Back in Europe

This are just few of the memories I carried back to Europe with me.
My journey is temporarily terminated.

All my sympathy for all the people struggling for a better Nija.

Thanks for all the help I have recieved through all the 6 months I have been living there, especially to Prof,his family and SDN.

Keep the Faith Nigeria

Alaji Dokubo Asari Release

Alaji Dokubo Asari the Leader of the Niger Delta Volunteer Force, was Jailed since September 2005 on charge of treason by the President Obasanjo Administration.
Asari was brought to court and pleaded guilty, after publicly accusing the Government 2 be illegitimate, call for the disintegration of Africa’s top Oil Producer in order to gain control on the oil resources, and call all the Ijaw people, a vast group living in the riverine Delta where most of the oil is extracted, to form their own country.
The Nigerian president Obasanjo’s administration arrested him, and accused him to represent a threat to National Security
His arrest caused anger among Ijaw youth, whom started a harder struggle, forming more militias groups aiming to kidnap expatriates disrupt oil facilities while demanding for his release…
Last Thursday the 14th of June, he was released on bail, from Abuja, and arrived Saturday morning in his native “River” State at Port Harcourt Air force Base, where thousands of people came from all over the Delta region to welcome him.
He attended a brief meeting in the House of chief G. Douglas, a politician supporting the Ijaw cause, where he made a speech stating that if the new government will not come to terms with the Ijaw agenda, NDVF will go back to the creeks ready to fight for their demands.

Presidential Handover

On 29th May 2007 Nigeria witnessed the official end of Olusegum Obasanjo’s eight-year presidency and the inauguration of Alhaji U M Yar’Adua as its new leader, with Deltan Goodluck Jonathan as his Vice. This was watched with doubtful eyes by international community observers and journalists who had declared the recent democratic electoral process a farce. Nevertheless the occasion was marked with a two hour ceremony full of pomp in Abuja’s Eagle Square, attended by a large crowd of PDP party supporters, several African leaders and foreign dignitaries who enjoyed colourful marches and synchronized dances in between the swearing-in of the new leaders.























“I offer myself as a servant leader. I will be a listener and doer, and serve with humility”
Yar’Adua’s speech went on to list the seven point agenda from his election campaign: rebuilding physical infrastructure and human capital, accelerating economic reforms, strengthening the capacity of law enforcement agencies and especially police, reducing inflation, maintaining a stable exchange rate, rebuilding basic infrastructure, overcoming the energy challenge. He also pledged that his administration would give urgent attention to the crisis in the Niger
Delta.
Although Nigeria is one of the most populous countries in Africa, a major oil producer and rich in resources, its mismanagement, the succession of wars and leaders, inter-ethnic conflict, the corruption and greed of its governors have slowed down the process of development.
The new President is facing a huge challenge. Few steps have been taken toward establishing systems of healthcare and education, developing energy distribution, telecommunications, roads and basic infrastructure, or tackling poverty and unemployment.
Once again the Niger Delta, the sensitive region that produces 80% of the Nigeria’s revenue, is the nation’s Achille’s Heel. If the situation with militias and rebels worsens, the nation will be brought to its knees. And this against a backdrop where the majority of the people are already struggling to survive.

SEINASAWO

AkassaRock 11/05/2007 Bob Marley death Rememberance

Attaks and Kidnappings

Nigeria produces over 2 million barrels of oil a day (currently valuedat roughly $40 billion per year) which account for 90% of its export earnings and 80% of government revenue.
Nigeria also supplies 9% of US imports and is a pillar in the US post 9/11 African oil strategy devised by the Bush administration, which anticipates that the Gulf of Guinea will provide perhaps 25% of US imports by 2015. The Niger Delta Region is the main area where the black gold is extracted,and the focal point of Nigerian and international economical interests in the country.
Since the discovery of oil the region has always been volatile, plagued by corruption, environmental disasters, ethnic conflict and, more recently, waves of kidnappings of expatriates and attacks on the oil industry carried out by heavily armed rebel groups and gangs of robbers. Rebels and gangs operate both inland and offshore, which demonstrates their power and knowledge of the territory. Mystrass is a platform vessel that has been anchored 90 km off the coast of the southern oil hub of Port Harcourt for three years. Last November it was attacked and hostages were taken. The boat with hostages and gangs on board was intercepted by the police, who shot and accidentally killed a Briton and badly wounded an Italian expatriate.
The time I visited the Mystrass vessel the crew was putting up barbed wire and considering new strategies to prevent future attacks.
A few days ago, on Thursday May 3rd, MEND (Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, a coalition of militia groups fighting for greater regional control of oil and gas resources in the region ) attacked Mystrass and took 6 hostages.
After the fraudulent presidential elections in Nigeria the region has seen a series of new and well organized attacks against oil companies and the contractors who work with them.
The Niger Delta is gripped by tension and expatriates are being advised by Embassies all over the world to stay in their compounds or better, leave Nigeria and return to the safety of their own countries.















Here is the Chronology of some major Attacks and Kidnappings from the beginning of 2007:

-- Jan. 12, 2007 - Nine South Korean workers and one Nigerian are freed two days after being kidnapped from the Bayelsa state capital, Yenagoa. 



-- Jan. 16 - A Dutch oil worker and two other people are killed when their boat, operated by South Korean firm Hyundai, is attacked on its way to the Bonny Island export terminal. 



-- Jan. 18 - Gunmen free five Chinese workers kidnapped on Jan. 5 in Rivers State. An Italian is also released. 



-- Jan. 23 - Gunmen kidnap two engineers, one American and one British, in the southern oil city of Port Harcourt. They are released in February. 



-- Jan. 27 - A Belgian working for a building materials company dies of wounds after gunmen ambushed him in Warri. 



-- Feb. 4 - Nine men working for the Chinese National Petroleum Company, which was doing work for Shell in Bayelsa, are released after being kidnapped on Jan. 25. 



-- Feb. 6 - Gunmen abduct a Filipino worker on the road between Port Harcourt and Owerri. 



-- Feb. 7 - A Frenchman, working for oil giant Total, is kidnapped in Port Harcourt. He is rescued by troops on March 16. 



-- Feb. 13 - Militants release all 24 Filipino crew members captured when their cargo ship, belonging to a German company, was attacked on Jan. 20. 

-- Feb. 18 - Gunmen kidnap one Montenegrin and two Croatian oil workers, employees of Hydrodrive Nigeria, in Port Harcourt. They are rescued by the military on March 12. 



-- Feb. 23 - Gunmen kill a Lebanese construction engineer in Port Harcourt. 

-- Feb. 26 - Two Italians working for a construction company are released. They were kidnapped near Port Harcourt on Feb. 23. 



-- Feb. 28 - Gunmen kidnap a Lebanese construction worker who was employed by a local firm, in Rivers state. 



-- March 8 - A Filipino oil contractor is freed. 



-- March 14 - Militants release two Italian workers they had been holding hostage since Dec. 7. 


-- April 4 - A Dutch manager for German building contractor Bilfinger Berger, kidnapped in Port Harcourt on March 23, is released. A British worker, abducted from the Bulford Dolphin oil rig on March 31, is freed. Two Lebanese employed by Setraco who were abducted in Bayelsa on April 2 are also released. 



-- April 7 - Gunmen kidnap two Turkish engineers from their car in Port Harcourt. One works for Merpa, a Turkish firm that maintains telecommunications on oil platforms. 



-- April 27 - Gunmen kill two policemen in a failed kidnap attempt in Port Harcourt as the officers were escorting a convoy of vehicles carrying expatriate staff to work. 



-- May 1 - Four Italians are among six oil workers kidnapped from an offshore oil facility operated by U.S.-based Chevron. Chevron reduces output by 15,000 barrels a day. 



-- May 3 - Gunmen kidnap 20 foreign workers in three attacks in the Niger Delta, but eight are freed within hours. Saipem reduces output by about 50,000 barrels a day. 



-- May 5 - Gunmen abduct a British oil worker from Trident 8 rig operated by U.S.-based Transocean off the coast of the state of Bayelsa. Separately, gunmen abduct a Belarussian woman, who works as a manager of Britain's Compass Group, from outside her residence in Port Harcourt's exclusive GRA district.

(estract from Oyibos online)