy, Majorie Eyo Asuquo;
Charles Effanga; Edem Bassey; Ewa Henshaw and two others. All the over
50 aspirants for councillors also took part.

Not a witch-hunt

The result was
announced on the floor after the tests had been marked by the panel of
examiners, which included a few academics. Mrs Asuquo came first,
followed by Messrs Henshaw and Effanga. The incumbent chairman came a
distant fifth position. Those outside the first three positions stand
disqualified.

Mr Duke said the
result of the first three persons has been forwarded to the state
secretariat of the PDP, as aspirants qualified to contest the primary
for the party’s ticket for the August 28 local government elections in
the state.

The same situation
applied to councillor aspirants. The test, he said, showed that most of
the aspirants do not know simple current affairs or what the offices
they are seeking entail.

“This exercise,” he
said, “is not meant to witch hunt anybody, but to the test the IQ of
those aspiring to lead. We can no more allow illiterates to lead us. We
want to bring sanity to bear in public office. We want leaders that
know their onions and councillors who can make robust legislation, to
stand for elections.”

He said the
aptitude test proved that the standard of education in Nigeria has
truly fallen, as most of the candidates showed that they cannot spell
simple words, yet they parade good grade certificates.

Other Local Government Areas across the state will also conduct
aptitude tests for those aspiring on the platform of the PDP.
Councillors in Cross River State, on assumption of office, are given a
brand new car, receive a furniture allowance running into millions of
naira, are supposed to quarterly organise constituency meetings and
deliver lectures, among other things “All this,” Mr Duke says, “demands
that councillors and council heads should be up and doing academically
so that they don’t embarrass their people when they meet their
counterparts from other parts of the country.”

Ogun State Government yesterday appealed to the
federal government to revive the Oyan Dam which has a Hydro Power
station that could generate about nine Megawatts of electricity to the
national grid.

The state’s commissioner for water resources and
rural development, Kola Onadipe, made the call after energizing the
dedicated line for the Arakanga Water Works at the Power Holding
Company of Nigeria station, Ojere, Abeokuta. He reiterated the state
government’s efforts at improving power supply, noting that necessary
measures had been taken to resuscitate dedicated lines which were
abandoned over 30 years ago when the water plant was commissioned. Mr
Onadipe said the authorities have been working round the clock to
ensure adequate supply of potable water to the residents, a development
which remain a herculean task for the management.

The state government also promised to further
develop its tourism and hospitality industry, saying it has identified
this as capable of generating revenue. Commissioner for commerce and
industries, Gbenga Osinowo, said in Abeokuta that tourism was connected
with providing accommodation and entertainment as well as making people
comfortable to create a memorable experience at all times.

Fighting poverty

Director-General of the National Institute for
Hospitality and Tourism, Munzali Dantata, said the training programme
for tourism operators, with the theme “Adopting International Best
Practices,” was organized to train middle level personnel in the
Southwest as manpower development was a vital ingredient to qualitative
tourism development.

Managing Director of Gateway Tourism Development Corporation,
Bimbola Alagbe, said the tourism industry was capable of creating
employment opportunities for the skilled and unskilled workers and as a
mechanism for protecting natural environment. Mr Alagbe said as a
sector that could fight against poverty, many governments had placed
tourism on their development schemes, reaping bountifully through
financial returns from tax on tourists and products.

The Ekiti state governor, Segun Oni, has suspended
the chairman of Emure Local Government Area, Sesan Aruwaji, over
alleged financial impropriety.

A statement by the secretary to the state
government, Dare Bejide, on Thursday said the suspension was to pave
way for a thorough investigation into the allegations levelled against
Mr Aruwaji. The statement also says that the vice-chairman has been
directed to take over the administration of the local government.

Mr. Aruwaji was elected chairman in December 2008 on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party.

The state’s House of Assembly had, two weeks ago
in a resolution, advised the governor to suspend Mr. Aruwaji for three
months because of its ongoing investigation into the alleged financial
impropriety. The House constituted a committee in May, headed by Deputy
Speaker Saliu Adeoti, to investigate the financial allegations brought
against Mr. Aruwaji in a petition filed by some councillors.

While, submitting its interim report to the
Assembly two days ago, the committee accused Mr. Aruwaji of wrong doing
and recommended his suspension. It also recommended that some principal
administrative officers in the council be transferred to the local
government service commission office in Ado-Ekiti.

Public support

Meanwhile on May 20, a traditional ruler, the
Elemure of Emure-Ekiti, Oba Emmanuel Adebayo, also accused Mr. Aruaji,
of being the brain behind a series of violent attacks in the community.
The chief, who spoke at a press conference addressed by the
Emure-in-Council, said that the council boss was behind the crises in
the town. Some of the indigenes of the town however described Mr.
Aruwaji’s suspension as a feat that is long overdue. According to them,
he has been running the affairs of the local government like a personal
business, which he never thought could be checked by anybody.

Toyin Adefemi, a PDP member who said he was abandoned after he had
worked for the chairman to ensure his victory at the poll, said: “the
vice-chairman should also be warned now that he is in charge. The fact
that Aruwaji is no more there does not mean he cannot still misbehave,
but they should just tell us what exactly he has done and if he stole
any money and needs to refund, let him do so.”