THE NIGER DELTA TOWN HALL MEETING IN LONDON

Below are some threats discovered by the Niger Delta Youth Association

Engr. Ibinabo Bob-Manuel is passionate about the environment of the Niger Delta. She is the current Chairlady of Niger Delta youth Association for United State chapter, and a Cyber Security Analyst, and currently a postgraduate research student on Cyber-Economics and Incentives. Her desire is to make the internet safe and the environment smart for everybody. According to her, as oil spills continue devastating the Niger Delta region, she lists four impacts of environmental degradation in the Niger Delta. The paper was presented during the Conference held in London on the 3rd of July 2016 by the President of the Niger Delta Youth Association Worldwide, Comrade Victor James, in collaboration with Niger Delta Self-Determination Movement, Ijaw Youth Congress and other groups in the region.

  •  Negative Impact On human Health
    Air pollution (e.g. gas flaring and other toxic air pollutants) causes asthma, pneumonia, and other respiratory diseases. Many people in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria have died over the five (5) decades due to the effects of air pollution, and yet the region is without adequate health care facilities.
  • Loss Of Biodiversity
    Biodiversity helps to maintain the balance of the ecosystem by restoring soil nutrients, protecting water sources, and stabilising the climate. Since there is little or no biodiversity in the region, the waters have become undrinkable, and marine life is progressively getting extinct. This is one of the reasons why the Niger Delta is currently experiencing the impact of global warming, and climate change.
  •  Loss of Tourism Industry
    The Niger Delta region used to be the hub of tourism in Nigeria until recently. The change is as a result of the deterioration of the environment. Consequently, the Niger Delta region has also lost valuable foreign exchange that could have accrued to the states from tourism.
  • Economic Impact
    The cost of cleaning up oil spillage, and stopping of gas flaring is usually high. In most cases, the clean-up period could exceed a decade, and it is very capital intensive. These have negative impacts on the economy of the Niger Delta.
    Pollution, including noise pollution, brings about the degradation of the environment as a result of the activities of oil and gas companies. It is interesting to note that the Niger Delta region provides 70% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Nigeria, and yet, the people live with severe ecological problems and suffer the impact of the degradation of their environment.
    At this juncture, it is pertinent to suggest that the Federal Government of Nigeria, in collaboration with the oil and gas exploration and production companies, as well as key stakeholders, particularly the host communities in the Niger Delta, should come together, and find a way forward on how these environmental risks should be mitigated, as well as provide a better lease of life for the people of the Niger Delta. Effective actions are also needed to provide appropriate environmental education to the local communities in order to help safeguard their environment for future generations.

Congratualtions

We heartily congratulate the Minister for Environment Mrs Amina Muhammed on her recent appointment as the Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations to assist in fostering good governance, human rights and democracy, global peace and security.

This is a great news for Nigeria and the world particularly the Niger Delta as it will build more confidence in the youths with regards to the ‘Ogoni Clean Up Operation’ which was occasioned by the UNEP Report following massive pollution in Ogoni Land and other parts of the Niger Delta.

The President Comrade Victor James in an emergency meeting in London, broke the news to the attendees and there was a wide mood of happiness as they consider the appointment to be well deserved. The Niger Delta Youth Association (NDYA) World Wide has carried out massive consultation amongst Niger Delta Youths in relation to the Ogoni Clean Up which many have already concluded it is a scam due to inaction on the part of the Federal Government led by the Federal Ministry of Justice but with this development, hope is kept alive.

We believe that the United Nations will now focus its attention on the Ogoni Clean Up and also the clean up of other parts of the Niger Delta and expedite action on same through the Minister for Environment therefore this appointment is a huge welcome development and a ray of hope for the Region. It is worth celebration even as we look forward to meet in a round table discussion with the Hon Minister for Environment on the way forward. We pray God will continue to bless and empower You Ma’am on Your well deserved appointment.

Neglect of the people

The people of Niger Delta are suffering bitterly from lack of development of infrastructural facilities and ecosystem. My people deserve better treatment. In fact, there should be economic and social welfare for all Niger Deltans.

If you look around the region, you will see so many abandoned development projects by federal government contractors, state contractors and Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) contractors.

Are we sure these contractors are Nigerians? Because they are enemies of the development of Niger Delta and those in authority should detain them. They ain’t above the law.

A wake-up call by Niger Delta Youth Association worldwide

An influential body in the region, well known for advocating for human rights, accountability and development in Niger Delta.
In a statement by the founder and national president comrade Victor James with BBC in London and the chairman for United Kingdom chapter, comrade Eme Praise and some officials from United Nation.

Comrade Victor said, “It is becoming worrisome that most Nigerian voters have no idea of who they are voting for during elections. It seems as the votes follow the money men, this level of ignorance and behaviour is perpetuating and enabling the old men in politics.

He pointed out that, “These old men, are the creators and enablers of our corrupt system. I am not an ageist, I am an activist and I owe nobody loyalty. To make progress and end this cycle of disappointment facing our people, we need to make way for the new generation, time to give the young blood a chance.

“The only thing I care about is development of Niger Delta and for every Nigerian to live like the people of Kuwait. As for our Nigerian youth, am really not impressed, less a few exceptions, Nigerian youths are embracing and enslaving themselves freely to these old men in politics. They should believe that they hold the key and solutions instead of standing for president, governor, Senator etc, the would rather take cash from them.
What is this nonsense about wanting to be afrobeat stars, rappers, pop stars, we have work to do my brothers. Think of how to run the politics of your country, and if you genuinely talented, use these mediums to promote the cause!!! Tell the old people in politics that 70 percent of Nigerian population is youth and that they should sponsor you to be governor or president. That the entire nation is tired of grandfathers running the country.”

Niger Delta Environmental Degradation Need Urgent Attention.

Human rights, morality and service to humanity have become extinct in politics of Nigeria. The effects of environmental degradation have killed millions of Niger Deltans since the discovery of Crude oil!!!. A politician may cause evil to citizens not only by his actions but by his inaction and in either case he is justly accountable to them for the injury. If citizen does an act hurtful to others, there is a prima facie case for punishing him, by law, or where legal penalties are not safely applicable, by general-disapprobation. As I speak, there is Portharcourt environmental pollution plaguing her citizens (black soot) and nothing has been done. I expected the state and federal government to join forces to proffer solutions because it fall into human rights issues. I remember how Ebola was contained by Amaechi and Jonathan and I commend them for that. Let’s adopt the ideology of Utilitarianism by Stuart Mill as he once said that the will of the people, practically means the will of the most numerous or the most active part of the people; the majority … and precautions are as much needed against this as against any other abuse of
power. The tyranny of the majority’ is now generally included among the evils against which society requires to be on its guard. There needs protection … against the tyranny of the prevailing opinion and feeling; against the tendency of society to impose, by other means than civil penalties, its own ideas and practices as rules of conduct on those who dissent from them. There is … no recognised principle by which the propriety or impropriety of government interference is customarily tested. The interference of government is, with about equal frequency, improperly invoked and improper condemned.

I call on international communities to safeguard my people and God bless Nigeria.
Niger Delta Youth Association Worldwide.

NO LOVE IN NIGER DELTA

In an opinion in UK, he stated that, ”truly speaking Niger Deltans do not love themselves. I sometimes smell jealousy & competitions among our brethren. I am starting to think slave trade was very prevalent in my region. In 2007, Madam Theresa Noghanyin was assassinated by suspected gunmen who reportedly trailed her to her residence in Benin Edo state. Despicable!! she is the mother of Netherlands-based Nigerian environmental right activist, comrade Comrade Sunny Ofehe. Report had it that the incident happened at a time Comrade Ofehe had rose to become a foremost international campaigner against the ‘big oil firms’ like Dutch- owned oil giants, Shell International and American oil major, Chevron’s ‘economic war’ on the delta environment. Ofehe who loathed kidnapping, militancy, piracy and illegal oil theft popularly known as crude oil bunkering in local parlance was renowned for his crusade against environmental injustice in the delta.

He was famous for raising awareness on nefarious activities of oil companies, documenting acts of sabotage to pipelines by oil thieves, to the peace-preaching visit he made to the camp of outlawed Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND). On the 4th May, 2014, he was Kidnapped alongside four other Dutch nationals by gunmen in the Dodo River in Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa state which seriously traumatized him and had prevented him from going ahead with his mum’s funeral plans. In 2015, when Ofehe was traveling to Benin after he arrived Nigeria to make arrangement for the burial rite that year, some over zealot officials of the State Security Service, SSS arrested and detained him over claims that he have been on a ‘watch list’ of the security agency ostensibly because of his strong advocacy about the underdevelopment and degradation of the Niger Delta at the international community. Finally, The funeral is scheduled to hold February 25th, 2017, in Benin, Edo State. Please be there!!!!!

On the 14th of February 2017, a renowned Niger Delta activist ‘Annkio Briggs’ during an unarmed protest was assaulted. Speaking with British Member of parliament yesterday I stated it clear that “an attack on activist is a calculated attempt to silence the voice of the people. Under which democracy do you abuse an activist, no matter the political interest or reasons behind it. Freedom of speech is placed in a very high esteem in a civilised society. I had further stated that for the sake of peace the governor owes Annkio Briggs an apology, she is Dickson’s Ijaw sister I never expect such from our brothers. I love every Niger Deltans and I am building ‘love’ foundation for our youth. Because without love there is no quality governance and this is why there are so many abandoned projects in Niger Delta. NDDC should create a watchdogs that will check balance contractors. Love your people. Afterall, Barrister Smooth said, ‘Do for me’.”

Power struggle in Nigeria politics

Power comes with evil in contemporary politics of Nigeria. The taste of power have led to the death of millions of Nigerian in the last decades. The term Authority is often used for power perceived as legitimate by the social structure. Power can be seen as evil or unjust, but the exercise of power is accepted as endemic to humans as social beings. However, Machiavelli did not believe in pursuing evil for evil’s sake, rather when the only way to keep power is to act evilly, one must. Good and evil are equal in the contest for power.
So what circumstances call for a moral actions in our modern Nigeria?? In reference to the work of Henry Kissinger, “There are some situations in which the more the survival is threatened the narrower the margin of choice becomes, unless you say you would rather have your society destroyed than to pursue marginal means.” Are there such threatening situations in the modern world that it is necessary to resort to marginal means? Henry Kissinger has been called the greatest diplomat of our time. He recognized the need for separation of morals from the power struggle; the irrelevance of morality in politics. Again Religion, Ethnicity should park well for the betterment of Nigeria.

NO RULE OF LAW IN NIGERIA

I have looked across Nigeria, there are no such thing as rule of law. Perhaps our politicians do not know what it means, where the term emanate from. Rule of law is very essential for the survival of democracy. Rule of Law: A Necessary Accompaniment for Democracy.
The use of arbitrary power is anathema to the rule of law. In democracies, constitutional limits on power require the subjugation of state authority to a country’s laws as established through popular consent and adopted by the people’s representatives as determined in free elections. This is the meaning of the oft- cited phrase “a government of laws, and not of men” (it was originally used in the Constitution of Massachusetts, drafted by John Adams). Under such a system, the rule of law should be supreme to the capricious authority of any individual. The rule of law is the supreme check on political power used against people’s rights. Without the regulation of state power by a system of laws, procedures, and courts, democracy could not survive. And just as the rule of law protects the majority from arbitrary power and tyranny, it must also protect the minority from arbitrary power and the “tyranny of the majority.

In United Kingdom, Albert Venn Dicey is well recognized in this school of thought. He described the rule of law as acting in three ways: ‘the predominance of regular law as opposed to the influence of arbitrary power; equality before the law; and, that constitutional laws are not the source but the consequence of the rights of individuals’.

Without the rule of law, there is likely to be either a dictatorship or mob rule. Some revolutionary thinkers have extolled mob rule, or anarchism, as the highest form of political and social justice. In reality, mob rule has meant violence and political chaos; indeed, it creates the very conditions that give rise to dictatorship, the exercise of arbitrary power, and the wholesale denial of individual rights. It takes a great man to fix this problem in Nigeria and I have looked in, I cant see anyone, so the only option is our youth.

The side you dont see – Niger delta political view

Two weeks ago I discussed about the separation of religion & ethnicity from politics of Nigeria as to enable equity and the rule of law cum development. However, to permit justice, environmentalism and development for the people of Niger Delta, there should be ‘Stabilization Clauses’ by the I.O.C (International Oil Companies). A clause often included in a host government agreement (HGA) or other international investment agreement that addresses how changes in law following the execution of the HGA are to be treated and the extent to which these changes modify the rights and obligations of the foreign investors under the HGA. A stabilization clause is a means for foreign investors to mitigate or manage the political risks associated with their project.

Yes, I repeat, I trust nobody within the current politics of Nigeria. Our politicians in Niger Delta and federal government are having a side deal with the IOC and pretending as if they care for the common man in Niger Delta. The youth across Niger Delta should wake up and stop allowing PDP and APC to blind nor con trick them. We need a well packaged sound mind, that shall not be perceived as tout nor hooligans to shift the current paradigm of power which I do refers to as oligarchy system governance made up of old godfather-ism. It is time for our youth to lead and nothing will stop us but we desperately need unity and love to kick them out.
God Bless Niger Delta and Nigeria.