Joachim Ezeji
West Africa consists of 17 countries, and measures 7,500,000 km2 with a population estimated at 250 million inhabitants. The region’s geography is characterized by the following two major entities; the Sahel comprising Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal and Chad, and the Gulf of Guinea consisting of Benin, Cote d'Ivoire , Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Togo. It is increasingly becoming manifest that West Africa is vulnerable to climate change and variability and this have been traced it some of its physical and social –economic characteristics, which predispose it in such a way as to be disproportionally affected by the adverse effects of climatic variations. One of such is the impacts of sea level rise. Oceans cover 70% of the Earth’s surface with an average depth of 3,800m. This huge mass of water (3 billion m3) traps heat and slowly releases it, thereby regulating the outside temperature. The Climate influences the marine ecosystem which in turn influences the climate. Discussing West Africa has become very urgent in view of the recent scientific meeting on Climate Change in Copenhagen, Denmark which ended with four scientists from the United States, Australia, France and Germany warning that sea levels are rising twice as previously forecasted by the United Nations two years ago. These scientists explained that rapidly melting ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are likely to push sea levels by a meter or more by 2100, swamping coastal cities and obliterating the living space of 600 million people who live in Deltas, low -lying areas and small Island states. West Africa is populated mostly by countries exposed to the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. Its sea front has been estimated to extend well over 15,000km including Cape Verde. The 17 countries of the region include only four landlocked states; Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad. The region’s population concentrated on the coastal area (that is within 60km from the coastline), was estimated at 42.68million in 1994, that is a quarter of the coastal countries’. Major urban areas such as Nouakchott, Dakar, Conakry, Abidjan, Accra, Cotonou, Lome, Lagos, Port Harcourt, Calabar etc are all located along the coastline. This area experiences continuous rapid demographic growth due to the impoverished countryside and the concentration of economic infrastructures and investments in large coastal urban areas. In Senegal, 90% of industrial units are located along the coastline, mainly in Dakar and its Suburbs. The same is true of countries such as The Gambia, Cote d'Ivoire, and Nigeria etc. Other countries with increasing populations, such as Bangladesh, Burma and Egypt could see large parts of their surface areas vanish. It has been estimated that a one-meter rise in sea level would swamp 17 percent of the country’s land mass. Pacific Islands such as Tuvalu, where 12,000 people live just a few feet above sea level, and the Maldives, would face complete obliteration. Rising sea levels is caused by the melting of the polar ice caps. Researchers now agree that this phenomenon is a real and significant problem, and calculate that, since the end of the 19th century, the average level of oceans has risen by about 12cm. The warmer the Earth becomes, the faster the polar ice cap melt and the faster the ocean level rise.
These levels increased from less than 2mm per year last century to a current rate of 2.5mm and could reach an annual 3.5mm by 2100. Depending on the various models, they could rise by 15 to 80 cm between now and 2100. Each time a forecast is reviewed and refined, it is in an upward direction. It was revealed that Greenland was losing 200-300 cubic kilometers of ice into the sea each year. This on its own is said to cause global sea level to rise more than a millimeter a year. This indicates amongst other factors that sea levels were now rising by more than 3mm a year-more than 50% faster than the average for the 20th century. In 2005, the first communities to be evacuated from sinking islands were moved out from Vanuatu in the Pacific. A similar fate awaits islanders in the atolls of Tuvalu and the Maldives. The great delta of the Niger, Ganges, the Nile and the Mississippi are also at risk, as are the densely populated coastlines. Coastal erosion is another problem. The West African coast has been particularly exposed for several decades; in Benin, some parts of the capital Cotonou had to be evacuated. The intrusion of salt water in the water table of coastal zones increases salinity in soils, resulting in fertility loss. Global warming can also transform the sea into a merciless agent of death, by intensifying cyclones and tornadoes. In this respect, the protective role of mangroves is becoming increasingly recognized, particularly when well maintained as it cushions the force of waves and the wind and also help combat coastal erosion. In the Niger Delta area of Nigeria, deforestation of mangroves has been driven demands for local energy. Many homesteads and local industries such as bakeries, fish smoking, restaurants and bean cake shops etc relies heavily on mangrove wood, which it said to burn even when relatively wet, in addition to producing good quality charcoal. The wood is said to provide special flavor to smoked fish hence the exploitation of the resource. Oil exploration, agriculture and wild fires are other deforestation drivers that have virtually led to the sheer defoliation and eventual death, of the mangroves of the Niger delta and its enormous natural resources endowments. In Guinea, rising sea levels linked to global warming is feared to likely result in stronger coastal currents, higher tides and sea encroachment of land. Guinea’s coastal region, home to West Africa’s largest and richest mangroves, would therefore bear the brunt of global climate change. The region’s entire economy is now under threat. It is feared that the main victims of all these climate variations would be people living near the coast. An estimate of 2 million people is likely to suffer income losses. In an effort to limit the foreseeable damage, Guinea has launched a national plan of action for climate change adaptation (PANA-CC), which sets out priorities, among them measures for protecting coastal areas. It outlines vigorous action for saving the mangroves and reforesting the region, planting teak and cashew trees. Faced with rising water levels, communities are being advised in Guinea to build sea walls and plant trees along the coast in order to protect the rice fields that have taken the place of the mangroves. Other recommendations include enforcing laws on coastal settlements and tackling pollution. For these adaptation measures to work, it is crucial that local people be provided with environmental education and prepared for possible catastrophes in the future. Efforts such as those in Guinea need to be supported and diffused into other countries in the region as quickly as is possibly. Funds and capacity building are no doubt required to achieve this!
Sunday, 13 June 2010
Climate Change: Need to diffuse proactive Adaptation
Joachim Ezeji
joachimezeji@yahoo.com
There are growing fears that Climate Change presents another manner of external shock to the poor, and one of the ways to cushion the shock is possibly through the diffusion of adaptation measures as a proactive response. This is so because a great many of the poor men and women in urban, rural and peri-urban settings base their livelihoods on ‘informal activities’-----small-scale cropping, livestock rearing, agro-processing and other micro-enterprises.
In many of these activities, an adequate water supply is a crucial enabling resource: used in, or necessary for, the activity itself; freeing time (by reducing time spent collecting water); or as a key element in improved health that in turn enables people to work. Water supplies provided to households therefore have a huge potential to impact on poverty. This is particularly true for the poorest (and for women, who are in majority amongst the poorest).
Peoples’ water needs are typically met through multiple sources- from rainwater to waste-water to piped systems. Rarely do people rely on single sources as single sources tend to be used for multiple purposes. A review that builds on this reality in designing and service delivery to respond to extant exotic realities in the climate system is desired in order to meet peoples’ needs for households’ water supplies. This therefore underscores the fact that the challenges of water availability and water quality are intertwined with the challenges of food security, urbanization and environmental degradation. They stand in the way of poverty reduction and sustainable development.
The growing recognition of the serious gaps that already exist globally in access to safe drinking water and sanitation coupled with the overwhelming threat by climate change has exposed the need for innovative adaptation of appropriate technologies and measures in countries most at need. The adaptation processes need to increase the diffusion of technological innovations to the poor by highlighting how and overcoming the challenges of infrastructure and endemic traditional or cultural practices.
Adaptation actions offer a chance to decrease people’s vulnerability to the vagaries of climate change. This has become necessary because of the appreciation that existing gaps in water and sanitation services are embedded in the grinding realities of extreme poverty in regions with underdeveloped infrastructure, and in settings largely devoid of institutional mechanisms and cultural norms for fostering scalable interventions such as in Africa.
Regrettably discussions of how to address climate change have often focused far more on mitigation (reducing green house gas emissions) than adaptation (coping with the storms, floods, sea-level rise and other impacts that climate change brings). The limited discussions on adaptation have also given little attention to cities. But many cities in Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean are at high risk from climate change- even as they (or the nation in which they are located) have contributed very little to green house gas emissions.
There is every need now to discuss how to manage the impact of climate change on Nigeria’s urban water resources because of Nigeria’s high dependence upon natural resources. This vulnerability relates to many natural and human phenomena; including climate change and variability; pollution, population growth, water scarcity; and knowledge gaps. The development of an adaptation framework for these issues are urgently needed in Nigeria as in other parts of Africa, in order to alleviate the high risks faced by the country’s ecosystems, and to inform and strengthen the coping strategies of poor urban communities who may be less capable of adapting to climate change and other risks.
No doubt, water remains the most vital for human survival. Throughout Nigeria, people are becoming increasingly affected by the degradation of water sources. Disasters from floods, sanitary pollutions and droughts are ruining the lives and livelihood of many, and have recently been closely linked with global climate change. In this context is the fact that despite the critical importance of water resources to Nigeria, there have been very few studies of the effects of global warming or its management especially groundwater resources.
The effects of climate change have already been felt in many parts of the country with the modifications of the intensity and seasonal nature of the rains, the elevation of average annual temperatures, and the increased frequency of widespread, high impact weather phenomena including drought and flooding.
Floods in particular, especially in coastal cities like Lagos and Port Harcourt, and other parts of the country would still remain a major challenge because of the failure of leadership in these cities. Buildings, roads, infrastructure and other paved areas now obstruct natural drainage channels while greed have eclipsed provision for and use of parks and other open spaces as places to safely accommodate flood water from unusually serious storms. The result today is that rainfalls no longer easily infiltrate the soil- hence huge run-off. Worsening the situation is that heavy or prolonged rainfall now rapidly overwhelms most of our cities’ poorly maintained and insufficient drainage systems as those existing are full of silt and clogged with garbage.
As a cross-sectional element, water remains a central part of any vulnerability analyses dealing with climate change. Associated with drought and flood risk, water is a challenge represented by the increasing scarcity of the liquid so essential for human life. There is therefore need for the rational use of water in the broadest sense—including water saving and reuse and the recharging of aquifers etc.
In this context are the traditional problems of decaying water treatment plants and water pipes, insufficient capacity, and poor quality and quantity of water supply; lack of management capacity because of neglecting non-technical factors; weak financial structure and difficulty of new investments, because of high rate of non-revenue water, low water fees which cannot recover the costs, and over staffing, etc that are common in most water utilities in Nigeria.
A typical case is the Lagos State Water Corporation. Here, the water distribution network can only reach one in every three of the 15 million inhabitants of the city. Yet, they projected population growth of 4% per annum of the city means that the city’s water demand, will double by the year 2020. The cost of meeting current and projected demand has been put at around $2.5 billion over the next 20 years.
Generally, cities in Africa are worse hit because they do not only have limited means with which to expand the water, and maintain the quality but they also need to expand water supply services to meet the ever increasing needs of industry and to support growing population with varying distribution of population and settlement patterns in rural and urban settings. The consequence is that as the world remains on track to meeting the 2015 MDG water targets, disparities continue in sub-Saharan Africa which has the lowest coverage and is not on track for the MDG target.
There is therefore the need to cushion the shock by the diffusion of adaptation measures as a proactive response because the failure to act would heighten the risk of severe damage to the economy and other physical, chemical, and biological systems; all with severe negative consequences for Nigerians. This should start with a vulnerability analysis of the impacts of climate change and the putting in place of a viable action plan with efficient adaptation measures in every state of the country.
joachimezeji@yahoo.com
There are growing fears that Climate Change presents another manner of external shock to the poor, and one of the ways to cushion the shock is possibly through the diffusion of adaptation measures as a proactive response. This is so because a great many of the poor men and women in urban, rural and peri-urban settings base their livelihoods on ‘informal activities’-----small-scale cropping, livestock rearing, agro-processing and other micro-enterprises.
In many of these activities, an adequate water supply is a crucial enabling resource: used in, or necessary for, the activity itself; freeing time (by reducing time spent collecting water); or as a key element in improved health that in turn enables people to work. Water supplies provided to households therefore have a huge potential to impact on poverty. This is particularly true for the poorest (and for women, who are in majority amongst the poorest).
Peoples’ water needs are typically met through multiple sources- from rainwater to waste-water to piped systems. Rarely do people rely on single sources as single sources tend to be used for multiple purposes. A review that builds on this reality in designing and service delivery to respond to extant exotic realities in the climate system is desired in order to meet peoples’ needs for households’ water supplies. This therefore underscores the fact that the challenges of water availability and water quality are intertwined with the challenges of food security, urbanization and environmental degradation. They stand in the way of poverty reduction and sustainable development.
The growing recognition of the serious gaps that already exist globally in access to safe drinking water and sanitation coupled with the overwhelming threat by climate change has exposed the need for innovative adaptation of appropriate technologies and measures in countries most at need. The adaptation processes need to increase the diffusion of technological innovations to the poor by highlighting how and overcoming the challenges of infrastructure and endemic traditional or cultural practices.
Adaptation actions offer a chance to decrease people’s vulnerability to the vagaries of climate change. This has become necessary because of the appreciation that existing gaps in water and sanitation services are embedded in the grinding realities of extreme poverty in regions with underdeveloped infrastructure, and in settings largely devoid of institutional mechanisms and cultural norms for fostering scalable interventions such as in Africa.
Regrettably discussions of how to address climate change have often focused far more on mitigation (reducing green house gas emissions) than adaptation (coping with the storms, floods, sea-level rise and other impacts that climate change brings). The limited discussions on adaptation have also given little attention to cities. But many cities in Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean are at high risk from climate change- even as they (or the nation in which they are located) have contributed very little to green house gas emissions.
There is every need now to discuss how to manage the impact of climate change on Nigeria’s urban water resources because of Nigeria’s high dependence upon natural resources. This vulnerability relates to many natural and human phenomena; including climate change and variability; pollution, population growth, water scarcity; and knowledge gaps. The development of an adaptation framework for these issues are urgently needed in Nigeria as in other parts of Africa, in order to alleviate the high risks faced by the country’s ecosystems, and to inform and strengthen the coping strategies of poor urban communities who may be less capable of adapting to climate change and other risks.
No doubt, water remains the most vital for human survival. Throughout Nigeria, people are becoming increasingly affected by the degradation of water sources. Disasters from floods, sanitary pollutions and droughts are ruining the lives and livelihood of many, and have recently been closely linked with global climate change. In this context is the fact that despite the critical importance of water resources to Nigeria, there have been very few studies of the effects of global warming or its management especially groundwater resources.
The effects of climate change have already been felt in many parts of the country with the modifications of the intensity and seasonal nature of the rains, the elevation of average annual temperatures, and the increased frequency of widespread, high impact weather phenomena including drought and flooding.
Floods in particular, especially in coastal cities like Lagos and Port Harcourt, and other parts of the country would still remain a major challenge because of the failure of leadership in these cities. Buildings, roads, infrastructure and other paved areas now obstruct natural drainage channels while greed have eclipsed provision for and use of parks and other open spaces as places to safely accommodate flood water from unusually serious storms. The result today is that rainfalls no longer easily infiltrate the soil- hence huge run-off. Worsening the situation is that heavy or prolonged rainfall now rapidly overwhelms most of our cities’ poorly maintained and insufficient drainage systems as those existing are full of silt and clogged with garbage.
As a cross-sectional element, water remains a central part of any vulnerability analyses dealing with climate change. Associated with drought and flood risk, water is a challenge represented by the increasing scarcity of the liquid so essential for human life. There is therefore need for the rational use of water in the broadest sense—including water saving and reuse and the recharging of aquifers etc.
In this context are the traditional problems of decaying water treatment plants and water pipes, insufficient capacity, and poor quality and quantity of water supply; lack of management capacity because of neglecting non-technical factors; weak financial structure and difficulty of new investments, because of high rate of non-revenue water, low water fees which cannot recover the costs, and over staffing, etc that are common in most water utilities in Nigeria.
A typical case is the Lagos State Water Corporation. Here, the water distribution network can only reach one in every three of the 15 million inhabitants of the city. Yet, they projected population growth of 4% per annum of the city means that the city’s water demand, will double by the year 2020. The cost of meeting current and projected demand has been put at around $2.5 billion over the next 20 years.
Generally, cities in Africa are worse hit because they do not only have limited means with which to expand the water, and maintain the quality but they also need to expand water supply services to meet the ever increasing needs of industry and to support growing population with varying distribution of population and settlement patterns in rural and urban settings. The consequence is that as the world remains on track to meeting the 2015 MDG water targets, disparities continue in sub-Saharan Africa which has the lowest coverage and is not on track for the MDG target.
There is therefore the need to cushion the shock by the diffusion of adaptation measures as a proactive response because the failure to act would heighten the risk of severe damage to the economy and other physical, chemical, and biological systems; all with severe negative consequences for Nigerians. This should start with a vulnerability analysis of the impacts of climate change and the putting in place of a viable action plan with efficient adaptation measures in every state of the country.
Nuclear Plant in Owerri: Matters arising (2)
By
Joachim Ezeji
Chernobyl is a long way from the UK, but some of the radioactive pollution was carried there by the wind. That means that even 20 years later, sheep on hundreds of farms in hilly areas have to be tested for radiation before their meat can be eaten. After the explosions at the power plant, heat and smoke from the fires carried radioactive material 1km up into the sky. A north-westerly wind blew the pollution across Europe.
In Sweden, 1,000 miles from Chernobyl, some scientists noticed that radiation levels had doubled but they didn't know why this was happening. That was because the Soviet Union, which controlled Ukraine at the time, was very secretive and had not yet admitted to the world that there had been an accident. The wind carried the radioactive cloud past Sweden to Holland, Belgium and the UK. By now the Soviets had been pushed into telling the world what had happened at Chernobyl.
The radiation that escaped from the reactor's core was eventually detected in countries all over the northern hemisphere. The day after the accident nearly 50,000 people were told to leave the nearby town of Pripyat. Everyone who lived in the town got out in about two and a half hours. Today you can still see some of their belongings just where they left them - that's because these people were never allowed to return to their homes.
They had to leave because of the danger to their health from radiation, and that danger has not gone away. The power plant, the town, and areas around it will be too dangerous to live in for hundreds of years. There is a 30km exclusion zone around the power station. Inside this zone, it's against the law to live or run a business like a shop or factory, but people can go to this area to visit.
Scientists have been surprised by how well the area's wild animal population has recovered.
The animals suffered from the radiation, but they have benefited from the lack of people. There area is now home to wolves, wild horses, wild boar and lynx.
In 2001, Dutch chemist and energy systems expert Jan Willem Storm Van Leeuwen and nuclear physicist Dr Phillip Smith published a paper based on peer reviewed methodology which showed that when the concentration of uranium ore is mined rock drops below a level of 0.02percent, nuclear power uses more energy in the form of fossil fuels than it generates as electricity. Their work demonstrates that nuclear power faces an identical situation to fossil fuels – there will come a point at which more energy is expended in extracting the fuel from the ground than is eventually available at the plug. The question is, how long will rich uranium ore last?
The most widely accepted estimate suggests that the world’s known uranium deposits could fuel the current fleet of reactors for around 42 years. However, this is based on an assumption that the world’s nuclear fleet will expand no further. Contrary to this, India has announced plans to build a further 24 reactors, China another 40, Japan 13, Russia 40, and the United States expects private sector applications for another 29.
If these projects go ahead, the demand for uranium will soar. Attempting to supply just 16 per cent of world electricity demand from nuclear power will lead to the exhaustion of rich ore reserves within 12 years, according to environmental scientist and author Paul Mobbs. The world’s largest uranium mine is Australia’s Olympic Dam. Operated by mining giant BHP Billiton, it currently mines uranium in the region of 0.05 per cent concentration, and is only economic because it also produces copper, silver and gold. Its future uranium reserves, upon which many of the nuclear industry’s hopes are pinned, hover around 0.022 per cent, dangerously close to the level at which nuclear power becomes a net emitter of greenhouse gases.
Despite its 50-year history, nuclear power is still unable to survive without subsidies. In the UK , the government has set aside some £75 billion of taxpayer’s money to deal with legacy nuclear waste, and has financially guaranteed the decommissioning of two defunct ‘Magnox’ reactors. It should be emphasized that no private sector company will undertake the building of a new nuclear power station without a guarantee that assistance will be available to deal with waste that will last for hundreds of thousands of years. Currently, the UK has a stockpile of more than 100,000 tonnes of nuclear waste, which is set to grow to at least 500,000 tonnes by 2050, even without new plants.
The nuclear industry is keen to stress that new reactors would produce much less waste than past ones. But the campaign for Nuclear Disarmament has shown that the proposed new reactors for the UK, Westinghouse AP1000s, actually produce more High Level Nuclear Waste (HLW) per unit of output than the current fleet of power stations. Figures released by the UK Government’s Committee on Radioactive Waste Management show that while the volume of waste future power stations might produce is not great, it would increase the radioactivity of Britain’s stockpile by 165 per cent. It is this HLM waste that is the hardest – and most energy intensive – byproduct to deal with.
For example, the New Jersey’s state department of environmental protection has ordered the Oyster Creek nuclear power station to stop the spread of tritium-contaminated water, which has reached a major aquifer that supplies potable water. The department said there was no imminent threat to water supplies but has launched an investigation into the leak, which originated in below-ground pipework. The issue was detected last April but the department noted that the subsequent actions of Exelon Corp, which owns the plant, have not been sufficient to contain the spill. It is understood that at its current rate of spread the pollution plume would not reach the nearest well for around 15 years.
A cocktail of highly radioactive isotopes, including uranium and plutonium, HLW is so radioactive when removed from reactors that it must be sealed and actively cooled in ponds of water for 50 years, or ‘vitrified’ in glass. In an energy-constrained future, could we afford to pay for this legacy?
Of the 40 or so countries that will have to address the long term management of long – lived radioactive wastes, the majority have adopted a policy in favour of deep geological disposal. Of those who are yet to decide, none has adopted a policy in favour of indefinite (as opposed to Interim ) storage, although the Scottish government is currently consulting on a variant of this for the more limited inventory of waste located currently in Scotland.
The US has a geological disposal facility, known as the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant that has been operating successfully for many years; Finland is in the process of excavating its deep repository; France is characterizing its preferred site; Sweden selected its preferred site last year with strong public support; and many others are going through the siting process.
Whilst some countries are facing challenges in repository site selection, such as Japan for HLW and the US spent fuel, these are not due to the technical/scientific reasons for disposal. What is the ethics of a decision to despoil the planet with intrinsically dangerously material; Dig very deep holes and bury our waste?
It remains to be seen what Ohakim’s options are in the planned Owerri nuclear plants.
Concluded.
Joachim Ezeji
Chernobyl is a long way from the UK, but some of the radioactive pollution was carried there by the wind. That means that even 20 years later, sheep on hundreds of farms in hilly areas have to be tested for radiation before their meat can be eaten. After the explosions at the power plant, heat and smoke from the fires carried radioactive material 1km up into the sky. A north-westerly wind blew the pollution across Europe.
In Sweden, 1,000 miles from Chernobyl, some scientists noticed that radiation levels had doubled but they didn't know why this was happening. That was because the Soviet Union, which controlled Ukraine at the time, was very secretive and had not yet admitted to the world that there had been an accident. The wind carried the radioactive cloud past Sweden to Holland, Belgium and the UK. By now the Soviets had been pushed into telling the world what had happened at Chernobyl.
The radiation that escaped from the reactor's core was eventually detected in countries all over the northern hemisphere. The day after the accident nearly 50,000 people were told to leave the nearby town of Pripyat. Everyone who lived in the town got out in about two and a half hours. Today you can still see some of their belongings just where they left them - that's because these people were never allowed to return to their homes.
They had to leave because of the danger to their health from radiation, and that danger has not gone away. The power plant, the town, and areas around it will be too dangerous to live in for hundreds of years. There is a 30km exclusion zone around the power station. Inside this zone, it's against the law to live or run a business like a shop or factory, but people can go to this area to visit.
Scientists have been surprised by how well the area's wild animal population has recovered.
The animals suffered from the radiation, but they have benefited from the lack of people. There area is now home to wolves, wild horses, wild boar and lynx.
In 2001, Dutch chemist and energy systems expert Jan Willem Storm Van Leeuwen and nuclear physicist Dr Phillip Smith published a paper based on peer reviewed methodology which showed that when the concentration of uranium ore is mined rock drops below a level of 0.02percent, nuclear power uses more energy in the form of fossil fuels than it generates as electricity. Their work demonstrates that nuclear power faces an identical situation to fossil fuels – there will come a point at which more energy is expended in extracting the fuel from the ground than is eventually available at the plug. The question is, how long will rich uranium ore last?
The most widely accepted estimate suggests that the world’s known uranium deposits could fuel the current fleet of reactors for around 42 years. However, this is based on an assumption that the world’s nuclear fleet will expand no further. Contrary to this, India has announced plans to build a further 24 reactors, China another 40, Japan 13, Russia 40, and the United States expects private sector applications for another 29.
If these projects go ahead, the demand for uranium will soar. Attempting to supply just 16 per cent of world electricity demand from nuclear power will lead to the exhaustion of rich ore reserves within 12 years, according to environmental scientist and author Paul Mobbs. The world’s largest uranium mine is Australia’s Olympic Dam. Operated by mining giant BHP Billiton, it currently mines uranium in the region of 0.05 per cent concentration, and is only economic because it also produces copper, silver and gold. Its future uranium reserves, upon which many of the nuclear industry’s hopes are pinned, hover around 0.022 per cent, dangerously close to the level at which nuclear power becomes a net emitter of greenhouse gases.
Despite its 50-year history, nuclear power is still unable to survive without subsidies. In the UK , the government has set aside some £75 billion of taxpayer’s money to deal with legacy nuclear waste, and has financially guaranteed the decommissioning of two defunct ‘Magnox’ reactors. It should be emphasized that no private sector company will undertake the building of a new nuclear power station without a guarantee that assistance will be available to deal with waste that will last for hundreds of thousands of years. Currently, the UK has a stockpile of more than 100,000 tonnes of nuclear waste, which is set to grow to at least 500,000 tonnes by 2050, even without new plants.
The nuclear industry is keen to stress that new reactors would produce much less waste than past ones. But the campaign for Nuclear Disarmament has shown that the proposed new reactors for the UK, Westinghouse AP1000s, actually produce more High Level Nuclear Waste (HLW) per unit of output than the current fleet of power stations. Figures released by the UK Government’s Committee on Radioactive Waste Management show that while the volume of waste future power stations might produce is not great, it would increase the radioactivity of Britain’s stockpile by 165 per cent. It is this HLM waste that is the hardest – and most energy intensive – byproduct to deal with.
For example, the New Jersey’s state department of environmental protection has ordered the Oyster Creek nuclear power station to stop the spread of tritium-contaminated water, which has reached a major aquifer that supplies potable water. The department said there was no imminent threat to water supplies but has launched an investigation into the leak, which originated in below-ground pipework. The issue was detected last April but the department noted that the subsequent actions of Exelon Corp, which owns the plant, have not been sufficient to contain the spill. It is understood that at its current rate of spread the pollution plume would not reach the nearest well for around 15 years.
A cocktail of highly radioactive isotopes, including uranium and plutonium, HLW is so radioactive when removed from reactors that it must be sealed and actively cooled in ponds of water for 50 years, or ‘vitrified’ in glass. In an energy-constrained future, could we afford to pay for this legacy?
Of the 40 or so countries that will have to address the long term management of long – lived radioactive wastes, the majority have adopted a policy in favour of deep geological disposal. Of those who are yet to decide, none has adopted a policy in favour of indefinite (as opposed to Interim ) storage, although the Scottish government is currently consulting on a variant of this for the more limited inventory of waste located currently in Scotland.
The US has a geological disposal facility, known as the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant that has been operating successfully for many years; Finland is in the process of excavating its deep repository; France is characterizing its preferred site; Sweden selected its preferred site last year with strong public support; and many others are going through the siting process.
Whilst some countries are facing challenges in repository site selection, such as Japan for HLW and the US spent fuel, these are not due to the technical/scientific reasons for disposal. What is the ethics of a decision to despoil the planet with intrinsically dangerously material; Dig very deep holes and bury our waste?
It remains to be seen what Ohakim’s options are in the planned Owerri nuclear plants.
Concluded.
Nuclear Plant in Owerri: Matters arising (1)
By
Joachim Ezeji
I have always insisted on the need for Nigeria to build resilience into its energy sector as this is one guaranteed way to safeguard its development process which has been hampered by inconsistent power supply. Meeting Nigeria’s energy needs will require a broad mix of energy sources and this naturally should also include renewable energy and nuclear energy as a complement to the hydro and hydrocarbon sources currently in use in the country.
Uranium based nuclear energy comes into context at this time based on current attempts by the government in the south eastern city of Owerri Nigeria to try it out. Though a highly controversial technology, it nonetheless already powers roughly one sixth of the world’s electricity production including one fifth of USA Electricity production and around 80 percent of France’s electricity.
Japan has 51 commercial nuclear power reactors that provide one-third of the country's electricity. With few natural resources of its own, Japan imports nearly all its fuel oil. Since the oil crisis of 1973, successive governments have made concerted efforts to become self-sufficient. By the year 2010, Japan wants to produce 42% of its energy in nuclear plants. The long term potential is vast, alongside other energy sources.
Nuclear power offers another potential, though one that is exceedingly, perhaps unsolvably, complicated by its intertwined links with nuclear weapons. As is well known, there are two potential forms of long-lasting nuclear energy, fission based (utilizing the energy released by splitting uranium and other radioactive materials) and fusion based (utilizing the energy released by the fusion of two hydrogen atoms into a helium atom, as happens in the sun). Only fission exists in commercial form. Fussion power is likely decades away from commercial exploitation but could be a vast source of energy in the twenty second century and beyond.
Drawing from these scenarios I see the wisdom in Imo Governor Mr. Ikedi Ohakim talking about generating electricity from nuclear plants in Imo state. As was reported recently in national newspapers Governor Ikedi Ohakim, had while on a recent visit to Washington D.C. USA, signed Memorandum of Understandings, MOUs, with three American companies. The companies are Barnett Holding Company, Foxcor Incorporates and Patten Boggs Inc.
The MOUs are for the installation of nuclear modular reactors for generating electricity, provision of mass housing and conversion of palm trees into plywood, respectively. Mr. John Barnett of Barnett Holding Company signed on behalf of his company, Mr. John Fox, for Foxcor Incorporates, while Roy Lessy and Robert Horn, signed on behalf of Patten Boggs Inc.
Speaking on the occasion, Ohakim said his government had taken a bold step at solving the perennial energy problem facing Imo State. “You know our people are very industrious and they are technologically minded, but the lack of energy and power has almost brought the economy of our country to its knees,” Ohakim said.
“The good thing about this technology of nuclear modular reactor is that it is a short time measure that you don’t require fuel until after seven years of its use and it can be deployed primarily to energy spots. They will be deployed to Owerri Township, the new city development in Ogwu town, where we are citing most of our industrial ventures and other industrial and civic centers, which would require between five to 20 megawatts respectively,” Ohakim added.
In discussing the generation of electricity from nuclear plants or reactors it is germane to stress that several issues particularly those of raw materials, cost and waste remain critical concerns and should of course be taken into consideration at this time.
Across the world, public acceptance is still skewed against nuclear energy plants out of deep fears of leakages of radiation, as in Chernobyl catastrophe; the difficulties of disposing of nuclear waste products; and the ability to convert and divert nuclear plant materials (both inputs and waste products) into weapons-grade nuclear materials.
The expanded use of nuclear power is all but inevitable, notably in China, India, Japan and several other countries. The biggest fear is that the expansion of nuclear power in some countries, especially the crisis-ridden Middle East, can be a pretext for the development of a nuclear weapon industry as well.
A flashback to Chernobyl will suffice; Reactor Four at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant began to fail in the early hours of 26 April, 1986. Seven seconds after the operators activated the 20-second shut down system, there was a power surge. The chemical explosions that followed were so powerful that they blew the 1,000 ton cover off the top of the reactor. Design flaws in the power plant's cooling system probably caused the uncontrollable power surge that led to Chernobyl's destruction.
Serious mistakes had also been made by the plant operators, who had disengaged several safety and cooling systems and taken other unauthorized actions during tests of electrical equipment. With procedures intended to ensure safe operation of the plant operating less than effectively, the Chernobyl unit was even more vulnerable to unforeseen power discharges.
The Chernobyl plant did not have an effective containment structure, and without that protection, radioactive material escaped into the wider environment. The crippled reactor is still encased in a hurriedly constructed concrete sarcophagus, which is growing weaker over time. The accident that destroyed the reactor in Unit Four killed 31 people almost immediately.
Soviet scientists estimate that about 4% of the 190 tons of uranium dioxide products escaped and began to spread unevenly across the surrounding countryside, affected by the vagaries of the weather. Both Soviet and Western scientists agree that most of the contaminating material affected Belarus, but that 40% spread to other nearby areas, including Ukraine.
Immediately after the accident, the main health concern involved levels of radio-iodine radiation. Although the 600,000 workers involved in the recovery and clean-up after the accident were exposed to high doses of radiation, the exact amount cannot be accurately measured. The workers, many of them volunteers, were not equipped with measuring instruments to monitor the dosages they were receiving, but estimates of about 165 millisieverts have been made.
Joachim Ezeji
I have always insisted on the need for Nigeria to build resilience into its energy sector as this is one guaranteed way to safeguard its development process which has been hampered by inconsistent power supply. Meeting Nigeria’s energy needs will require a broad mix of energy sources and this naturally should also include renewable energy and nuclear energy as a complement to the hydro and hydrocarbon sources currently in use in the country.
Uranium based nuclear energy comes into context at this time based on current attempts by the government in the south eastern city of Owerri Nigeria to try it out. Though a highly controversial technology, it nonetheless already powers roughly one sixth of the world’s electricity production including one fifth of USA Electricity production and around 80 percent of France’s electricity.
Japan has 51 commercial nuclear power reactors that provide one-third of the country's electricity. With few natural resources of its own, Japan imports nearly all its fuel oil. Since the oil crisis of 1973, successive governments have made concerted efforts to become self-sufficient. By the year 2010, Japan wants to produce 42% of its energy in nuclear plants. The long term potential is vast, alongside other energy sources.
Nuclear power offers another potential, though one that is exceedingly, perhaps unsolvably, complicated by its intertwined links with nuclear weapons. As is well known, there are two potential forms of long-lasting nuclear energy, fission based (utilizing the energy released by splitting uranium and other radioactive materials) and fusion based (utilizing the energy released by the fusion of two hydrogen atoms into a helium atom, as happens in the sun). Only fission exists in commercial form. Fussion power is likely decades away from commercial exploitation but could be a vast source of energy in the twenty second century and beyond.
Drawing from these scenarios I see the wisdom in Imo Governor Mr. Ikedi Ohakim talking about generating electricity from nuclear plants in Imo state. As was reported recently in national newspapers Governor Ikedi Ohakim, had while on a recent visit to Washington D.C. USA, signed Memorandum of Understandings, MOUs, with three American companies. The companies are Barnett Holding Company, Foxcor Incorporates and Patten Boggs Inc.
The MOUs are for the installation of nuclear modular reactors for generating electricity, provision of mass housing and conversion of palm trees into plywood, respectively. Mr. John Barnett of Barnett Holding Company signed on behalf of his company, Mr. John Fox, for Foxcor Incorporates, while Roy Lessy and Robert Horn, signed on behalf of Patten Boggs Inc.
Speaking on the occasion, Ohakim said his government had taken a bold step at solving the perennial energy problem facing Imo State. “You know our people are very industrious and they are technologically minded, but the lack of energy and power has almost brought the economy of our country to its knees,” Ohakim said.
“The good thing about this technology of nuclear modular reactor is that it is a short time measure that you don’t require fuel until after seven years of its use and it can be deployed primarily to energy spots. They will be deployed to Owerri Township, the new city development in Ogwu town, where we are citing most of our industrial ventures and other industrial and civic centers, which would require between five to 20 megawatts respectively,” Ohakim added.
In discussing the generation of electricity from nuclear plants or reactors it is germane to stress that several issues particularly those of raw materials, cost and waste remain critical concerns and should of course be taken into consideration at this time.
Across the world, public acceptance is still skewed against nuclear energy plants out of deep fears of leakages of radiation, as in Chernobyl catastrophe; the difficulties of disposing of nuclear waste products; and the ability to convert and divert nuclear plant materials (both inputs and waste products) into weapons-grade nuclear materials.
The expanded use of nuclear power is all but inevitable, notably in China, India, Japan and several other countries. The biggest fear is that the expansion of nuclear power in some countries, especially the crisis-ridden Middle East, can be a pretext for the development of a nuclear weapon industry as well.
A flashback to Chernobyl will suffice; Reactor Four at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant began to fail in the early hours of 26 April, 1986. Seven seconds after the operators activated the 20-second shut down system, there was a power surge. The chemical explosions that followed were so powerful that they blew the 1,000 ton cover off the top of the reactor. Design flaws in the power plant's cooling system probably caused the uncontrollable power surge that led to Chernobyl's destruction.
Serious mistakes had also been made by the plant operators, who had disengaged several safety and cooling systems and taken other unauthorized actions during tests of electrical equipment. With procedures intended to ensure safe operation of the plant operating less than effectively, the Chernobyl unit was even more vulnerable to unforeseen power discharges.
The Chernobyl plant did not have an effective containment structure, and without that protection, radioactive material escaped into the wider environment. The crippled reactor is still encased in a hurriedly constructed concrete sarcophagus, which is growing weaker over time. The accident that destroyed the reactor in Unit Four killed 31 people almost immediately.
Soviet scientists estimate that about 4% of the 190 tons of uranium dioxide products escaped and began to spread unevenly across the surrounding countryside, affected by the vagaries of the weather. Both Soviet and Western scientists agree that most of the contaminating material affected Belarus, but that 40% spread to other nearby areas, including Ukraine.
Immediately after the accident, the main health concern involved levels of radio-iodine radiation. Although the 600,000 workers involved in the recovery and clean-up after the accident were exposed to high doses of radiation, the exact amount cannot be accurately measured. The workers, many of them volunteers, were not equipped with measuring instruments to monitor the dosages they were receiving, but estimates of about 165 millisieverts have been made.
Investing or Doing Business in Imo?
By
Joachim Ezeji
What else could be more damning than the recent report - “Doing business in Nigeria 2010” which was launched last week in Abuja by the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC)?
An irony that played out within the week was that while the report was being launched in Abuja; an investment forum was also being held in Owerri. Ironically, the Abuja report had ranked Imo and Ogun States as the most difficult states to do business in Nigeria based on four indicators of: Starting a business; dealing with construction permits; registering property and in enforcing contracts etc. Conversely, Jigawa state topped the table on ‘ease of doing business in Nigeria’, with Gombe and Borno following closely.
I do not have the statistics to appropriately discuss issues such as corruption as a basic factor the makes doing business ultra-difficult in Imo State. However, one glaring factor in Imo is the sheer state of poor governance and abysmal management of state resources by those in authority. The result is ill-motivation and dampening of the spirit of all those who become casualties as a result.
A visit to the Imo State secretariat to transact a business or secure any document is pretty a herculean task. Everybody seems annoyed and on a revenge mission. The result is that we have all become aliens in our own state as nothing simply works. There are neither simplified procedures nor clear – cut and transparent pathways to guarantee any sure expectation. In Imo state, everything has become a gamble as hawks have taken over its leadership.
One retired Permanent Secretary, a lady, in one of the top ministries had told me how she was almost beaten up by her commissioner, a man. The commissioner had shouted and called the poor woman names, threatening to slap the hell out of her; simply because the poor woman had insisted on adherence to procedure. But the Commissioner, an Almighty commissioner and appointee of an Almighty Governor Ohakim would have none of that.
When Ikedi Ohakim was foisted on Imo as Governor, the signs of hard and tough things to come were well ominous. It took off with the appointment of Willy Amadi and the subsequent destruction and vandalism of people’s properties in the utter disguise of environmental sanitation.
But one really amazing thing is the enhanced futility and waste that has become the resources so far expended by Ikedi Ohakim, travelling all over the world to look for investors to develop Imo. The Governor has in the past one year alone, had combined visits to the USA and South Africa more than any past Imo Governor, in their entire tenures. A friend had told me that the governor is merely using his position to expand his private business interests.
It is germane to remind Governor Ohakim that there is a lot of work waiting to be done in other areas such as improved electricity, water supply, education, positive investment policy and intensive agriculture; if other Nigerians and even other Imo citizens are to stop seeing Imo as economically backward.
Beyond all the rhetoric, it remains to be seen how determined the Imo State Government is, at providing a conducive environment for investment to thrive, and addressing the infrastructure challenges militating against the sustainable growth of the real sector of the state’s economy beyond all these “New Face of Investment in Africa Summits”. We need to see actions, not hear words on mere plans and intentions; because Imo is in a hurry to develop.
I am doubtful of the capacity of the summit at guiding the future of the state in becoming the Investment Capital of Africa. Till basic things are achieved, all these summits and trips would simply remain self-serving.
While I do not disagree with Mr. Ikedi Ohakim that all the strides of his administration like Clean and Green Initiatives, Operation Festival Security Outfit, Imo Rural Roads Maintenance Agency (IRROMA), are not ends in themselves, but instead means to open up the state to investors and propel the economic development of the state; it is germane to however remind him that these things can never work in isolation of the people. Imo people must be able to trust their governor in order to buy into his programs and move in tandem with them. The new face should become real, not abstract.
For example, despite being an oil producing state with increased revenue from federal sources, much greater than many other states of the Nigerian federation, Imo State is still reeling under common ills such as those of limited electricity and water supplies. Imo State is one state in Nigeria where residents and consumers of electricity i.e. customers of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) still contribute money to either buy new transformers or repair faulty ones.
Just like in other places elsewhere, lack of access to modern energy services entails more than our not being able to enjoy some of the comforts of life that are taken for granted in developed countries. In Imo State, it is indeed, one of the greatest impediments to social and economic progress including doing business or residency.
Verily, energy poverty stalls progress on Imo development programs including the quest to achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It is a vicious cycle as ensuring sustainable and affordable energy is already beyond the reach of the average poor in Imo.
Another case is the issue of water supply in Imo. Just like electricity, Imo households and businesses have to provide their own water supply. The result today is arbitrary sinking and developing of private water wells and boreholes. This no doubt, imposes difficulties or high budgetary costs for businesses. A task that ordinarily should have been provided by the state water corporation is now being informally driven. No big cities or societies ever achieved growth with such arrangements.
One friend of mine once described poverty as the non-availability of basic needs of life, and as the inadequacy of the means to satisfy the basic necessities of a healthy living. He went ahead to identify food, housing, clothing, health, education etc as some of those basic necessities. People who are no longer involved in economic activities are also in the poverty bracket. Also people with low educational qualification are likely to be grouped in the poverty bracket.
This same friend of mine further argues that poverty exists because there is great inequality in money and opportunities occasioned by social, economic, political and cultural environments. And that poverty is rife in Imo State, despite huge resources via federal allocations, internally generated revenue, ecological funds, informal revenue in form of deductions etc. because amongst other factors that the per capita income is low, greatly because human and land resources of this State have remained under utilized; and that population of Imo State is roughly 4.5 million people hence contributing to the poverty of the people. He was however mute on outright looting of limited state resources by those in government and the near state of anarchy via rising cases of criminality and insecurity.
I had wondered the irony of a damning report coinciding with an important event like the Imo investment forum, both holding back to back in the same week and country. The World Bank/IFC report is timely and should really serve as a mirror for all those currently calling the shot or those with interest and potential to do so in the future. But, whatever, it still behooves the current leadership of Imo State to prove that is not merely playing to the gallery.
Joachim Ezeji
What else could be more damning than the recent report - “Doing business in Nigeria 2010” which was launched last week in Abuja by the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC)?
An irony that played out within the week was that while the report was being launched in Abuja; an investment forum was also being held in Owerri. Ironically, the Abuja report had ranked Imo and Ogun States as the most difficult states to do business in Nigeria based on four indicators of: Starting a business; dealing with construction permits; registering property and in enforcing contracts etc. Conversely, Jigawa state topped the table on ‘ease of doing business in Nigeria’, with Gombe and Borno following closely.
I do not have the statistics to appropriately discuss issues such as corruption as a basic factor the makes doing business ultra-difficult in Imo State. However, one glaring factor in Imo is the sheer state of poor governance and abysmal management of state resources by those in authority. The result is ill-motivation and dampening of the spirit of all those who become casualties as a result.
A visit to the Imo State secretariat to transact a business or secure any document is pretty a herculean task. Everybody seems annoyed and on a revenge mission. The result is that we have all become aliens in our own state as nothing simply works. There are neither simplified procedures nor clear – cut and transparent pathways to guarantee any sure expectation. In Imo state, everything has become a gamble as hawks have taken over its leadership.
One retired Permanent Secretary, a lady, in one of the top ministries had told me how she was almost beaten up by her commissioner, a man. The commissioner had shouted and called the poor woman names, threatening to slap the hell out of her; simply because the poor woman had insisted on adherence to procedure. But the Commissioner, an Almighty commissioner and appointee of an Almighty Governor Ohakim would have none of that.
When Ikedi Ohakim was foisted on Imo as Governor, the signs of hard and tough things to come were well ominous. It took off with the appointment of Willy Amadi and the subsequent destruction and vandalism of people’s properties in the utter disguise of environmental sanitation.
But one really amazing thing is the enhanced futility and waste that has become the resources so far expended by Ikedi Ohakim, travelling all over the world to look for investors to develop Imo. The Governor has in the past one year alone, had combined visits to the USA and South Africa more than any past Imo Governor, in their entire tenures. A friend had told me that the governor is merely using his position to expand his private business interests.
It is germane to remind Governor Ohakim that there is a lot of work waiting to be done in other areas such as improved electricity, water supply, education, positive investment policy and intensive agriculture; if other Nigerians and even other Imo citizens are to stop seeing Imo as economically backward.
Beyond all the rhetoric, it remains to be seen how determined the Imo State Government is, at providing a conducive environment for investment to thrive, and addressing the infrastructure challenges militating against the sustainable growth of the real sector of the state’s economy beyond all these “New Face of Investment in Africa Summits”. We need to see actions, not hear words on mere plans and intentions; because Imo is in a hurry to develop.
I am doubtful of the capacity of the summit at guiding the future of the state in becoming the Investment Capital of Africa. Till basic things are achieved, all these summits and trips would simply remain self-serving.
While I do not disagree with Mr. Ikedi Ohakim that all the strides of his administration like Clean and Green Initiatives, Operation Festival Security Outfit, Imo Rural Roads Maintenance Agency (IRROMA), are not ends in themselves, but instead means to open up the state to investors and propel the economic development of the state; it is germane to however remind him that these things can never work in isolation of the people. Imo people must be able to trust their governor in order to buy into his programs and move in tandem with them. The new face should become real, not abstract.
For example, despite being an oil producing state with increased revenue from federal sources, much greater than many other states of the Nigerian federation, Imo State is still reeling under common ills such as those of limited electricity and water supplies. Imo State is one state in Nigeria where residents and consumers of electricity i.e. customers of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) still contribute money to either buy new transformers or repair faulty ones.
Just like in other places elsewhere, lack of access to modern energy services entails more than our not being able to enjoy some of the comforts of life that are taken for granted in developed countries. In Imo State, it is indeed, one of the greatest impediments to social and economic progress including doing business or residency.
Verily, energy poverty stalls progress on Imo development programs including the quest to achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It is a vicious cycle as ensuring sustainable and affordable energy is already beyond the reach of the average poor in Imo.
Another case is the issue of water supply in Imo. Just like electricity, Imo households and businesses have to provide their own water supply. The result today is arbitrary sinking and developing of private water wells and boreholes. This no doubt, imposes difficulties or high budgetary costs for businesses. A task that ordinarily should have been provided by the state water corporation is now being informally driven. No big cities or societies ever achieved growth with such arrangements.
One friend of mine once described poverty as the non-availability of basic needs of life, and as the inadequacy of the means to satisfy the basic necessities of a healthy living. He went ahead to identify food, housing, clothing, health, education etc as some of those basic necessities. People who are no longer involved in economic activities are also in the poverty bracket. Also people with low educational qualification are likely to be grouped in the poverty bracket.
This same friend of mine further argues that poverty exists because there is great inequality in money and opportunities occasioned by social, economic, political and cultural environments. And that poverty is rife in Imo State, despite huge resources via federal allocations, internally generated revenue, ecological funds, informal revenue in form of deductions etc. because amongst other factors that the per capita income is low, greatly because human and land resources of this State have remained under utilized; and that population of Imo State is roughly 4.5 million people hence contributing to the poverty of the people. He was however mute on outright looting of limited state resources by those in government and the near state of anarchy via rising cases of criminality and insecurity.
I had wondered the irony of a damning report coinciding with an important event like the Imo investment forum, both holding back to back in the same week and country. The World Bank/IFC report is timely and should really serve as a mirror for all those currently calling the shot or those with interest and potential to do so in the future. But, whatever, it still behooves the current leadership of Imo State to prove that is not merely playing to the gallery.
Friday, 4 June 2010
Should Jonathan be trusted? Should Jonathan be trusted?
By Joachim Ezeji
It amazes me why the Nigerian government, especially the Federal Government of Nigeria often gets clay footed when things that matter are on the table and instead prefer to play outright politics over them. Living in Nigeria since my birth and being a participatory citizen and an effective contributor to issues on its development, I have come to see Nigeria as a country that often raises your expectations and then get it dashed without apology.
Issues that have crept up into my mind these last few days has been those of IBB over allegations of corruption and mismanagement of $12.4 billion in the Dedicated and Special Accounts while he was in power. Another was the Mike Okiro report that revealed that Obasanjo shared the sum of $74 million USD between 2000 and 2001 with his Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar, as well as Funsho Kupolokun and Gaius Obaseki, who were successive heads of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation during the government’s early years.
Both cases are interesting indeed based on the fact that they both relate to corruption, a persisting national malaise. However, while President Goodluck Jonathan appears set to probe IBB, he tends to be keeping mute over Obasanjo. But interestingly, the same Goodluck Jonathan was at the head of instigations on asking Prince Vincent Ogbulafor to quit over allegations of corruption while in office as minister.
Newspaper reports had it that the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke (SAN) had revealed that the Federal government would set up a committee to ascertain whether on the basis of the Okigbo report a criminal charge can be sustained against former military president General Ibrahim Gbadamosi Babangida (rtd) over allegations of corruption and mismanagement of $12.4 billion in the Dedicated and Special Accounts while he was in power.
The government made the commitment in a letter dated 12th May 2010 with reference number HAGF/PG/2010/Vol1; and personally signed by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice. The letter had read in part “I acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated 5th May 2010. I appreciate your effort in making available a signed copy of the Dr Pius Okigbo Panel Report, and as appropriate, I shall set up a Committee that will confirm the authenticity of the said report and also review the allegations and recommendations contained therein with a view to ascertaining whether these allegations can sustain a criminal charge. While we shall keep you informed of our effort in this regard, I would like to thank you for your concerted effort in sustaining the fight against corruption in our society.”
On the other hand, the Okiro report revealed that during that same time span, Obasanjo and the ruling party, the People’s Democratic Party, also pocketed $5m from the Halliburton slush funds. Other major beneficiaries included General Sani Abacha, who got $40 million in 1994-95; Ibrahim Aliyu, $11.7million in 2001-2002; former Minister, Dan Etete, $2.5 million in 1996-1998; Abdulkadir Abacha, $1.8 in 1998; and M. G. Bakari, $3.1 million
Among the more startling of the revelations in the interim report, the panel stated that Chief Olusegun Obasanjo as President of Nigeria from May 1999 – May 2007 met Stanley and then Group Managing Director of NNPC, Gaius Obaseki, in Abuja on 11th November 2001 to negotiate pay-offs in respect of Trains 4&5. On 20th December 2001 Obaseki reportedly met with Chodan and Stanley in London over lunch in furtherance of discussions. In March 2002, TSKJ won the Train 4 and 5 contacts for $3.6 billion USD and that allegations are that Gen. Obasanjo may have received a minimum of $4 million USD as pay-off. With reference to Obasanjo, the report noted: “Panelists are currently examining documents before the invitation of former President Obasanjo.”
The face of emerging politics makes these revelations more interesting. Mr. Jonathan from all indications is no longer pretending over his position or what to be expected in the political months ahead.
While President Jonathan is hobnobbing and frolicking with his Godfather former President Obasanjo, he remains blind to the evils of Obasanjo and deaf to the advice of well meaning Nigerians that he should at least keep Obasanjo at arms length. But on the other hand, he seems willing to scare IBB out of the 2011 Presidential race via the purported probe of the $12.4 billion in the Dedicated and Special Accounts while he was in power as reported in the Okigbo report.
Already, Chief Vincent Ogbulafor has long been sacrificed based on political calculations of those who insisted on it. Still unsatisfied, Jonathan from all indications as well as machinations of Obasanjo is still plotting to sack the entire national working committee (or executives) of the PDP. Till this plot succeeds, a replacement for the former chairman, Ogbulafor would be delayed.
The political calculation from the way things are going seems to be to uproot all weedy grasses that would make Jonathan’s presidential aspiration a rough ride, hence foreboding a do or die election come 2011.
From the look of things all ready, I can posit straight away that Mr. Jonathan has already lost all credibility and would certainly fail Nigerians come 2011. The so called promises of a free and fair election would be another mirage as much as Jonathan continues to plot alongside Obasanjo on how to win the Presidency in 2011.
While Nigerians overwhelmingly clamored for the sack of Maurice Iwu as INEC chairman, President Jonathan kept mute. From close observations, that was a difficult task for him because he understands very well that Iwu is his party’s (PDP) hatchet man. However, it only took the intervention of the USA government before Jonathan unwillingly got rid of Iwu. If Jonathan was sincere and committed to electoral reform, why is he finding it difficult to name a replacement for Iwu as at this time? Perhaps, he waits for Obasanjo to give him a name. Also, why the continuing inertia on the part of Jonathan to state his stand on the Uwais report?
As somebody who has risen into office based on the insistence of the civil society on doing things right when late President Yar Adua was abroad for medical treatment and a vacuum existed in the Presidency, the least Jonathan can do is to be dillydallying over issues that are at the very heart of the civil society, such as electoral reform, but he seems not ready to do just that because his own political survival would go kaput.
I hope Nigerians will remember that it was this same Jonathan who found it most difficult to publicly declare his assets when Late President Yar Adua did his within a matter of days of taking office. Jonathan exhibited the greatest inertia to publicly declare his. But when he did, what did we see, a man who has from a background of deputy director in OMPADEC to stupendous wealth within just 8 years of coming to power as deputy/Governor of Bayelsa state.
I have no doubt in my mind that Jonathan would fail Nigerians and by so doing would lay the foundation for bumpy and turbulent political days ahead. The civil society should not be caught napping, let’s all be at alert as Mr. Goodluck Jonathan cannot be trusted!
It amazes me why the Nigerian government, especially the Federal Government of Nigeria often gets clay footed when things that matter are on the table and instead prefer to play outright politics over them. Living in Nigeria since my birth and being a participatory citizen and an effective contributor to issues on its development, I have come to see Nigeria as a country that often raises your expectations and then get it dashed without apology.
Issues that have crept up into my mind these last few days has been those of IBB over allegations of corruption and mismanagement of $12.4 billion in the Dedicated and Special Accounts while he was in power. Another was the Mike Okiro report that revealed that Obasanjo shared the sum of $74 million USD between 2000 and 2001 with his Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar, as well as Funsho Kupolokun and Gaius Obaseki, who were successive heads of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation during the government’s early years.
Both cases are interesting indeed based on the fact that they both relate to corruption, a persisting national malaise. However, while President Goodluck Jonathan appears set to probe IBB, he tends to be keeping mute over Obasanjo. But interestingly, the same Goodluck Jonathan was at the head of instigations on asking Prince Vincent Ogbulafor to quit over allegations of corruption while in office as minister.
Newspaper reports had it that the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke (SAN) had revealed that the Federal government would set up a committee to ascertain whether on the basis of the Okigbo report a criminal charge can be sustained against former military president General Ibrahim Gbadamosi Babangida (rtd) over allegations of corruption and mismanagement of $12.4 billion in the Dedicated and Special Accounts while he was in power.
The government made the commitment in a letter dated 12th May 2010 with reference number HAGF/PG/2010/Vol1; and personally signed by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice. The letter had read in part “I acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated 5th May 2010. I appreciate your effort in making available a signed copy of the Dr Pius Okigbo Panel Report, and as appropriate, I shall set up a Committee that will confirm the authenticity of the said report and also review the allegations and recommendations contained therein with a view to ascertaining whether these allegations can sustain a criminal charge. While we shall keep you informed of our effort in this regard, I would like to thank you for your concerted effort in sustaining the fight against corruption in our society.”
On the other hand, the Okiro report revealed that during that same time span, Obasanjo and the ruling party, the People’s Democratic Party, also pocketed $5m from the Halliburton slush funds. Other major beneficiaries included General Sani Abacha, who got $40 million in 1994-95; Ibrahim Aliyu, $11.7million in 2001-2002; former Minister, Dan Etete, $2.5 million in 1996-1998; Abdulkadir Abacha, $1.8 in 1998; and M. G. Bakari, $3.1 million
Among the more startling of the revelations in the interim report, the panel stated that Chief Olusegun Obasanjo as President of Nigeria from May 1999 – May 2007 met Stanley and then Group Managing Director of NNPC, Gaius Obaseki, in Abuja on 11th November 2001 to negotiate pay-offs in respect of Trains 4&5. On 20th December 2001 Obaseki reportedly met with Chodan and Stanley in London over lunch in furtherance of discussions. In March 2002, TSKJ won the Train 4 and 5 contacts for $3.6 billion USD and that allegations are that Gen. Obasanjo may have received a minimum of $4 million USD as pay-off. With reference to Obasanjo, the report noted: “Panelists are currently examining documents before the invitation of former President Obasanjo.”
The face of emerging politics makes these revelations more interesting. Mr. Jonathan from all indications is no longer pretending over his position or what to be expected in the political months ahead.
While President Jonathan is hobnobbing and frolicking with his Godfather former President Obasanjo, he remains blind to the evils of Obasanjo and deaf to the advice of well meaning Nigerians that he should at least keep Obasanjo at arms length. But on the other hand, he seems willing to scare IBB out of the 2011 Presidential race via the purported probe of the $12.4 billion in the Dedicated and Special Accounts while he was in power as reported in the Okigbo report.
Already, Chief Vincent Ogbulafor has long been sacrificed based on political calculations of those who insisted on it. Still unsatisfied, Jonathan from all indications as well as machinations of Obasanjo is still plotting to sack the entire national working committee (or executives) of the PDP. Till this plot succeeds, a replacement for the former chairman, Ogbulafor would be delayed.
The political calculation from the way things are going seems to be to uproot all weedy grasses that would make Jonathan’s presidential aspiration a rough ride, hence foreboding a do or die election come 2011.
From the look of things all ready, I can posit straight away that Mr. Jonathan has already lost all credibility and would certainly fail Nigerians come 2011. The so called promises of a free and fair election would be another mirage as much as Jonathan continues to plot alongside Obasanjo on how to win the Presidency in 2011.
While Nigerians overwhelmingly clamored for the sack of Maurice Iwu as INEC chairman, President Jonathan kept mute. From close observations, that was a difficult task for him because he understands very well that Iwu is his party’s (PDP) hatchet man. However, it only took the intervention of the USA government before Jonathan unwillingly got rid of Iwu. If Jonathan was sincere and committed to electoral reform, why is he finding it difficult to name a replacement for Iwu as at this time? Perhaps, he waits for Obasanjo to give him a name. Also, why the continuing inertia on the part of Jonathan to state his stand on the Uwais report?
As somebody who has risen into office based on the insistence of the civil society on doing things right when late President Yar Adua was abroad for medical treatment and a vacuum existed in the Presidency, the least Jonathan can do is to be dillydallying over issues that are at the very heart of the civil society, such as electoral reform, but he seems not ready to do just that because his own political survival would go kaput.
I hope Nigerians will remember that it was this same Jonathan who found it most difficult to publicly declare his assets when Late President Yar Adua did his within a matter of days of taking office. Jonathan exhibited the greatest inertia to publicly declare his. But when he did, what did we see, a man who has from a background of deputy director in OMPADEC to stupendous wealth within just 8 years of coming to power as deputy/Governor of Bayelsa state.
I have no doubt in my mind that Jonathan would fail Nigerians and by so doing would lay the foundation for bumpy and turbulent political days ahead. The civil society should not be caught napping, let’s all be at alert as Mr. Goodluck Jonathan cannot be trusted!
It could happen to you!
My friend Pastor Emma Ekong sent me this story and I opted to share it with a wider audience. It was originally titled “The story of my abduction”. It is the story of the abduction of Dr. Ohaka, a medical doctor based in Port Harcourt. The story was told by Dr. Ohaka himself.
Please kindly read on ……………“ I was traveling from Aba in Abia state back to Port Harcourt where I reside after a marriage introduction ceremony of my youngest sister Nene in my family house in Aba. I left the house at about 4pm that day 15/5/2010 with my small uncle Anayo and a cousin Maureen. Maureen dropped somewhere in Aba while I proceeded to Port Harcourt with Anayo. We had barely traveled 11km when we met what appeared to be a routine Police check point at Ihie. Normally we were flagged down for routine check at about 5pm or even later. I was asked for my driving license which I produced, I was asked to come down and open my boot and it was at this point that I was told to enter a waiting Kia saloon car facing right and at right angle to the main express road. Other vehicles were stopped simultaneously for stop and search. An SUV that refused to stop was sprayed with bullets with apparent missing of targets and within about 5minutes the operation was over. About 2 vehicles carried the victims, a Kia saloon and a Pathfinder SUV. Some of us were loaded in the booths. After 5minutes drive into the village we were all blind folded and now driven through untarred bush roads to an isolated location which was a transit point. It took about extra 5minutes to get there. You know things were happening fast and it was so easy to lose tract of time. At this temporary site, we were thoroughly beaten with the butts and barrels of the gun. I never knew pains could be felt in quick succession after trauma to a particular point. When I was hit at the back with the AK47 assault riffle, I felt the first superficial pain and this was followed immediately by another crushing pain much deeper. We were about 15 people, men, women and children. After about 4hours, the women and children were driven back to the road to find their ways home. We the men, about 9 in number now waited for the next 1.5hours to be taken to their so-called police cell were they kept captives. In the transit camp where we were kept, there is one small house inhabited by a woman and some 2 or 3 children. The woman had normal conversations with our captors and her small baby was always crying. We left the temporary area in the same 2 vehicles and by 10minutes we were in the cell. The place was surrounded by bushes and harbored a roofed but un-completed block house with doors. A standby generator was on and I had lifted the scarf over my eyes a little long before we left the transit location. We were bundled into a dark room wit one window and with 8 captives inside already. The mode of capture of these previous 8 was targeted and not as random as ours. Example the councilor was visited by them as a Police team in a Police vehicle and informed that he was wanted in the police station in connection with certain matters. He followed them willingly. We could only sit or lie down with our eyes covered. We were 17 in number in my cell. These include 3 Royal highnesses (The Eze of Isuochi, The Eze of Omuma, and another very important Eze that I couldn’t quite identify well because he was taken away shortly for ‘special treatment’ and remained there after I left), the councilor representing a constituency in Omuma (hypertensive and diabetic), a retired NNPC manger (diabetic), a retired CBN supervisor, a PTI lecturer/pastor, 2 yahoo fraudsters, drivers, a tailor, and some others. Our cell phones, money and every other belonging were taken from us apart from our clothing. Food is never given to the captives and water is dispensed at extreme discretion of the captors and by my calculation this amounted to 500mls alternate daily. At a point the councilor drank my water as I moved a little out of my position to urinate. As it was close to midnight, the captors encouraged us to pray and came in periodically to check on us. I must tell you that we all prayed as never before till morning. We also continued to pray like that every day. For me it was as true as daylight. The next day was a Sunday and at about 9am, the captor in-charge of making contacts for the captives came into our cell enquiring for people needing to contact their people for early release. It followed the sequence from interrogation about yourself and work to brutality and torture, bargain for release and possible mortal injury following failure to reach an amicable settlement. One of the captive’s phone lines was always used for these contacts. The man in charge of the contact making is called a name. I figure he is the 3rd in command in the camp. He comes with aides who brutalize the captives mercilessly on failure to agree to a stated bill which runs into millions of naira. My initial bill was N10million even though it came down to N2m later. I was now asked to talk to my people. I talked to my people and returned the phone to the captors for negotiation with my people. The first bidding amount from my people was N100,000 which earned me the beating of my life in the hands his aides. I was hit with the gun repeatedly and while pointed close to my neck with the gun corked and uncorked severally and with several simultaneous kicks on the head and body, I was asked to talk to my people. The beating was temporarily halted when impressed it on my people of the need again to be ‘reasonable’ amidst my cry of pains. I was one of the youngest captive. One can now imagine the impact of the brutality on an elderly man and the sick people. On that Sunday the councilor was beaten blue and black on failure to accept the N10million request fast. This was a frail looking man with 10 children, a wife and with the whole extended family as dependants. He collapsed with repeated hits on the head, ribs, hands and every other parts of the body with the butt, barrel of the gun and woods measuring 2inch x 2inch in thickness. He was literally left helpless on the floor. He constantly bemoaned his fate and wished to die in his house where his corpse will at-least be seen and given a burial unlike the camp here where our captors will bury him. He recovered a little by Monday but that never gave him any reprieve as he continued to receive thorough beating like the rest of us. Many of us all cried like babies. The councilor got his people to sell his new car, his lands, and several other belongings and all amounted to the sum of N450,000. He also sought to collect the month’s contribution among 10 of his colleagues amounting to N500,000 which never materialized by the time I left them. My brother it was pathetic for the diabetic and the hypertensive. It is noteworthy that age was no barrier to the brutality because we had 2 people who were above 70years of age, the Eze of Omuma and the Eze of Isuochi. The first received thorough but a moderated level brutality which increased sequentially with each daily failure to meet the captors’ demand while the second, though brutalized, had some significant consideration because he is 74years. His wife had to walk virtually the whole streets begging for money and he also had to sell lands. The rest received the same level of brutality and torture which increased with every passing day. I tried to get close to the retired NNPC man who is also a pastor because I felt he never understood the psychology of this group that prefer to call themselves Abia State Militants. He never agreed to any fixed amount and I felt he mistook the initial moderation of the brutality on him as a spiritual effect. He is a retired man and probably over 60yrs of age. However, he was soon to understand that his judgment was wrong. The mercilessness of the boys was un-paralleled because by the time I was leaving the camp on Tuesday night there was a special torture session carried out simultaneously by over 20 of the militants which I myself may have found difficult to recover from despite my good physical fitness. The captors had claimed that a cell phone had been stolen in the camp and all the captives that refused to bargain ‘properly’ were responsible. The captors appear not to have much interest on what they regard as poor fools like drivers, gaunt looking people, mechanics, tailors etc. Even though the ‘poor fools’ sometimes pay all their savings to the captors, they tend to receive good considerations in terms of length of stay only. I left the camp after the direct negotiation between my people and my captors went through. We left the camp at about 10pm on Tuesday. Those released that night were the Professor (Eze of Isuochi), one pastor, one driver and my humble self. Three of us were bundled into the booth of a Nissan Pathfinder SUV while Prof was given the privilege of sitting down comfortably inside the car. As we left the camp, one or two small boys were moving about close by and our captors questioned the supposed strangers in a loud voice asking “who be that” and the small boys (I say small boys from their voice on reply) answered “I beg na indigenes”. The Eze of Omuma was released a day earlier after paying the sum of one million two hundred thousand naira. After about 5minutes into our journey to freedom, the SUV stopped suddenly and refused to start again. After a few futile attempts to start the car, the four armed captors disembarked and called the camp for another vehicle. They identified their position as opposite the Nigerian Police Station. In less than 4minutes a new Toyota corolla arrived for us to continue our journey. I was asked to enter the booth with the pastor/PTI lecturer. They discharged us at Ihie junction and gave us transport money. We all walked bare footed because even our shoes were collected. I received N500.00. They also informed me that my vehicle was at the Police station. The Prof and the released driver proceeded to Portharcourt while I proceeded to Aba with the pastor. I arrived my family house at Aba at about 12:09am on Wednesday to the jubilation of my parents and every other person in the house and on the street. I am grateful to my relatives who contributed immensely for my release. They include my parents, my wife, my brother, my sisters, my cousin, my uncles abroad, my in-laws, my mother’s uncle, my aunt, the pastors who prayed continually, my local church, my genuine friends who acted promptly and several well wishers.
I did not involve the police and it was the best decision. The location of the camp is not hidden. The subdued villagers know them and also know all their locations. Again the terrain of the area consisting of thick bushes, well spaced houses and the bad nature of the road all combine to favor the use of those locations by the militants. The militants tend to wear military uniforms in the camp and police uniforms with police bullet proof vest outside the camp for their normal operations. They carry AK47 assault riffles and perform drills each morning in the bush around the cell building- the so-called camp. All the boys spoke the local dialect- asa/ngwa version of igbo language. The chairman/leader of the group who authorized each release has facial tribal marks, speaks same dialect. It may not surprise me if he is a northerner and security personnel. It is impossible that the security agents do not know their position. The joy of release subdued all the pains. I also forgot I had not eaten for 4days. I proceeded to Ihie Police station to collect my car as I was informed by my captors as my car was too old for an operational vehicle. I saw the vehicle at local police station at Ihie. I fulfilled their formalities, made statements and informed them of the release of Prof. In doing these I guarded my utterances because you never know who the insiders were. I also spoke with the DPO of the station. I also met some special police units who came on routine patrol to the police station and narrated my ordeal to them. On this visit to retrieve my car I also observed that the security agents concentrated their presence on the express road leaving the entire village empty. My brother even the people you are supposed to report to are scared and appear helpless. You also cannot rule out their support from politicians because of several boasts of installing candidates come 2011. Information flow freely in the camp there; it is unimaginable how the information comes without government/security insiders. It also appeared they were planning relocation soon based on the insiders’ requests; possibly because of impending raid by government forces. They claim to pay some insiders-the normal Nigerian settlement.
It is pathetic the level Abia state has degenerated to. It is a level just slightly above those of animals and the bottom line is greed, corruption, power drunkenness. I understand Imo-state is following closely. I became ill on Thursday- the cumulative effects of the ordeal. My heart goes out to the innocent men still in captivity. I wonder if they will make it alive. They include the retired NNPC manger/pastor in Winners chapel (Yoruba), retired CBN supervisor (Igbo), the councilor (Omuma), The Eze who I could not identify well. What if these kidnappers were ritualists; what would have been our fate; it is all greed, corruption, power drunkenness. Until there is good and committed leadership everything will continue to go downhill”.
Nigeria, what a shame!
Please kindly read on ……………“ I was traveling from Aba in Abia state back to Port Harcourt where I reside after a marriage introduction ceremony of my youngest sister Nene in my family house in Aba. I left the house at about 4pm that day 15/5/2010 with my small uncle Anayo and a cousin Maureen. Maureen dropped somewhere in Aba while I proceeded to Port Harcourt with Anayo. We had barely traveled 11km when we met what appeared to be a routine Police check point at Ihie. Normally we were flagged down for routine check at about 5pm or even later. I was asked for my driving license which I produced, I was asked to come down and open my boot and it was at this point that I was told to enter a waiting Kia saloon car facing right and at right angle to the main express road. Other vehicles were stopped simultaneously for stop and search. An SUV that refused to stop was sprayed with bullets with apparent missing of targets and within about 5minutes the operation was over. About 2 vehicles carried the victims, a Kia saloon and a Pathfinder SUV. Some of us were loaded in the booths. After 5minutes drive into the village we were all blind folded and now driven through untarred bush roads to an isolated location which was a transit point. It took about extra 5minutes to get there. You know things were happening fast and it was so easy to lose tract of time. At this temporary site, we were thoroughly beaten with the butts and barrels of the gun. I never knew pains could be felt in quick succession after trauma to a particular point. When I was hit at the back with the AK47 assault riffle, I felt the first superficial pain and this was followed immediately by another crushing pain much deeper. We were about 15 people, men, women and children. After about 4hours, the women and children were driven back to the road to find their ways home. We the men, about 9 in number now waited for the next 1.5hours to be taken to their so-called police cell were they kept captives. In the transit camp where we were kept, there is one small house inhabited by a woman and some 2 or 3 children. The woman had normal conversations with our captors and her small baby was always crying. We left the temporary area in the same 2 vehicles and by 10minutes we were in the cell. The place was surrounded by bushes and harbored a roofed but un-completed block house with doors. A standby generator was on and I had lifted the scarf over my eyes a little long before we left the transit location. We were bundled into a dark room wit one window and with 8 captives inside already. The mode of capture of these previous 8 was targeted and not as random as ours. Example the councilor was visited by them as a Police team in a Police vehicle and informed that he was wanted in the police station in connection with certain matters. He followed them willingly. We could only sit or lie down with our eyes covered. We were 17 in number in my cell. These include 3 Royal highnesses (The Eze of Isuochi, The Eze of Omuma, and another very important Eze that I couldn’t quite identify well because he was taken away shortly for ‘special treatment’ and remained there after I left), the councilor representing a constituency in Omuma (hypertensive and diabetic), a retired NNPC manger (diabetic), a retired CBN supervisor, a PTI lecturer/pastor, 2 yahoo fraudsters, drivers, a tailor, and some others. Our cell phones, money and every other belonging were taken from us apart from our clothing. Food is never given to the captives and water is dispensed at extreme discretion of the captors and by my calculation this amounted to 500mls alternate daily. At a point the councilor drank my water as I moved a little out of my position to urinate. As it was close to midnight, the captors encouraged us to pray and came in periodically to check on us. I must tell you that we all prayed as never before till morning. We also continued to pray like that every day. For me it was as true as daylight. The next day was a Sunday and at about 9am, the captor in-charge of making contacts for the captives came into our cell enquiring for people needing to contact their people for early release. It followed the sequence from interrogation about yourself and work to brutality and torture, bargain for release and possible mortal injury following failure to reach an amicable settlement. One of the captive’s phone lines was always used for these contacts. The man in charge of the contact making is called a name. I figure he is the 3rd in command in the camp. He comes with aides who brutalize the captives mercilessly on failure to agree to a stated bill which runs into millions of naira. My initial bill was N10million even though it came down to N2m later. I was now asked to talk to my people. I talked to my people and returned the phone to the captors for negotiation with my people. The first bidding amount from my people was N100,000 which earned me the beating of my life in the hands his aides. I was hit with the gun repeatedly and while pointed close to my neck with the gun corked and uncorked severally and with several simultaneous kicks on the head and body, I was asked to talk to my people. The beating was temporarily halted when impressed it on my people of the need again to be ‘reasonable’ amidst my cry of pains. I was one of the youngest captive. One can now imagine the impact of the brutality on an elderly man and the sick people. On that Sunday the councilor was beaten blue and black on failure to accept the N10million request fast. This was a frail looking man with 10 children, a wife and with the whole extended family as dependants. He collapsed with repeated hits on the head, ribs, hands and every other parts of the body with the butt, barrel of the gun and woods measuring 2inch x 2inch in thickness. He was literally left helpless on the floor. He constantly bemoaned his fate and wished to die in his house where his corpse will at-least be seen and given a burial unlike the camp here where our captors will bury him. He recovered a little by Monday but that never gave him any reprieve as he continued to receive thorough beating like the rest of us. Many of us all cried like babies. The councilor got his people to sell his new car, his lands, and several other belongings and all amounted to the sum of N450,000. He also sought to collect the month’s contribution among 10 of his colleagues amounting to N500,000 which never materialized by the time I left them. My brother it was pathetic for the diabetic and the hypertensive. It is noteworthy that age was no barrier to the brutality because we had 2 people who were above 70years of age, the Eze of Omuma and the Eze of Isuochi. The first received thorough but a moderated level brutality which increased sequentially with each daily failure to meet the captors’ demand while the second, though brutalized, had some significant consideration because he is 74years. His wife had to walk virtually the whole streets begging for money and he also had to sell lands. The rest received the same level of brutality and torture which increased with every passing day. I tried to get close to the retired NNPC man who is also a pastor because I felt he never understood the psychology of this group that prefer to call themselves Abia State Militants. He never agreed to any fixed amount and I felt he mistook the initial moderation of the brutality on him as a spiritual effect. He is a retired man and probably over 60yrs of age. However, he was soon to understand that his judgment was wrong. The mercilessness of the boys was un-paralleled because by the time I was leaving the camp on Tuesday night there was a special torture session carried out simultaneously by over 20 of the militants which I myself may have found difficult to recover from despite my good physical fitness. The captors had claimed that a cell phone had been stolen in the camp and all the captives that refused to bargain ‘properly’ were responsible. The captors appear not to have much interest on what they regard as poor fools like drivers, gaunt looking people, mechanics, tailors etc. Even though the ‘poor fools’ sometimes pay all their savings to the captors, they tend to receive good considerations in terms of length of stay only. I left the camp after the direct negotiation between my people and my captors went through. We left the camp at about 10pm on Tuesday. Those released that night were the Professor (Eze of Isuochi), one pastor, one driver and my humble self. Three of us were bundled into the booth of a Nissan Pathfinder SUV while Prof was given the privilege of sitting down comfortably inside the car. As we left the camp, one or two small boys were moving about close by and our captors questioned the supposed strangers in a loud voice asking “who be that” and the small boys (I say small boys from their voice on reply) answered “I beg na indigenes”. The Eze of Omuma was released a day earlier after paying the sum of one million two hundred thousand naira. After about 5minutes into our journey to freedom, the SUV stopped suddenly and refused to start again. After a few futile attempts to start the car, the four armed captors disembarked and called the camp for another vehicle. They identified their position as opposite the Nigerian Police Station. In less than 4minutes a new Toyota corolla arrived for us to continue our journey. I was asked to enter the booth with the pastor/PTI lecturer. They discharged us at Ihie junction and gave us transport money. We all walked bare footed because even our shoes were collected. I received N500.00. They also informed me that my vehicle was at the Police station. The Prof and the released driver proceeded to Portharcourt while I proceeded to Aba with the pastor. I arrived my family house at Aba at about 12:09am on Wednesday to the jubilation of my parents and every other person in the house and on the street. I am grateful to my relatives who contributed immensely for my release. They include my parents, my wife, my brother, my sisters, my cousin, my uncles abroad, my in-laws, my mother’s uncle, my aunt, the pastors who prayed continually, my local church, my genuine friends who acted promptly and several well wishers.
I did not involve the police and it was the best decision. The location of the camp is not hidden. The subdued villagers know them and also know all their locations. Again the terrain of the area consisting of thick bushes, well spaced houses and the bad nature of the road all combine to favor the use of those locations by the militants. The militants tend to wear military uniforms in the camp and police uniforms with police bullet proof vest outside the camp for their normal operations. They carry AK47 assault riffles and perform drills each morning in the bush around the cell building- the so-called camp. All the boys spoke the local dialect- asa/ngwa version of igbo language. The chairman/leader of the group who authorized each release has facial tribal marks, speaks same dialect. It may not surprise me if he is a northerner and security personnel. It is impossible that the security agents do not know their position. The joy of release subdued all the pains. I also forgot I had not eaten for 4days. I proceeded to Ihie Police station to collect my car as I was informed by my captors as my car was too old for an operational vehicle. I saw the vehicle at local police station at Ihie. I fulfilled their formalities, made statements and informed them of the release of Prof. In doing these I guarded my utterances because you never know who the insiders were. I also spoke with the DPO of the station. I also met some special police units who came on routine patrol to the police station and narrated my ordeal to them. On this visit to retrieve my car I also observed that the security agents concentrated their presence on the express road leaving the entire village empty. My brother even the people you are supposed to report to are scared and appear helpless. You also cannot rule out their support from politicians because of several boasts of installing candidates come 2011. Information flow freely in the camp there; it is unimaginable how the information comes without government/security insiders. It also appeared they were planning relocation soon based on the insiders’ requests; possibly because of impending raid by government forces. They claim to pay some insiders-the normal Nigerian settlement.
It is pathetic the level Abia state has degenerated to. It is a level just slightly above those of animals and the bottom line is greed, corruption, power drunkenness. I understand Imo-state is following closely. I became ill on Thursday- the cumulative effects of the ordeal. My heart goes out to the innocent men still in captivity. I wonder if they will make it alive. They include the retired NNPC manger/pastor in Winners chapel (Yoruba), retired CBN supervisor (Igbo), the councilor (Omuma), The Eze who I could not identify well. What if these kidnappers were ritualists; what would have been our fate; it is all greed, corruption, power drunkenness. Until there is good and committed leadership everything will continue to go downhill”.
Nigeria, what a shame!
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