Harnessing Efforts To Stop 80 Billion Dollars Oil Loss Per Day With Niger Delta Oil and Gas Conference

The book titled ‘Dying Voices of Gongs’

Economically Progressive Port Harcourt

It is a reality that has remained undisputed, publicly acknowledged and that the capital city of Rivers State and indeed to entire state is the country’s economic base. It is the highest producers of the crude oil that has sustained Nigeria’s economy.

Most people do not know much about Niger Delta. It is in this region that Port Harcourt city is located.

 Today , as a proof of what span of capacity it has , it has been  admitted into  the World Energy City Partnership. This places it as the third of such countries in Africa and   running behind Luanda and Equatorial Guinea.

 
The admission followed its presentation by the Port Harcourt Chamber of Commerce led by its chairman at the May 2008 conference in Houston, Texas. There a public acknowledgement of the new dimension of the role that  Port Harcourt plays globally. The attestation is that the city is an economically progressive city.

 
Nigerian’s President,Umaru Musa Yar’Adua told newsmen on the 8^th July,2008,two days before he declares open  the  oil and gas conference and mini exhibition at Abuja,that  the acceptance is another landmark achievement of his administration.

President of the Port Harcourt Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, Prince Billy Gillis Harry said the admission  places it in a better position for global investments.

According to him, WEPC is a platform for the partnership in energy among the 15 member-cities in the world and operates as an elite oil activity city recognised globally and would also benefit from the attention member cities enjoy.

Soaring High Cost Of House Rents

As the nation’s population increases, there is a manifest insufficiency of the availability of houses for them.Especially, as the rural-urban drift of the population becomes,largely uncontrollable.

 

Added to this, is the crave of Landlords of houses in these urban areas to continue to increase rents placed on living apartment they provide to members of the public.The tenants, therefore come under grave inconvenience.

 

The inconvenience, also include the landlord’s unwholesome desire for love and determination to evict a tenant who is unable to pay the new rentage without the reguired period of quit notification of three months.

 

The situation is the same in all cities including Port Harcourt and its surburbs.There, a room’s monthly rentage goes for between five thousand naira or more in the old Port Harcourt Township and three thousand, five hundred naira and more in other parts of the metroplolis.

 

This is, however,different from a rather lower rent on houses charged in other cities like Ibadan,Aba,Owerri,Lagos and Warri.  

 

Tenants, often times, are compelled to seek help elsewhere for financial support and sometimes, go borrowing to raise the required money to pay for the, rather, irrational rentage in Port Harcourt.

 

But there are indications that respite may come the way of tenants,across the country, if the public pronuncement by the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice,Mr Machael Aaadookaa,of the Federal Government of Nigeria,to checkmate the skyrocketing house rents across the country is vigorously enforced.

 

But would the needed commitment ever come?

 

 If it does come, Landlords would not have the whims to exploit tenants anymore or for a very long time.

 

However, the public pronouncement has been greeted with a mixed feeling.But the feeling also accepted it as a position long expected.

 

They said it was a misnorma for Landlords to operate without a guide on their exploitative overtures and be allowed to make living unbearable for the tenants.

 

Workers are said to spend about 50% of their monthly income on rent alone in Port Harcourt and less in other metropolitan across the country.

 

Living apartments, often times, lack necessary facilities for the comfort of the tenants. The Landlords care less of this situation once they have collected their yearly rentage.

 

There is the wonder why rents on a room should compete with the rent on one or two bedroom flats in other states.

 

This is a big problem and it is seen as a deliberate neglect by government to enforce the required standard.The outcry is that the Federal Government should speedily address the problem so that workers and other citizens can own property to make majority of the people not to be victims as well as tackle the house shortage challenge.

 

But some Landlords also reacted to the public pronouncement complaining that most tenants do not pay up their rentage when it was due.

 

They also pinned the high rentages on the high cost of buiding materials and maintenance which make them to request for one or two years up- front payment.

 

Some legal practitioners described the pronuncement as a verbal statement that does not have the force of Law.

 

They said the tenancy laws as adopted by the federating states, provide measures that are actionable in the event of a formal complain.

 

They said the Attorney general would need to consult widely with states and other stakeholders to achieve an effective and realistic rent in any state.

 

While it is observed that the existing laws arer obsolete and needed to be reveiwed, there is a wonder if what it would be reviewed soon.Is it what Mr Machael Aaadookaa meant, when he made the public pronouncement? or will he  promulgate another.

 

The public would also need to know the proper defination on the short and long term lease tenancy laws.  

Love Life Parents Should Live

  Love has remained the best gift parents can ever give to
their children.This is what is used to build a healthy family.

 

Demonstrable  love in the family need to be shown independent of how the husband and wife feel towards each.No agression is transferred to the children.

 

A chat with some parents reveals that whenever a querrell ensured, there is a momentary breakdown of communication,goodwill and ceasure of any pet name that they call themselves.

 

At such times, the snag is each party expects the other to put an apology forward first.

 

But if this is not repaired, the corrosion that eats deep into the fabric of the family life is disasterous.

 

Both the man and the woman need to be partners in this venture to achieve the needed result the partnership should achieve.

A great partnership it could be.

 

 The children,with the attractive love instinct,become dragged in into the nugget.They see the truth in the love that is  demonstrated by their parents.What they do not see of their parents at home they will not consider very important and useful.The love they see, moulds what type of love and  nurture, they should build.

 

 Sure, they could argue or querrell, but the maturity shown at such times also gives the children, melting heat of any doubt in their minds that any disagreement can be worked through and resolved.

 

If husband and wife do not get determined from the outset, to make their relationship work, worked hard at it and nurture it  over the
years to grow,it may not bud that love.

 

To build a very successful family life, when it gets manifested, could become the envy of the society in which they live.It may have taken tolerance,prayers,crying, rejection and lone times.Those may not be seen.

They may not also consider the prevalency of weakness in the strenght that is overt.

 

This is because husband and wife worked together, outlining their guiding rules that has cloud their weaknesses and  rather projected their strengths.

 

Such qualities count less when it comes to showing the concern,cuddling, attention and the play time that the family should share together.

 

Words matter.and the words teach, whether positively or
negatively.Uncomplimentary unglowing terms should be minimized if not afforded.

 

Orders must be kept within the frame of the sense of  flexibility both to the children and hired workmen.No negative banter on  issues.What the children see teaches them more about  about loving and respecting people.Build them with positive words to power their creativity.

Economic Suicide Local Content Policy Tackles

There is a likely economic suicide or a snapping of its strenght if the productive work and commercial activities are in the hands of foreign investors, predominantly.There will be heavy dependence on importation of raw materials and personnel.allAfrica.com

 

The attendant cost stiffles the economy, as efforts to recoup the cost takes a hard toll on the economy and frustrates any meaningful growth.Local firms that were barely surviving would gradually get aground.

 

The local consuming market will be exploited as the cost of goods would be beyond their economic power.The cost of food will be high also.A rising cost of food contributes to hunger.

 

 Hunger today threatens the poor in Nigeria and worldwide.When the price of food is high, food is put out of reach of the most vulnerable and the urban poor.There may be a new face of hunger in the face of abundant food especially when a large number of people can not afford them.

 

While business risk remains a major component of the challenge, the skepticism that the local content policy has been faced with must be broken.This is preventing many to access the benefits the policy affords.

 

Taking the policy to its full actualization is systematic.There is a broad avenue to access fund and the market.The centralbank of nigeria is at the lead to drive small and mudium industrial enterprises into the mainstream of the policy.If the fund is available and the market accessible.why is there difficulty to fully maximize the benefits.

What Government is Doing With Local Content Policy

 

A new business environment is being created.One of transparency, commitment and productivity.A rejuvenation that accelerates the attainment of industrial status for the nation’s economy.Government is setting up practical standards that would transform domestic technology into a world class.

 

The challenge it brings, is to create, where there is an obvious absence, a climate for entreprenuers to take, seriously, the option to acquire technology and to transfer it to local partners productive activities.

 

The National Assembly is currently deliberating on the local content bill.When passed and assented to, as law, by President Yar’Adua, it would give verve to the effort geared at enforcing a strict adherence to the policy.

 

While government is re-organizing the regulatory and monitoring agencies for effectiveness and efficiency in their roles, a review of the tarrif regime on essential goods and services is also on-going.These are identified indicators needed to establish local industries and encourage them to expand.

 

Attractive incentives are being articulated to encourage local hybrid centres of excellence and to improve relevant local infrastructure towards capacity building.

 

Deserving local industries are said to be receiving the encouragement to set up,with  demonstrable ability and commitment, an investment that is long term,to create huge economic opportunities.Government is now willing to  assist local companies to access affordable funding for contract implementation as well as to review tax and royalty regimes.

 

Local Content Benefits

Local entreprenuers are chided to be adventuristic in their investment undertakings, to dare the odds,break the wind and begin the production of local goods that meet the consumption needs of both local and international markets.

 

The more creative the ideas they develop become, accompanied with the investors’ confidence, the more likely the success they could make.There are greater economic prospects local entreprenuers can charge at, to break the total dependence on the foreign technology, especially the challenge, technology transfer had posed.

 

It is because technology and technical expertise dominates modern business environment,globally,Nigeria is diving out of the deep waters.A countrry should be a producing economy to be relevant,producing goods and the machinery.The operating firms should be value creating outfits.Not only in the commercial market but in its staff constitution.

 

How much of what is lost can the staff regain? Of the years, time, skill and relationship.This is a petinent concern.But firms must replenish the resources of the worker.Of course, a firm and the country are known for what they produce.

 

Providing local workers requisite technical training and capacity can increase their productivity.The continious and substantial investment in local capacity builds a workforce competence, increase technical experience and create a national pool of professional that can hold their horns in the international  market place.

 

Maximizing Local Content Economy Policy

 The local content policy of the Federal Republic of  Nigeria is another dimension,the government has adopted, to grow the national economy.The focus being to encourage  a larger number of indegenous enterprenuers to manifestly get on a sustainable basis in all economic activities.

 

As a review policy,it delineates the functions of designated agencies in the manufacturing and other sectorial commercial activities.So that those whose responsibility it is to supervise and ensure strict adherence to set standards can make the economy witness a fair compitition that allows local industries to thrive.

 

This decision it is implementing to make the country a producing nation.At present,Nigeria is predominantly a consuming country.A dominant feature that is seen in the heavy relevance of the productive process on foreign personnel and raw materials.The services provision is also marked with this faeatures.

 

No matter the justifiying qualification,sometimes it is believed to be flimsy, to create job for foreigners.This is so because some of them do not have the kind of qualification that should place them above the indigenous university graduates.But they are imported and given the status of  ‘experts’.

 

The cost of hiring digs deep into the economy.With their salaries are paid to their foreigh accounts,capital is continouosly on a flight out of the country.The knowledge of the job they come with do not also get transferred or taught to local entreprenuers and workers.This practice delimits and frustrates efforts to grow the technology capacity  of the country.

 

Steming Capital Flight

The cost of retainership is high.One man is also seen as a king among other workers.This is suicidal and places the economy, by inference the nation at a risk.

 

If a low education level is identified among the indigenous work force,then educational institutions can be encourage to include sience vocation teaching in the curriculum[technical training].

When foreign technology capacity is domesticated, local production will increase.

 

Technology Transfer

Training and retraining of qualified and teachable citizens will eventually become the pool from which technical hands can be drawn.Such training comes with commitment.It is often more efficient on the job[training].Where superior officers consciously creates the atmosphere for their subordinates under study them.

 

It is the same superior who can attest to the competency  and also certify them.Then there will be a cross posting of the mentee to partner’s facility.

 

Denying employable youths to be employed and gain the experience is against the local content policy imperative.When the opportunity is denied the youths, community voices become harsh and peacefull production process stands the risk of being interupted.

 

Local content target

The focus is to develop local economies, increase savings of foreign exchange and raise the budgetry requirements for freight cost. It will also create the climate that encourages increase manhour for productive activities in the local economy and stocks of technology expertise.

Technology growth is a global issue but localizing its gains to impact positively on the lives of the people is what the policy seeks to rake in.

THE CHILD CRIES FROM PUBLIC DRAINS

It could be a cry in response to a stinging from ‘soldier ants’ or a last breathe effort.At such screeming, some well meaning members of the public could be attracted.

The revelations is one,two, three, then a fourth.. Now,  a public discourse has ensued arising from every week stories of babies being abandoned on the streets,refused heaps and drainage channels that has inundated the airwaves and pages of newspapers.

The babies are often between one day and two weeks.  A self examination of what had gone wrong in the social interactive network among the people in the urban areas to cause this growing incidence of abandoned babies is been investigated.But the disconnect among family members, neighbour and a breakdown of the value system in the society has been attributed to this incidence.

  But it is manifest that the economic hardship that is been experienced by the people is compelling them to reject the responsibility that comes with fending for the delivered babies.Increasingly,one square meal is difficult to find on the table for most people.  

The jobs are not there,micro-businesses hardly strives because the incentives are near non-available or the information on how to access them is not known to the larger number of the population.A mother who can not feed herself can not feed a dependant.  

However, experts said that other factors contributes to this phenomena.The Assistant Director of the Family Support Health Centre, Elelenwo,in Rivers State,Mrs Ngozi Nwoke said when pregnant women come to the centre,health,social and economic history is obtained and kept but the service provided does not extend beyond the centre which makes it difficult to know what they do later.

 She also connected the act to promiscous lifestyle of women and teenage girl who may have been raped.This brings with it a social stigma or a hindrance to the business gains that comes with the promiscous living.The cases are common among teenage girl suggesting that parents are not paying adequate attention on their children.  While are capable to make a woman discard her baby.

 A sociologist, Dr. Steve Wordu, with the university of Port Harcourt said most women come experince mental condition at labour to make them discard their babies.An action they regret later but could not find the babies when they come back for them because they would have been picked up by the government or members of the public.  

 When a woman is not sure of the paternity of the expected child, fear that the child that is coming may not be accepted because the woman is not legally married.He also said the near absent of effective healthcare system and social workers worsen the situation.

The lack of watchfulness in the neighbourhood,poor health campaigns,congestions in the cities,low knowledge on how to enforvce health rights and obligations make the challenge enormous.  

A psychologist, Dr. Glory Amadi sees anxiety.low self concept,aggressive lfestyle and psycho-social influences on people force them into the act.He said if the situation is allowed to continued, there will be fear among people especially knowing that they could wake up the next morning to find a baby in the gutter,backyard or roadside, near the neighbourhood.

                
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Paternity Row: Man Throws 9-Month-Old Son Into Lagoon

  *’He Is Not  My Son, My Wife  Is A Flirt’

 It was an unbelievable  story as a 21-year-old man  narrates  to crack homicide detectives at the State Criminal Investigations Department  (SCID), Panti how he threw  his nine months old son into the Lagoon in Lagos State.

 Sule Salau from Ondo  State said his wife is a flirt and he sees no reason  to habour  and train a child whom he believes  is a product of his wife’s infidelity with her man friend.Salau  has no other alternative than to get rid of the child and continue his life rather  than allowing  the matter to bother  him.

Salau, an ex-convict  in an encounter with National Mirror in his police cell at SCID,  narrates  his story  which made him a guest of the police.

According to him, he met his wife Sarah in 2006 in Lagos where  they became friends  before she  packed her loads and join him  as his wife  without any formal  marriage.“Infact I don’t know her father  and mother  because  she said both died  before we met, I know that  she is from Ijaw area of River State but I know  some of the sisters who used to come to my house”, Salau said.

According to him, he was arrested in 2007 by the police when they were “raiding” combing the nooks and crannies of the Yaba  area in search of criminals.“I was charged to court and sentenced  to six months  imprisonment  and that  was when  my wife was pregnant and gave birth to a baby boy. One day she called me and  told me that the baby was not mine that the boy belongs  to one Alhaji so I asked her to take the baby away  but she refused  so we  continued to quarrel  over the matter”, he narrated.

“My wife is an hair dresser while I am a wood seller. We live at Popo  area of Yaba. So when I returned form the market  one day I asked her  to bring  the child and follow me and she did. In fact  I don’t know what happened to me  (he paused and  pretended as though he has a mental problem.)

“What happened to you?” National Mirror enquired? In fact, I don’t know I used to have mental problem. Sometimes I used to feel as though kokoro (maggot) is in my brain  and has been disturbing  me”, he said. When asked whether he is mentally ill, Salau replied: Yes sir.

He continued his story at National Mirror’s prompting:“We  trek to the river side at Iddo area, I  collected the child and  threw him into the river that was about  12.20p.m. in the night and my wife  ran away weeping”, Salau stated.

Police said Sarah,  the wife, could not bear the loss of her child and she went to  report the matter to  Salau’s brother who went to lodge  the report at  the Sabo Police Station where the suspect  was  arrested  and detained for interrogation.

 

XAVIER  NDAH reported the’ Paternity Row: Man Throws 9-Month-Old Son Into Lagoon’ on National Mirror-8^th April 2008.

 

 

NIGERIA:A COUNTRY PROFILE

This article was published on BBC<18March’08> and has been placed here for readers of this page to increase their information content.

After lurching from one military coup to another, Nigeria now has an elected leadership. But it faces the growing challenge of preventing Africa’s most populous country from breaking apart along ethnic and religious lines.Political liberalisation ushered in by the return to civilian rule in 1999 has allowed militants from religious and ethnic groups to express their frustrations more freely, and with increasing violence. OVERVIEW OVERVIEW | FACTS | LEADERS | MEDIA Thousands of people have died over the past few years in communal rivalry. Separatist aspirations have been growing, prompting reminders of the bitter civil war over the breakaway Biafran republic in the late 1960s. AT-A-GLANCE Politics: Parliament blocked moves to allow President Obasanjo to stand for third term in 2007. The army was the dominant political player until 1999 Economy: Nigeria is Africa’s leading oil producer; more than half of its people live in poverty International: Nigeria plays a prominent role in African affairs; has withdrawn troops from oil-rich Bakassi peninsula to settle border dispute with Cameroon Timeline The imposition of Islamic law in several states has embedded divisions and caused thousands of Christians to flee. Inter-faith violence is said to be rooted in poverty, unemployment and the competition for land. The government is striving to boost the economy, which experienced an oil boom in the 1970s and is once again benefiting from high prices on the world market. But progress has been undermined by corruption and mismanagement. The former British colony is one of the world’s largest oil producers, but the industry has produced unwanted side effects. The trade in stolen oil has fuelled violence and corruption in the Niger delta - the home of the industry. Few Nigerians, including those in oil-producing areas, have benefited from the oil wealth. Nigeria is keen to attract foreign investment but is hindered in this quest by security concerns as well as by a shaky infrastructure troubled by power cuts. FACTS OVERVIEW | FACTS | LEADERS | MEDIA Full name: The Federal Republic of Nigeria Population: 148 million (UN, 2007) Capital: Abuja Largest city: Lagos Area: 923,768 sq km (356,669 sq miles) Major languages: English (official), Yoruba, Ibo, Hausa Major religions: Islam, Christianity, indigenous beliefs Life expectancy: 46 years (men), 47 years (women) (UN) Monetary unit: 1 Nigerian naira = 100 kobo Main exports: Petroleum, petroleum products, cocoa, rubber GNI per capita: US $560 (World Bank, 2006) Internet domain: .ng International dialling code: +234 LEADERS OVERVIEW | FACTS | LEADERS | MEDIA President: Umaru Yar’Adua Umaru Yar’Adua of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) won the presidency following the April 2007 elections which were condemned by local and foreign observers, who alleged widespread vote-rigging. Umaru Yar’Adua He had served as governor of the remote northern Katsina state since May 1999. A little-known figure in national politics, he was chosen by outgoing President Olusegun Obasanjo as his successor. He comes from a prominent political family. His father was a minister in the first government after independence and his late elder brother was an army general who served as deputy to President Olusegun Obasanjo when he was Nigeria’s military ruler during the 1970s. When he was elected governor of Katsina in 1999, he immediately declared his assets. In his bid for the presidency he promised to fight corruption. Mr Yar’Adua’s health has been the subject of media speculation and during the election campaign he travelled to Germany for treatment. He was born in 1951 and was a chemistry teacher until he went into business, then politics, in the 1980s. Mr Yar’Adua took over from Olusegun Obasanjo, whose election in 1999 came at the end of a period of military rule. Mr Obasanjo won a second term in 2003. A bid to keep him in office for a third term was blocked by parliament. Mr Obasanjo began his first leadership stint in 1976 after the assassination of Brigadier Murtala Mohamed in a failed coup. In 1979 he earned the distinction of becoming Africa’s first modern military leader to hand over power to civilian rule. MEDIA OVERVIEW | FACTS | LEADERS | MEDIA Nigeria’s media scene is one of the most vibrant in Africa. State-run radio and TV services reach virtually all parts of the country and operate at a federal and regional level. All 36 states run their own radio stations, and most of them operate TV services. A lively press includes influential dailes and popular tabloids Licences have been granted to private broadcasters; there are around 17 private radio stations. There is substantial take-up of pay TV. Private TV stations in particular are dogged by high costs and scarce advertising revenues. Moreover, legislation requires that locally-made material must comprise 60% of output. Viewing is concentrated in urban areas. Radio is the key source of information for many Nigerians. International broadcasters, including the BBC, are widely listened to. Rebroadcasts of foreign radio stations were banned in 2004. There are more than 100 national and local newspapers and publications, some of them state-owned. They include well-respected dailies, tabloids and publications which champion the interests of ethnic groups. The lively private press is often critical of the government. Media freedom improved under President Obasanjo, but restrictive decrees remain in force. Citing high levels of violence, the media rights body Reporters Without Borders has said Nigerian journalists operate amid a “prevailing culture of brutality”. The press The Guardian - influential, privately-owned national daily The Champion - Lagos-based daily Daily Times - Lagos-based government daily The Punch - privately-owned daily New Nigerian - government daily, separate editions in Lagos and Kaduna The Daily Independent - Lagos State-based daily Daily Trust - Abuja-based daily Leadership - Abuja-based daily The Comet - private, daily Vanguard - Lagos-based, widely-read daily This Day - widely-read Lagos-based daily The Daily Sun - Lagos-based Newswatch - weekly news magazine Tell - weekly news magazine Television Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) - state-run, operates scores of national and regional stations; national services broadcast in English Degue Broadcasting Network (DBN) - private AIT - private, owned by DAAR Communications, broadcasting in Lagos and Abuja and via pan-African satellite service Minaj TV - private, serves eastern Nigeria and operates cable and satellite service Silverbird TV - private, serves Lagos, Port Harcourt Galaxy TV - private, serves western Nigeria Channels TV - private Radio Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) - state-run, operates “Radio Nigeria” stations in Abuja, Lagos, Ibadan, Kaduna, Enugu Voice of Nigeria - external service, via shortwave Ray Power - private, owned by DAAR Communications, runs music-based and speech-based FM stations Freedom Radio - private, based in northern city of Kano News agency News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) - government-owned