A Nigerian NGO and its good works. (Part 3)

With the vastness of the Niger Delta — 187 local government areas, more than 40 different ethnic groups and 250 languages and dialects among them, about 28 million peoples, 12 per cent of Nigeria’s surface area, 13,329 settlements, with only 98 being urban centres, long coastlines and environments that are devastated; you will no doubt agree with RAWDP that to accomplish its mission is a huge challenge.

RAWDP is presently working in only 7 communities out of over 5,000 located in only 7 local government areas out of 187. This is really not enough hence underscoring the imperativeness of training and empowering the trainees and the communities to expand the water filter production within a record time.

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Ken Saro-Wiwa Resurrects

The prolonged struggle by the Ogonis was rewarded on Monday 8 September, when the Vice-President of Nigeria, Dr. Jonathan Goodluck inaugurated a 40 man Niger Delta Technical Committee headed by Ledum Mitee, the second in command to the murdered environmental activists Ken Saro-wiwa.

Mitee alongside Ken Saro-wiwa and other members of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), faced murder trial in 1995, while Mitee survived Abacha’s hangman, Saro-wiwa and nine others paid the supreme price for the emancipation of the farm lands of the Ogonis from Shell and a healthier, greener environment.

The Federal Government should go beyond allowing a MOSOP member to head the NDTC and grant presidential pardon to the murdered Ogoni activists and coupled it with executive apology to the families of the slain heroes and the peoples of Niger Delta.

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A Nigerian NGO and its good works. (Part 2)

In the NGO, Rural Africa Water Development Project (RAWDP), a baseline assessment/survey is often the first step towards a water, sanitation and hygiene improvement programme. It provides RAWDP a means of assessing the existing water and sanitation as well as the Hygiene situation of the target communities, and to understand why people do what they do and why the status quo subsists.

To make the assessment effective RAWDP uses suitable methods to investigate the existing situation within the community. Baseline information enable it to; Prioritize communities, or identify target audiences within a particular community for the promotion of its programmes; Providing the baseline for planning and measuring the success of the intervention .i.e. it need to know the proportion of people using each risky practice before its programme starts, so at a later stage it can measure this again to see if there has been a reduction; identifying the issues to be addressed, and the resources available or required for resolving them, and understanding the water and sanitation situation of a community and the issues surrounding those practices.

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Father Hassan Kukah Attacks Niger Delta Elites

The most politically visible Catholic Priest in the last decade, Father Hassan Matthew Kukah, has thrown his weight behind the 19 Northern State Governors who dropped the bomb that the North can survive without oil from the Niger Delta. This outburst by the Northern Governors was in response to an accusation by the leader of Niger Delta Volunteer Force, Asari Dokubo, that the North is parasitic and living off the oil and environmental degradation of the Niger Delta.

According to Father Kukah, who stirred the reconciliation between Ogoin and Shell, the problem of the Niger Delta, is their elite. Falling short of agreeing that the problem of Nigeria is class struggle, he thundered “I know enough political science to know that this nonsense about north and south does not exist”. In an interview with a national newspaper, Father Kukah said the good thing about abusing the north or abusing government is that it saves the elite of the Niger Delta the trouble of dealing with the problems they have created; the contradictions of their own inactivity and inefficiency. I hear people say, the road to my village is not okay or my people don’t have water. For goodness sake, people who have lived in Victoria Island, they have lived in all the comfort of Nigeria, in embassies abroad representing Nigeria, didn’t they know that people in their village don’t have water then? Suddenly at the age of 70 or 80 that people are wearing glasses that enable them to see the poverty of their people. Father Kukah wants the people not only the people of the Niger Delta to confront their leaders and ask them when they were ministers on federal character representing the people, what did they do for the people.

We at WWN agree with Father Kukah but cannot help pointing out that there is room for a renegade to be born again and champion the course of his people after purging himself of the betrayal. All we solicit the people of the Niger Delta and other oppressed peoples of all ethnic groups in Nigeria, is to see the crisis in Niger Delta as an intra-class struggle between the rich elite to reposition themselves in appropriation of the oil and continue the oppression of the working peoples, the fisherman, the hewers of wood and the poor Nigeria.

All oppressed peoples of Nigeria must unite; hold their leaders accountable while they are in office. Oppressed Nigerians should not wait till a thieving governor, a member of both State and National Assembly leave office before his name is dragged to the mud. Nigerians should be a vigilant watch dog and “attack” any representative of the people who is not representing the people.

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Arewa To Commence Oil Exploration

As a sequel to the position of the 19 Northern States governors that the region can survive without Niger Delta, the Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Engr. Abubakar Yar’Adua has revealed that NNPC will soon commence exploration in the North to ascertain if there is oil deposit in commercial quantity in the region. According to the GMD, the NNPC will use 3D seismic technology as against the 3D that was used in the Niger Delta. The GMD said that the 2D technology was prone to error and can only be used where the base rock is accessible.

The GMD made this disclosure while briefing newsmen on the activities of the NNPC over the past one year. It will be recalled that the GMD drew the ire of MEND when while testifying at a Senate Committee that the NNPC paid about 12 billion naira to the militants in the creeks of Niger Delta to secure oil pipelines.

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Nigerian Journalism : Thisday Newspaper, Tinubu, Fashola, and the Chagoury Tango.

The news that Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu the predecessor to Governor Fashola of Lagos State was hosted in Beirut by the cronies of late Gen. Sani Abacha, made front page in Thisday Newspaper after Thisday hosted her annual musical festival in Abuja. The report has it that using Hitech limited, the Chagoury are in control of over 60% of the total infrastructural development contracts in Lagos.

Since this news broke, the Lagos State government using The Nation Newspaper believed to be owned by Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu have engaged Thisday. It got to a ludicrous head when the Lagos State Governor returned the award given to him in February as the best Governor 2008 in infrastructural development.  Imo State Governor, Ikedi Ohakim also got the best governor in the environmental category. When these awards hit the airwave, my reaction was “why give 2008 award in the beginning of 2008?” More also why should a media house that ought to be a watch dog and an  Oliver Twist, be giving an award to governors whose elections as at that time were seriously challenged and the courts were yet to rule.

Arising from the bashing by Thisday’s negative report on Lagos State, the Lagos State governor answered my query. Those awards are Greek gift given to solicit adverts and other concessions from the recipients. This was evident with the deluge of state government adverts that flooded Thisday after the award.

Thisday newspaper is not the only Nigerian media outfit involved in this unethical reportage.  A newspaper led concurrently for three weeks with damning exposure of questionable award of pension by Gombe State House of Assembly to Governor Danjuma Goje. When adverts from Gombe State and friends of Gombe State started appearing in the pages of this newspaper and other newspapers, nothing was heard of the Goje pension saga.

This questionable journalism practice is also extended to corporate Nigeria. A GSM service provider gave tariff free lines to major columnists and editors. This Greek gift has ensured that this company does not get the truth about her reported. When any columnist or editor runs out of weekend cash, or money for staff salary, a not too favourable report is done, which is automatically followed by an advert or appearance on the cover of the weekend edition/centre page special report or pull out from the affected corporation or individual. This is how Nigerian media runs.

If not, why did Thisday report a story they have had in their shelf during the award ceremony, only to release it when they were denied right to host this year’s Thisday Music Festival in Lagos? The previous year’s was hosted in Lekki Lagos state.

Though this style of reporting common in Nigerian media is a shame, the issues raised by Thisday have not been addressed by Lagos State government. Was Hitech responsible for the Ijegun fire disaster? Has she and Lagos State government paid compensation to the family of those who lost their lives due to the negligence of Hitech?

Instead of following these leads and investigate the activities of the Chagoury during Abacha’s maximum dictatorship, another Nigerian newspaper has joined the fray. Nation Life in her Saturday August 16^th 2008 Edition in page 52 took an upper cut at Thisday publisher Mr. Nduka Obaigbena. This week’s report is part (2) of what must have started last week. The rider reads How Thisday Publisher got into trouble in South Africa. To show the cowardice of the paper, the by-line of the story is merely by Our Reporter. This alleged incident happening in 2004. The report went ahead to claim that the publisher of Thisday has gone to “beg” Mr. Albert, (Gilbert) the head of the Chagoury family. With a graphic description of the conversation, one would have expected Nation Life to reveal the name of Bank’s MD that made the visit with Mr. Nduka and the serial number of the N20 milion cheque that was bounced. In case the publishers of Nation Life do not know, giving a dud cheque is a financial crime worthy of EFCC intervention.

In other climes, media expositions of crimes have led to the collapse of multi-national corporations and the resignation of government officials. But the Nigerian journalist, for a port of cold portage throws objectivity to the winds and sees no need for adequate investigative journalism.    

  The Abacha Henchmen Chagourys Take Over Lagos story of Thisday, was signed off  thus “ This article is the first in Thisday series on state governments” Nigerians are sceptically waiting for the expose on other governors, provided they are also those that have been giving Thisday centre spread adverts.

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