May 30, 2010
For decades, the Niger Deltans have lived with the pains of oil spillage and environmental degradation with global headlines showing no interest in our plight because it is profit to the multinationals and the US/EU economies. Now the oil spill has happened in their backyard, there is so much noise. Well, our prayer in the Niger Delta is that there would not be a solution to the Gulf oil spill until the people in the area experience same pain and sorrow as we do in the Niger Delta.
For decades, the Niger Deltans have lived with the pains of oil spillage and environmental degradation with global headlines showing no interest in our plight because it is profit to the multinationals and the US/EU economies. Now the oil spill has happened in their backyard, there is so much noise. Well, our prayer in the Niger Delta is that there would not be a solution to the Gulf oil spill until the people in the area experience same pain and sorrow as we do in the Niger Delta.
Yeah, I do agree that the solution is not for others to suffer as the Niger Deltans but if that will bring into the limelight the issues and sufferings of the people of the area, so be it. Lip service attention has been paid to the cries of the people for years and this is attributed to corrupt leadership in Nigeria. None of our leaders has shown any seriousness in addressing the issues as the Obama administration has shown in the case of the Gulf oil spill. In Nigeria, we lack leadership...good and committed leadership but we are blessed with corrupt and unfocused dictators who steal money now for their unborn children's children and transfer same abroad for the western countries to develop their lands. UAE has now joined the league of such countries.
Between the 1970s and 1990s when political instability was an issue in Nigeria, reports had it that the multinationals were responsible for the instability as they finance the ousting of several governments threatening their interests through coups. These corporations are so strong, with the support of their governments in the US/EU, that they dictate the policies and structure of governance in Nigeria. While the same governments... US/EU..hypocritically clamour for democratic rule in the country, they sponsor the removal of democratically elected government through their corporations and implanted several military juntas in order to ensure the continued protection of their interests...oil, bauxite, diamond and transfer of ill-gotten wealth abroad. And this is the same in all developing countries.
In the 1990s during the military rule in Nigeria, a renowned environment activist and a Niger Deltan, Ken Saro Wiwa, was executed by the military junta of late General Sanni Abacha because Shell's interest in the region was threatened. For so many years, Shell has had a number of oil spills and leakages without attempting to clean or curtail the impact. These affected the economic and environmental situations of the region and the inhabitants. Men lost their sources of livelihood...farming and fishing, women and children could not move around because of the dangerous ashes released into the atmosphere by the consistent flaring of gas from exploration activities by Shell and co. Ken Saro Wiwa stood to fight for his people (the Niger Deltans) and several Shell oil installations were made to stop working. Shell’s turnover and profit budgets for the year were threatened and the international oil price went up. The multinationals and their governments in the US/EU were faced with rejection in their countries as their citizens could not stand the inflation and rising cost of living. The military junta was approached to get rid of Ken in return for juicy offers of bribes, acceptance at the UN and protection by these governments. Ken was arrested as a saboteur, a saboteur of the US/EU’s economies and not Nigeria’s, tried in a military tribunal and executed through firing squad, for the benefits of the multinationals (Shell, Exxon Mobil, Total, ChevronTexaco etc) and the people and government of US/EU. The trial and execution of Ken Saro Wiwa was a relief to the US/EU as oil price fell immediately. Neither the international news headline nor the international community showed interest in his killing as he was seen as a threat to their people's cost of living. Till today, Niger Deltans are still being killed in their thousands just to keep the oil price at its present level in the interests of multinationals and US/EU. The Niger Delta people are weak because the government has killed all their able men, the women are sick because they have inhaled poisonous fumes emanating from the gas flaring. The children cannot fight for their rights because they lack the financial ability to go to schools and are also medically unfit due to malnutrition. When are we going to be free, when are we going to stand to be counted as human beings in our lands? We are made to die for our inheritances; we are made to flee our land because of what God has endowed us with. The black gold has made the Niger Delta to become another biblical Babylon, a forsaken land. Are we ever going to experience true human rights as preached by The UN or is it meant for a particular race? When will our cries be hyped by the western newspapers and heralded by the civil right organizations in the US/EU. When will the multinationals and US/EU governments treat us equally as the people of other races when it has to do with the black gold?
O. Adebowale is a postgraduate student with the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.
Yeah, I do agree that the solution is not for others to suffer as the Niger Deltans but if that will bring into the limelight the issues and sufferings of the people of the area, so be it. Lip service attention has been paid to the cries of the people for years and this is attributed to corrupt leadership in Nigeria. None of our leaders has shown any seriousness in addressing the issues as the Obama administration has shown in the case of the Gulf oil spill. In Nigeria, we lack leadership...good and committed leadership but we are blessed with corrupt and unfocused dictators who steal money now for their unborn children's children and transfer same abroad for the western countries to develop their lands. UAE has now joined the league of such countries.
Between the 1970s and 1990s when political instability was an issue in Nigeria, reports had it that the multinationals were responsible for the instability as they finance the ousting of several governments threatening their interests through coups. These corporations are so strong, with the support of their governments in the US/EU, that they dictate the policies and structure of governance in Nigeria. While the same governments... US/EU..hypocritically clamour for democratic rule in the country, they sponsor the removal of democratically elected government through their corporations and implanted several military juntas in order to ensure the continued protection of their interests...oil, bauxite, diamond and transfer of ill-gotten wealth abroad. And this is the same in all developing countries.
In the 1990s during the military rule in Nigeria, a renowned environment activist and a Niger Deltan, Ken Saro Wiwa, was executed by the military junta of late General Sanni Abacha because Shell's interest in the region was threatened. For so many years, Shell has had a number of oil spills and leakages without attempting to clean or curtail the impact. These affected the economic and environmental situations of the region and the inhabitants. Men lost their sources of livelihood...farming and fishing, women and children could not move around because of the dangerous ashes released into the atmosphere by the consistent flaring of gas from exploration activities by Shell and co. Ken Saro Wiwa stood to fight for his people (the Niger Deltans) and several Shell oil installations were made to stop working. Shell’s turnover and profit budgets for the year were threatened and the international oil price went up. The multinationals and their governments in the US/EU were faced with rejection in their countries as their citizens could not stand the inflation and rising cost of living. The military junta was approached to get rid of Ken in return for juicy offers of bribes, acceptance at the UN and protection by these governments. Ken was arrested as a saboteur, a saboteur of the US/EU’s economies and not Nigeria’s, tried in a military tribunal and executed through firing squad, for the benefits of the multinationals (Shell, Exxon Mobil, Total, ChevronTexaco etc) and the people and government of US/EU. The trial and execution of Ken Saro Wiwa was a relief to the US/EU as oil price fell immediately. Neither the international news headline nor the international community showed interest in his killing as he was seen as a threat to their people's cost of living. Till today, Niger Deltans are still being killed in their thousands just to keep the oil price at its present level in the interests of multinationals and US/EU. The Niger Delta people are weak because the government has killed all their able men, the women are sick because they have inhaled poisonous fumes emanating from the gas flaring. The children cannot fight for their rights because they lack the financial ability to go to schools and are also medically unfit due to malnutrition. When are we going to be free, when are we going to stand to be counted as human beings in our lands? We are made to die for our inheritances; we are made to flee our land because of what God has endowed us with. The black gold has made the Niger Delta to become another biblical Babylon, a forsaken land. Are we ever going to experience true human rights as preached by The UN or is it meant for a particular race? When will our cries be hyped by the western newspapers and heralded by the civil right organizations in the US/EU. When will the multinationals and US/EU governments treat us equally as the people of other races when it has to do with the black gold?
O. Adebowale is a postgraduate student with the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.
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