Violence in Nigeria's Oil Rich Rivers State in 2004. Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force. The Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force [1] is one of the largest armed groups in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria and is composed primarily of members of the region's largest ethnic group, the Ijaw. The group was founded in 2004 in an attempt to gain more control over the region's vast petroleum resources, particularly in Delta State. The NDPVF has frequently demanded a greater share of the oil wealth from both the state and federal government and has occasionally supported independence for the Delta region. Until 2005 the group was spearheaded by their presently incarcerated[citation needed] charismatic leader, Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, who is viewed by many Delta residents as a folk hero. Founding and initial conflict[edit] The NDPVF's strongly Ijaw agenda has led to conflict with both the Nigerian state and federal governments, as well as with neighboring ethnic groups, notably long-time rivals the Itsekiri.
Prior to 2003, the center of regional violence was Warri. Pipeline explosion kills at least 200 - CNN.com. Story Highlights • NEW: Hundreds of casualties expected because of densely populated area • 10 buildings, cars also damaged • Fuel shortages have led to people tapping pipelines • Similar explosion happened in May, killing 150 people in Lagos LAGOS, Nigeria (CNN) -- At least 200 people were killed outside Lagos, Nigeria, in a massive explosion and fire that ignited as crowds carried away buckets of refined fuel from a tapped fuel pipeline, the Nigerian Red Cross said.
Extreme heat has prevented rescue workers from recovering bodies, and they fear the death toll could rise significantly. At least 60 others were injured with burns, Nigerian Red Cross Secretary General Abiodun Orebiyi said. The fire burned for nearly 12 hours after the blast, which happened around 1 a.m. local time (7 p.m. ET Monday) before it was brought under control, Orebiyi said. By Tuesday afternoon, it was still unclear how many people were killed.
"We can see more bodies that have been burned," he said. Standing Up To Big oil | National Radio Project. Listen: Women next to an oil wellhead that has been spilling crude oil near the community of Ikot Ada Udo, the Niger Delta, since 2004 © Kadir van Lohuizen/NOOR The oil industry is dirty business. From the Niger Delta to California, to the recent gulf coast oil spill, the legacy of contamination and human rights abuse goes back decades. But some folks are standing up to big oil. On this edition, we take a look at how citizen groups around the world are holding oil businesses accountable, from courtroom battles to government regulation. Challenging Chevron in Nigeria In recent years, communities worldwide have protested the presence of big oil. Chevron in Richmond The Chevron oil refinery in Richmond, California is one of the oldest and largest in the United States. Nigerian women’s rights advocate Emem Okon, speaking at the 2010 United States Social Forum in Detroit, Michigan.
Featuring: For More Information Asian-Pacific Environmental Network Oakland, CA Chevwrong.org Earthjustice Oakland, CA. Www.fig.net/pub/figpub/pub36/chapters/chapter_8.pdf. AlertNet - A Thomson Reuters Foundation Service. Oil Extraction, Dispossession, Resistance, and Conflict in Nigeria's Oil-Rich Niger Delta - Canadian Journal of Development Studies/Revue canadienne d'études du développement - Volume 30, Issue 1-2.
Review of African Political Economy, Vol. 31, No. 101 (Sep., 2004), pp. 401-424. Niger delta eco terrorism. The end of cheap oil. The implications of the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) new report, World Energy Outlook 2010, are stark. Its 25-year “New Policies Scenario” projects that it is most probable that conventional crude oil production “never regains its all-time peak of 70 million barrels per day reached in 2006” In this scenario, crude oil production is most likely to stay on a plateau of around 68-69 million barrels per day. So there you have it. We are now, in all likelihood, living in a “post-peak” world.
The IEA blames a number of factors for this – a combination of supply constraints due to below-ground geological resource limits, and above-ground factors such as political obstacles to fully exploiting existing reserves (such as in Iraq), as well as international commitments to reducing fossil fuel emissions to meet climate targets. So is this the end of industrial civilization as we know it? What about unconventional gas? If the IEA is right about everything, we are in for a rough ride. No war for whose oil? THE US administration has cited many causes to justify its war against Iraq. Curbing weapons of mass destruction - so why not tackle nuclear North Korea? Combating terrorism - but Iraq is not even on the US State Department list of major terrorist supporters. Deterring threats to neighbouring states -well, the US cheered last time Saddam invaded Iran, and would probably do so again.
Even liberating women - but Iraqi women are better represented in their government and military than US women. Most people suspect that the US has more material interests. The popular slogan, "no war for oil", is closer to the truth than is Washington’s propaganda. The Bush administration cares about Iraq (as it has never cared about Pakistan, an unstable dictatorship with nuclear weapons and a plenitude of terrorists) because Iraq is in the middle of two-thirds of the world’s oil reserves. At first glance, this storyline seems plausible. Economic reality finally rebutted the neo-conservative plan. America and oil. America and Oil. It’s like bacon and eggs, Batman and Robin. As the old song lyric went, you can’t have one without the other. Once upon a time, it was also a surefire formula for national greatness and global preeminence. Now, it’s a guarantee of a trip to hell in a hand basket. America’s rise to economic and military supremacy was fueled in no small measure by its control over the world’s supply of oil.
If you want proof of that economic decline, just check out the way America’s share of the world’s gross domestic product has been steadily dropping, while its once-powerhouse economy now appears incapable of generating forward momentum. Militarily, the picture appears remarkably similar. If American power is in decline, so is the relative status of oil in the global energy equation. What a difference a decade makes. So here’s the question all of us should consider, in part because until now no one has: Are the decline of the United States and the decline of oil connected? Oil routes. Oil in the way of development.
Africa’s imported wealth. Fifteen conflicts. Senegal Confrontations between Senegalese and Casamance independence forces have caused thousands of deaths over 16 years. Guinea-Bissau Despite several cease-fires, in January fighting resumed between troops loyal to President Vieira and the rebel forces of General Mane. Troops from Senegal and Guinea intervened in 1998. They were replaced in January by an Ecomog contingent. Sierra Leone Ousted by a coup, President Kabbah was restored to power in February 1998 by Ecomog forces led by Nigeria. Nigeria The Delta, Nigeria’s main oil-producing region, has been on the verge of civil war while newly elected President Obasanjo prepares to take office. Angola Since independence in 1975 the country has had just five years of precarious peace. Sudan Since the start of the 1980s Khartoum’s Islamist regime has been fighting a civil war with the southern Christian/animist rebel forces.
Comoros The island of Anjuan seceded in August 1997. Lesotho Congo Democratic Republic of Congo Ethiopia-Eritrea Somalia Uganda. 'Everything here boils down to politics' The new Gulf oil states. WHILE the United States marshals its forces to attack Iraq, it is also engaged in an equally strategic battle several thousand kilometres away. This calm offensive, as the Nigerian daily The Vanguard (1) calls it, targets oil reserves south of the Sahara and is designed "partly to avoid antagonising its Middle Eastern allies and partly to avoid generating a perception that it cares only about Africa’s resources" (2).
According to Walter Kansteiner, US Under-Secretary of State for African affairs, African oil "has become a national strategic interest" (3). Ed Royce, the influential Republican senator for California and chairman of the Congress African sub-committee, maintains "African oil should be treated as a priority for US national security post 9-11" (4). Congress and the White House have yet to make this strategy official. With output of more than 4m barrels a day, sub-Saharan Africa already produces as much as Iran, Venezuela and Mexico combined. Victory for the Texan oil lobby. Nigeria: GoodWorks, bad behaviour. Nigeria: the young rebels. This story is symptomatic of political mores in Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil exporter (1).
On 21 November 2005 Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, who is governor of Bayelsa, one of the country’s six oil-producing states (2), reappeared at home after escaping from Britain. Following a tip from Nigeria’s economic and financial crimes commission, British authorities had arrested Alamieyeseigha, one of the most powerful men of the Niger Delta, as he passed through Heathrow airport. He is a member of the ruling People’s Democratic party (PDP) and a civil servant, officially earning $1,200 a month.
He was charged with laundering up to $13m, his passport was confiscated and he was held in custody in Brixton prison. Alamieyeseigha is accused of using embezzled public funds to buy an oil refinery in Ecuador and several houses abroad. The Ijaw people, Nigeria’s fourth largest ethnic group, believe Alamieyeseigha is being persecuted for supporting resource control. ‘Democrazy’ A volatile situation. Battle for oil in Nigeria. Nigeria in need of a miracle. When they arrive at the little airport at Warri in the Nigerian state of Delta, one of Nigeria’s two oil centres, foreigners traveling from Lagos have to present their passports to the immigration officers as if they were entering a different country.
The police automatically ask what company you work for, because no-one comes to Warri for pleasure. This miscellaneous collection of shacks, churches and red-light bars has always been seen as the African equivalent of a Wild West frontier town, with the Westerners as the (black) gold diggers, three rival ethnic groups as the Indians and a military governor in the unenviable position of sheriff. Everyone knows, though, that the law - and the wealth - are controlled by the big Western companies (1) exploiting the Nigerian hydrocarbon deposits in the Niger Delta on the federal government’s behalf. It is the big companies that people turn to when they want generators for lighting, jobs for their young people, schools or dispensaries.
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