the plight
of the so called Niger delta militants. These are millions of people
whose
livelihood had been jeopardised by the criminal liability of the oil
cartels
with the unpardonable connivance of the governments that should have
protected
them. The Nigerian government will do well to learn from the US/
Obama's
experience by living up to its responsiblity and taking steps to
ensure not only
the proper clean up of the delta but getting in arreas, the
apropriate
compensation for the damage already done the innocent deltans.It is
never too
late to ask for and obtain this compensation. The passage of time has
whiped
off neither the guilt of the companies in the delta nor the
entitlement of the
deltans to compensation. Learning from past mistake they say, is not
an
acceptance of failure but an addition to wisdom.It had been a mistake
that
Nigeria did not ask for the appropiate compensation when the companies
spilled
oil and also a mistake that the companies did not accept their
liabilities and
compensate the deltans. These mistakes should be corrected with the
lessons
learnt from the US and the Gulf of Mexico for the benefit of
humanity".
----------Yomi Akinyeye
Yomi,
I do not know if I should remind you that the Oil majors operating in
Nigeria and in other developing countries are owned by those who make
and implement strategic policies in advanced countries? They also own
the big news media. You may also need to be reminded that activists
need these media outlets to function.
These policy makers would block any moves to have their home countries
back any serious national and/or International legislations/policies/
resolutions aimed at sanctioning these oil majors in cases of
spillages in developing countries. You know of course that if these
World powers refuse to support a cause, no matter how noble, nothing
happens. Strategic policy making and implementation Organs in
developing countries are also known to owe allegiance to these "super
powers".
The current action in the Gulf of Mexico came about because the
spillage was nearer home and non punitive actions would result in
future electoral losses.
In my opinion, we can only employ suasions, since we do not have the
wherewithal to start and sustain a war, whether hot or cold.
Chidi Anthony Opara
"Perfection? no please! let me remain human".
On Jul 25, 10:35 pm, Abayomi Akinyeye <yakiny...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> The gulf of Mexico incident will bring to the attention of the world the plight
> of the so called Niger delta militants. These are millions of people whose
> livelihood had been jeopardised by the criminal liability of the oil cartels
> with the unpardonable connivance of the governments that should have protected
> them. The Nigerian government will do well to learn from the US/Obama's
> experience by living up to its responsiblity and taking steps to ensure not only
> the proper clean up of the delta but getting in arreas, the apropriate
> compensation for the damage already done the innocent deltans.It is never too
> late to ask for and obtain this compensation. The passage of time has whiped
> off neither the guilt of the companies in the delta nor the entitlement of the
> deltans to compensation. Learning from past mistake they say, is not an
> acceptance of failure but an addition to wisdom.It had been a mistake that
> Nigeria did not ask for the appropiate compensation when the companies spilled
> oil and also a mistake that the companies did not accept their liabilities and
> compensate the deltans. These mistakes should be corrected with the lessons
> learnt from the US and the Gulf of Mexico for the benefit of humanity.
> Yomi Akinyeye
>
> ________________________________
> From: Toyin Falola <toyin.fal...@mail.utexas.edu>
> To: USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
> Sent: Sat, July 24, 2010 6:31:26 AM
> Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Oil's Shame in Africa
>
> Oil's Shame in Africa
> In Nigeria, spills are weekly events.
>
> byJulia BairdJuly 18, 2010, Newsweek
>
> Sunday Alamba / AP
> Men walk in an oil slick covering a creek near Bodo City in Nigeria in June
> It was hard to believe BP when it announced oil had stopped gushing into the
> Gulf of Mexico on Thursday, July 15. It had taken 87 days. There was relief but
> little jubilation: it will take many years to clean the shores and the birds,
> and for the sea to begin to repair itself from the onslaught of poisonous oil.
> Surely we can no longer call it a "spill"-it seems too light and trite a word.
> What's even more troubling is that in Nigeria, the country that has arguably
> suffered most from oil drilling, oil "accidents"-large and small-occur almost
> weekly, and we hear little about it. A lethal combination of sloppiness,
> corruption, weak regulation, and lack of accountability has meant that each year
> since the 1960s, there has been a spill the size of the Exxon Valdez's into the
> Niger Delta. Large purple slicks cover once fertile fields, and rivers are
> clogged with oil leaked decades ago. It has been called the "black tide": a
> stain of thick, gooey oil that has oozed over vast tracts of land and poisoned
> the air for millions of Africans. In some areas fish and birds have disappeared:
> the swamps are silent.
>
> Americans consume a quarter of the world's oil-and 10 percent of the oil we
> consume comes from Nigeria. Why are we not worried and angry about this? Or at
> least demanding global accountability from companies we support? Especially now
> that we can see how destructive it is for those who depend on the sea for their
> livelihood, how foul the impact is, and how devastating the results of poor
> decisions and ill-equipped response teams are.
> Many Nigerians watched, amazed, as Americans berated BP for the Deepwater
> Horizon spill, then saw progress: our president visited the site and demanded
> immediate action and compensation. Not so in Africa. According to a group of
> independent experts, between 9 million and 13 million barrels of oil have been
> spilled in the Niger Delta since drilling began in 1958. Cleanups have been
> halfhearted, and compensation has been paltry. The Nigerian government estimates
> that 7,000 "spills," large and small, occurred between 1970 and 2000. Locals
> complain of sore eyes, breathing problems, and lesions on their skin. It's
> sickening stuff: a 2009Amnesty International reportfound many have lost basic
> human rights-health, access to food, clean water, and an ability to work. Today
> about 2,000 oil-polluted sites still need cleaning up.
>
> The world's worst man-made environmental disasters. View photo gallery.
> Eco Catastrophes
> There are many reasons this has occurred: sabotage, faulty equipment, corroded
> infrastructure. The regulations are weak, rarely enforced, and there are few
> punitive measures to ensure that spills are managed, monitored, and cleaned up.
> The oil companies are, effectively, asked to self-regulate. The new Nigerian
> president, aptly named Goodluck Jonathan, has promised to hold them accountable,
> but the regulatory agencies are toothless, weakened by decades of rule by
> corrupt dictators who acted in concert with oil companies and siphoned off much
> of the oil wealth (80 percent of the state's revenue comes from oil). The money
> that has come from oil drilling in Nigeria-$600 billion so far-has gone to very
> few; most Nigerians live in extreme poverty.
> So this has been happening, in Africa, for decades, as our motors purr and air
> conditioners hum, and we have barely blinked. As Prof. Rebecca Bratspies from
> CUNY School of Law says, "Problems associated with oil production are usually
> invisible to those of us who consume vast quantities. We don't see how dirty it
> is. [The gulf] is a more extreme version of daily events in Nigeria, where the
> oil companies have had a complete and total disregard for the environmental
> implications of their actions."
>
> Weekly Podcast and Radio Program 7/19/10: BP: Well Done?; Afghan Alternatives;
> Jihad Unlimited: Al Shabab; Health on Wheels: Mobile Health Care; Haiti Disaster
> Update; Former Vice President Dick Cheney's Heart Surgery; From the Archives:
> Walter Cronkite, George Steinbrenner. SUBSCRIBE OR DOWNLOAD PODCAST:http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/newsweek-on-air/id73329823
>
> Obama asked that $20 billion be set aside to cover cleanup costs in the gulf.
> Will it be enough? How much would companies like Shell and ExxonMobil have to
> pay if Africa were well regulated and proper compensation demanded for the loss
> of livelihoods, illness, and damage to the environment?
> This is the perfect time to assess oil-industry practices. America should lead a
> push to ensure global scrutiny and monitoring of oil drilling, on- and offshore.
> It's messy and will never be entirely safe, but why should we accept different
> standards for countries with less money and clout? Global companies should
> develop adequate global response and compensation mechanisms.
> One simple but clever idea from Bratspies is that we, through worldwide
> coordination, ensure that oil companies cannot drill unless they have the proven
> technology and capacity to respond to leaks, saboteurs, and explosions. If we
> made it a requirement, it would lead to a "tremendous spur in innovation in
> clean-up technology." That's something every country would benefit from, rich or
> poor.
> Julia Baird is a Deputy Editor of Newsweek. Follow her on Twitter
> athttp://twitter.com/bairdnewsweek.
> --
> Toyin Falola
> Department of History
> The University of Texas at Austin
> 1 University Station
> Austin, TX 78712-0220
> USA
> 512 475 7224
> 512 475 7222 (fax)http://www.toyinfalola.com/www.utexas.edu/conferences/africahttp://groups.google.com/group/yorubaaffairshttp://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue--
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