ABOUT 20 people were killed, on Friday, by masked gunmen, believed to be members of the Boko Haram sect, who targeted a town hall in Mubi, Adamawa State.

Residents in the town said those killed were Igbo.

They had been meeting to organise how to transport the body of a kinsman shot dead by gunmen on motorbikes on Thursday evening to their hometown.

Image maker of the state police command, ASP Altine Daniel, confirmed the Friday incident to Saturday Tribune, but said she was on her way to Mubi with the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Adenrele Shinaba, as of the time she was contacted on the telephone.

The sect members also reportedly attacked a church in Gombe, Gombe State, on Thursday, killing at least six people, said the church’s pastor, Johnson Jauro.

Jauro said the killings took place when gunmen burst into his Deeper Life Church in the city.

He said his wife was among those killed. Ten other people were injured.

“The attackers started shooting sporadically. They shot through the window of the church, and many people were killed, including my wife,” Mr. Jauro said.

According to him, “many members who attended the church service were also injured.”

In another development, irate youths, in Sapele, Delta State, on Friday, attacked an Hausa community, injuring about 50 people.

It was alleged that the action was in retaliation of the attacks on Southerners living in the North by the Boko Haram.

The youths, numbering about 2,000, reportedly stormed the community where bomb explosions were recorded in December 2011, as early as 7.00 a.m. with weapons and chased the dwellers who ran in different directions.

Those who were injured in the attack are said to be receiving treatment in different hospitals after they were rescued by security agents who arrived at the scene after a distress call by the leaders of the community.

Saturday Tribune learnt that a timely deployment of soldiers and policemen in the area prevented the youths from burning the two mosques in the area, as they were said to be carrying substances suspected to be gasoline and matches.

The development was said to have caused traffic jam in the area, even as shops  and commercial banks located along Hausa Road, Urhobo Road, Market Road, Cemetry Road, Palm Avenue and Yoruba Road hurriedly closed for fear of vandalisation.

The youths marched with weapons like cutlasses, axes and knives, causing panic among the people.

Head teacher of the Children Muslim school in the area, Mallam Abdul Rasaq, confirmed that over 50 men and women sustained injuries and have been admitted to various hospitals within and outside Sapele. He said some people have relocated to a safe place in the meantime.

Secretary of a Muslim media group in Sapele, Sadiq Oniyesaneyene Musa, told journalists that: “We are disturbed by this attack and the threat that Muslims in Sapele should return to the North. I am a Muslim and an Itsekiri from Delta State, where do they want me to go. This is my home.”

Musa said the youths injured a lot of faithful.

“We called the director of the State Security Service (SSS), Asaba and the Area Commander and they responded. The Joint Task Force (JTF) in the Niger-Delta also deployed soldiers to take care of the situation,” he said.

The Chief Imam of Sapele Central Mosque, Alhaji Mohammed Usman, condemned the attack.

As of 10.00 a.m. when Saturday Tribune visited the scene, the two mosques, which were locked up were being guarded by security men.

A victim, Mallam Isa Yakubu, said cash and other items were stolen during the attack.

Two people suspected to have participated in the onslaught were, however, arrested by the police.

Delta State police spokesman, Charles Muka, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), confirmed the incident, but said it was the handiwork of hoodlums who wanted to cause confusion in order to loot.

“As I speak to you, normalcy has been restored in Sapele. Policemen are patrolling the affected area to ensure that there is peace and security.”

In a related development, no fewer than 30 people, mainly Northerners, were killed, on Friday, in Okene, Kogi State, after the articulated vehicle carrying them  ran into a gully.

It was gathered that many others sustained injuries in the accident.

Saturday Tribune gathered that the people were travelling from Onitsha, Anambra State and were heading for the North when the trailer conveying them lost control as a result of a brake failure.

A witness said the accident occurred at about 9.00 a.m. at a curve at Obangede Junction, near a police station at Ogaminana, in Adavi Local Government Area.

The policemen on duty and men of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) helped the injured to the hospital in Okene, while the dead were evacuated to Obangede Specialist Hospital mortuary.

It was gathered that the passengers were heading back home as a result of the security problem in the country.

-Tribune

By Haruna Manu Isah, Kaduna, Nigeria – October 27, 2011 - “ The two great challenges of the 21^st century, fighting world poverty and tackling climate change, must be tackled as an integrated whole by a united world”…Nicholas Stern(2009

The 8^th National Council on Environment (NCE) conference took place on the 26^th -28^th September 2011 at the yar’adua indoor sports Hall, kaduna. The theme of this year’s NCE’s meeting was ‘Transforming the Nigerian Environment’. This theme couldn’t have been more apt. The annual event wasn’t immune from the sluggishness typical of a program being organized by a government agency. As someone rightly observed that programs must be delayed especially if a Minister was being expected. Despite the initial hiccups due to ‘African’ culture of not keeping to time, but the four day event did take place at the end of the day, and it proved to be worthwhile. The event, the National Council of Environment meeting ought to be an annual ritual, but as the minister rightly lamented that the 7^th meeting took place somewhere in Enugu in 2007 and four years later the 8^th was just being held in the premier city of Kaduna. This goes to show to a large extent how inconsistent things are in Nigeria. It is by default, a gathering of all juggernauts of the Environment sector to brainstorm across board issues that are germane to the Nigerian state of environment. Heads of state Environment Ministries, Agencies, the private sector, Academia, development partners and MDAs relevant to the sector were all in attendance with a view to transforming the Nigerian Environmental landscape, being the theme.  Indeed, it was a feast of reasons as scholars and resource persons took their turn to dissect issues ranging from climate change, drought and Desertification, erosion and flooding, EIA, pollution and environmental health, among others.

     As a participant, yours sincerely agreed largely with papers presented and summations therein, like the need for concerted efforts to mitigate the negative effects of climate change which is today a reality. One equally agreed with the dangers of environmental pollution, drought and desertification and deforestation etc. There is also a total understanding about the magnitude of flood and erosion, but I differ, though tangentially with the way to go about it.

The report of the technical session indicates that there is hardly any state in the country that does not have one form of flood or erosion problem or the other. About two-third of the 36 states presented memos on one flood disaster or the other and hence the report states…. ”the concerted effort of the affected state governments to combat flood/erosion in their state capitals and other towns in which despite huge amount of money spent, the problem has remained unsolved” .In view of this the council urges “federal government to as a matter of urgency  intervene in solving flood and erosion problems in those affected states as presented….”. To state a fact that was only observable at the venue of the meeting, the stakeholders most especially the government functionaries present seemed not to have appreciated the catastrophic effects of flood and erosion in the country, hence the display of unparallel disinterest in issues of flood and erosion control/management.

 A glimpse through the speech of the Honorable minister of Environment, Hajia Hadiza Mailafiya, one can only appreciate a single effort of the ministry towards addressing the hydra-headed problem of erosion and flooding in the country.  The minister states “the ministry has recently established Flood Early Warning System (FEWS), which is a web-based system for the forecast of possible devastating flood event in the country”. The minister further states that “it has also installed Automated Flood Early Warning Equipment in Ogun-Osun river basin”. And in the area of erosion control, contracts have probably been given to reclaim land destroyed by erosion in states like Adamawa,Bauchi, Anambra, imo, jigawa ogun and kwara . The fact is, flood and erosion control can’t wait until FEWS is installed across the 36 states because of so many reasons. Flood and erosion control devoid of public participation will not be sustainable even with FEWS equipment in place. This has been the bane of erosion control projects in the country. And true, nobody tabled this component for deliberation throughout the conference and did not even feature in the technical reports.

To begin with, a flood is described as an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land that naturally not covered by water. The country has faced so many flood related hazards largely due to increase rain in recent time and under-utilization of dams in some parts of the country. In 1999, about 300,000 people were displaced by flood in Niger state, and an estimated 39 people lost their lives due to flood disaster that ravaged hundredths communities and villages. Crops and animals worth millions of Naira were destroyed. The first of its kind in thirty years! And just last year, 2010, about 2 million people, half of the population of jigawa state were displaced when authorities at Tiga and challawa dams opened floodgates of these two dams from the neighboring state of kano. And 5000 villages were dangerously affected by that flood, with about 88 square kilometers of farmlands were submerged. In Ibadan, a distance of about 150 kilometers from the city waiting to be submerged (lagos), 102 people lost their lives when flood, resulting from heavy rain damaged three bridges and caused a dam to overflow submerging buildings across the city. And estimated 200 people were displaced sometime in August this year.  As I write this piece, 10 people died and 25,000 displaced in Imo state as a result of flooding.

It is worth mentioning that the physical damage caused by flooding in the country cannot be quantified and ranges from structures, bridges, cars, sewerage systems, road ways, canals and the lost of human and animal lives. Equally, the contamination of drinking water as it becomes scarce. The economic impacts of flooding in recent times are also enormous. These include the cost of rebuilding structures, food shortage, cost of resettling displaced persons etc. it is the strict implementation of extant laws on urban planning with active participation of the local people would go a long way to check flooding in the country. These huge losses of lives and properties can’t wait!

 Now, erosion is seen as the mechanical process through which materials are removed from the region of the Earth’s surface. It can be caused by water, wind, ice and gravity. This ranges from gully, sheet or rill erosion. It is established that soil erosions (both coastal and inland) have devastating effect in all parts of the country. It is indeed the worst form of land degradation facing us at the moment.  And Records available show that, there are over 200 active gully erosion sites across the length and breath of the country, with 505 of them located in south East Nigeria, especially, in Abia and Anambra states.

The bottom line as I negotiate the sharp bend of conclusion is the public participation component in the design and execution of projects related to flood prevention and erosion control is at best at its nadir. The federal ministry of Environment and its sister agencies at the states level have not imbibed the spirit and letters of public involvement in flood and erosion control management. Profiling of areas prone to erosion and flooding is ought to be done and table such for discussion with the communities for sustainable solutions to be arrived at. There is seeming inertia, for these agencies of government still operate on the top-down approach to project conception, planning and execution which is now archaic and has been discovered to be un-sustainable. The era in which a Director or any government official would sit in the office and conjure the problems of the people and at the same time design solutions is no longer tenable. Hence stakeholders in the environment sector need to come to grips with these hard facts of planning realities. There shall be continued huge expenditure on erosion and flood control without any sustainable success, if the public who are the primary victims/beneficiaries are not involved. It is observed throughout the world that the involvement of the public or benefiting communities help in checkmating corruption and unnecessary leakages. It equally gives room for the discovery of indigenous techniques and local resources would be utilized.

 These are some reasons why flood and erosion prevention, control and management can’t wait for the installation of what the ministries called Flood Early Warning System (FEWS) across the 36 states, for there are other innovative ways of tackling the twin problems of flood and erosion in the country. These are direct impacts of climate change.

Haruna Manu Isah

Environmentalist with,

Al-Mustapha Consulting Limited

U.B.A Building,Tudun Wada

Kaduna

Email; harunamanu@ymail.com      

By Haruna Manu Isah, Kaduna, Nigeria – October 16, 2011 -

 With the risk of sounding pessimistic, this air of doubts began to disappear and fizzle away with ferocious speed immediately our revered president Jonathan assumed the mantle of leadership, first as acting president and more so as substantive president on May 29 2011. What triggered this seeming pessimism hinges from the nepotistic appointment of the president’s kinsman as the National Security Adviser, to the defense, by the president himself, of MEND’S dastardly bombing at the eagle square on the October 1^st 2010. Equally, how can one eschew such pessimistic thoughts when even the DG SSS’s single qualification is the fact that he is from Niger Delta, and that the Chief of Army Staff’s additional qualification is that he is married to the cousin of the first lady. Thanks to Dr Junaid Mohammed in his most revealing interview in The Sun newspaper of October 9, 2011.

Now, the president grandstanding on his proposed single term of six or seven years did not appear to most Nigerians as product of cogent thoughts. One begin to wonder, how can a president of a country, described most appropriately as a sleeping giant, bedeviled by so many security challenges, infrastructural decay, systemic corruption and disregard for law and order be advocating for a additional single term barely less 100 days into the office?. But let’s be charitable to this administration. Agreed, that most of these problems did not start during the life of this government, but that is what leadership is all about. A leader inherits national problems and device solutions to them. A leader does not shift blames! A leader must know the challenges before him and find ways of circumventing them without compromising the current needs of the peoples he rules over. This most definitely needs a lot of political will, which is obviously in short supply in the present crop of leaders from the bottom to the top. Sadly, this more than anything else makes a big nonsense of the administration quest for transformation.

Look, if the recent media reports are anything to go by, then, one can safely ask on whether Goodluck Jonathan is truly a president of Niger Delta or a president of Federal Republic of Nigeria?.  As reported in the Daily Trust of 10 October, 2011 that about 86% of Federal Government projects from March to August 2011, were allocated in spatial terms to the Niger Delta region, home to our duly elected president. These 86% of FG projects represent about N760billion. This, one can  equally conclude that excludes huge sums of money being spent in the training and empowerment of Niger Delta militants and  not so-militants alike , in Nigeria and abroad, while other equally restive and jobless youth in other parts of the country watch mouths agape. And a cross check indicates that about 75% are being trained abroad. These are probably sacred apples of our time!  

A close look at this 86%  of FG projects allocated to the Niger Delta  shows that the Ministry of Niger Delta got 28 projects at the total sum of N408 billion, and as the name implies, is strictly for the Niger Delta region. The Ministry of Niger Delta was first conceived by Atiku Abubakar in his manifesto in an attempt to participate in a presidential contest in 2007, but was actualized by the late President Yar’adua because of the need to ensure fairness in governance, which is lacking in today’s leadership of the country.  Equally the Ministry of Power got N333 billion to execute projects in the region just as the Niger Delta Development Commission received the sum  N23.7 billion to execute 10 projects in the same region.

   This is not the crux of the matter. The entire 19 Northern states were reluctantly given N16.4 billion worth of projects and more disappointingly, the entire 6 states of North central geo-political zone received zero allocation of projects from March to August, 2011. Or so the reports said!. In view of these scary developments, yours sincerely was forced, for the first time to check the records of votes scored by the PDP in the six states of the North central zone during the last April polls. According to the records, in the entire North central geo-political zone, PDP, under whose platform Goodluck/Sambo contested, had its least scores only from Niger state with 31.54% of the total valid votes cast. In kwara state, the PDP scored 64.68%,Kogi, 71.17%, Benue,66.31%,Nasarawa, 58.89% and in Plateau state, the Goodluck/Sambo ticket garnered 72.98%. Yet this zone that featured prominently in the PDP score card in the last presidential election could not get even a mere mention in the projects distribution card of the president. Although, charity as the saying goes starts at home anyway!.

     Well, being not too good at arithmetic, but it can be discerned that the entire projects were shared  on the bases of 43:7, skewed in favor of Niger Delta while the rest of the country is left in doldrums in terms of projects allocation and execution.  Fair enough!! If truth be told, this level of favoritism has never been displayed in the 51 years of our political independence by any Nigerian leader. I stand to be corrected!!!. Even though, one must agree with Rev. Mathew Kukah, that Nigeria has always been ruled largely by unprepared leaders. This glaring and choking favoritism occurred in less than six months and I am cocksure is being replicated in other sectors of our national economy. Whether Reuben Abatis of this world agree or not!!

 Indeed, typical of media Assistant, the special assistant to the president on media and publicity rushed to the rescue and called the entire report bunkum. Dr Reuben Abati did not dispute the fact that there was 86% FG allocation to the president’s zone, but only went ahead to justify it. He argued that all the projects allocated were indeed approved by the late president Ya’adua. One may recall that when the most dreaded single term proposal came up, the presidency attributed it to the late president Yar’adua simply because he is dead!. Poor Ya’adua!!. But nobody care to tell us why the dredging of the river Niger was put to a hold, a project equally started by the late president?. Is okay to lied to the dead anyway, in this clime.  Reuben Abati further states thus; ‘In furtherance of its unjustifiable attacks on the Jonathan’s administration, Daily Trust falsely claim that no project was assigned to the North central geo-political zone…….”.  He concludes that ‘currently the North central geo-political zone has on going federal government projects valued at one trillion naira”. This writer cannot hold brief for the paper for it has the much needed competency to do so by itself, but one can only ask a very innocuous question; where are these projects located in the North central geo-political zone?. The media aide did not tell us that, so that we can verify such claims and subsequently give the government the much needed credit.

Now on a more worrisome note, this country cannot go anywhere an inch, if developmental projects are distributed by a president wearing regional lenses. The president needs a new set of handlers to re-focus, re-engineer, rebrand and repackage the administration, so as to face the herculean task of nation building. To keep Nigeria one is a task that must be done!

Haruna Manu Isah

Al-Mustapha Consulting Limited.

U.B.A Building, Tudun wada

Kaduna.

E-mail; harunamanu@ymail.com

A cursory look at the mandates of the Fund revealed that the Fund shall utilize its resource for the following major purposes

(a)    To provide scholarship and bursaries wholly or partially in the universities, colleges, and institutions in Nigeria and abroad.

(b)   To maintain, supplement or subsidize such training or education  as mentioned above;

(c)    To make suitable endowments to faculties in Nigerian Universities, colleges or institution as approved by the minister.

(d)   To make available suitable books and training equipment in the institutions aforementioned.

(e)    For sponsoring regular or as necessary visits to the oil fields, refineries, petrochemical plants, and for arranging any necessary attachment of personnel to establishment connected with the development of the oil and gas industry; and

(f)     For financing of and participation in seminars and conference which are connected with the oil and gas industry in Nigeria and Abroad.

Now, this writer being not a politician is not interested in any way in the political rigmarole that entangled the Fund in the past few years since its transfer to the presidency from its desk status at the Department of Petroleum Resource in the year 2000. But the central focus of this write up is to make a case for oil producing communities having visited the area recently.  Also, to take a critical overview of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund in relation to the need to promote environmental sustainability in the oil producing communities. This becomes necessary because without sustainable environment for the oil exploration and exploitation to thrive on continuous bases, the Fund would one day outlive its usefulness for there would be nothing to explore and hence no need to train anybody for the environment must have collapse. Equally, without an environmental sustainability the dream of having a local content may as well be a pipe dream and therefore training of indigenous expert would as well be an exercise in futility.

        A close look at the mandates of the Fund may suggest that its focal interest is sustainability of oil exploration and exploitation with obviously little or no reference to the environmental sustainability of the host communities. Can the Fund continue to take a passing interest in the environmental sustainability of the host communities and still remain relevant? Can the Fund continue to build the superstructure if the substructure is threateningly weak?  Is there no need for backward linkages between the Fund and the oil producing communities of the Niger Delta?

        To begin with, there are about nine oil producing states (Edo, Ondo, Delta,Imo, Abia, Rivers,Akwa ibom, Cross River and Bayelsa states.),  and are mostly located in the Niger Delta region of the country. The Delta covers about 20,000kmsq within wetland of 70,000kmsq formed primarily by sediment deposition. It is also home to some 20 million people and 40 different ethnic groups. These floodplains are estimated to make up about 7.5% of Nigeria’s total land mass. It is also reported to be the largest wetland and maintains the third largest drainage basin in Africa. This well-endowed ecosystem contains one of the highest concentrations of biodiversity on the planet and equally supporting abundant flora and fauna, arable terrain that can as well sustain a wide variety of crops (lumbering), or agricultural tress and more species of freshwater fish than any other ecosystem in West Africa. But sadly, it is estimated that the Niger Delta region would experience a lost of about 40% of its inhabitable terrain in the next thirty years largely due to carelessness of the oil industry. With this geometrical environmental devastation, the region would loose about 80% of its natural terrain by 2050.

        To further understand this glum picture, the country has a total of 159 oil fields and 1481 wells in operation according to a recent release by the NNPC. And the Niger Delta region is a home to about 78 of the 159 oil fields. To appreciate the significance of these to the Nigerian state, it is of cardinal importance to state here that as at 2000, oil and gas exports accounted for more than 98% of export earnings and about 83% of federal government revenue, as well as generating more than 40 of its GDP.  The country is estimated to have 35.3 billion barrels of oil reserve as at today.

By virtue of its geographical location and endowments, this region is today by far the most endangered zone in the world. This is simply because what supposed to be a blessing has turned out to be its own major albatross and predisposing the country to unwanted political stress and strains. In a recent report the BBC World Service averred that the Delta is the world global capital of oil pollution. It is estimated that about 300 oil spills are being recorded every year in the Niger Delta. Equally according to Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) an estimated 1.89 million barrels of petroleum were spilled into the Niger Delta in 1976 to 1996 out of a total of 2.4 million barrels spilled in 4835 incidents and largely due to sabotage. And as at 2000, the country recorded more than 7000 spills. This has caused large scale displacement and dislocation of families and local communities in the Niger Delta. Fishing and farming which have been the major occupations of the locals are now rendered useless due to environmental degradation. For example, it is reported that Ogoniland could take about 30 years to fully regain from the damage caused by years of oil spills. Communities are faced with a severe health risk with some families’ drinking water with high levels of carcinogens. These environmental impacts are so enormous. Well, if the negative environmental impacts are not compelling enough for the PTDF to engage in backward integration with the local communities, then the social impacts would. The Niger Delta communities have remained grossly socio-economically underdeveloped and pauperized amidst the immense oil wealth due to systemic dis-equilibrium coupled with unbridled corruption by the leaders of the Niger Delta. This has forced the peasants to make demands for social services from the oil companies than they can make from their leaders and the Nigerian state. This has more often than not led to conflicts and kidnapping of expatriates working for the oil companies. This equally led to the unwholesome call for resource control which some of us don’t see any scientific correlation to what is happening with this rather political grandstanding.

          Indeed, this writer supports the remittance of derivations from oil revenue to primary oil producing communities, but not to state governments as currently being the case. This is simply because ownership of oil resource belongs neither to state governments nor to the communities, but the communities are primary victims of the oil exploration activities. The communities can therefore only claim damages due to exploration which this article is making a case for. The communities are stakeholders just like the U.S which buys about 40% of the exported oil. The ownership of natural deposits are Divined just like the air we breathe. And being citizens of the world we are all stakeholders. The sustainability of the Niger Delta environment would have cumulative positive impacts to not only the people of the region but also other stakeholders and even the micro organisms beneath the soil who are equally stakeholders.

      Finally, there is apparently some oasis of hope for the people of the oil producing communities since the ascension of office of the current ES/CEO of the Fund, Engr. Muttaqha Darma. This can be ascertained by his quick implementation of some strategic projects and progammes in the oil producing communities like the completion of Federal Technical Institute, Bonny in River State, and equally, the establishment of primary and secondary schools at Oporaza and Okeronkoko communities in Delta state. These are projects geared toward social sustainability of the areas, but what about the environmental sustainability projects?  This should be based on the peculiar needs of the locals whose farming and fishing activities have been dislocated.

Haruna Manu Isah

Environmentalist, with,

Al-Mustapha consulting Limited,

U.B.A Building, Tudun Wada

Kaduna.

harunamanu@ymail.com