pollution

The Nigerian Federation and its Colonies: The Niger Delta and Bornu

Post author:Grimot Nane Zine
Post published:June 29, 2017
Post category:Corruption Governance Niger Delta Crisis
Post comments:0 Comments
Reading time:6 mins read

As much as many may try, it is not possible to make sense of the current political realities of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by any conditions that preceded the Civil War (1967-70). This is not a case for perceived discontinuity but exceeding and sudden transformation. Nigeria only became a full state after the beginning of the Civil War, considering her acquisition and use of state power via centralisation. This is because during and after the war, Nigeria ceased to be an intended ‘uniform federation’ and opted since the administration of General Yakubu Gowon to be a two-tier state; the federation and its colonies. Nigeria is truly an “auto-colonial state” today, a fact obscured for 50 years. (more…)

Bombing Niger Delta To End Bunkering?

Post author:Grimot Nane Zine
Post published:November 19, 2015
Post category:Corruption Niger Delta Crisis
Post comments:1 Comment
Reading time:5 mins read

Bombing Niger Delta To End Bunkering?

The Government of Nigeria (GON) has sought to undertake a very unusual method of stopping or deterring “oil bunkering” in the Niger Delta; the use of military bombing for minor bunkering assets. This is a true example of the famed “fire brigade” approach associated with GON when seriously challenged with problems of technical, complex or elusive nature. It is easy for the GON to deploy Joint Task Force (JTF) and other heavy-handed security outfits to the Niger Delta with ‘genocidal consequences’ to “stabilise” the nation but it is surprisingly impossible them to make substantial and sustainable developments in the region or clean-up the heinous ‘ecocide’ manifested there endlessly. (more…)

Nuclear Power in Nigeria: Another Crazy ‘Pole Vault’

Post author:Grimot Nane Zine
Post published:July 3, 2015
Post category:Corruption Ecocide Governance Niger Delta Crisis
Post comments:0 Comments
Reading time:5 mins read

For many years the Government of Nigeria seems to be managed by a class of “capability pole vaulters”. Government officials tend ‘pole vault’ the nation into many projects they lack the capability, will or wherewithal to execute or sustain effectively. The latest pole vault project is the establishment of nuclear reactors as power plants to provide conatsnt electricity in Nigeria. This is a nation that cannot independently manage its uncomplicated thermal and hydroelectric power plants with any efficacy or credibility. (more…)

Benzene Holocaust in the Niger Delta?

Post author:Grimot Nane Zine
Post published:April 7, 2014
Post category:Ecocide Niger Delta Crisis The Environment
Post comments:0 Comments
Reading time:6 mins read

Benzene Holocaust in the Niger Delta?

The Niger Delta is a top “ecocide hotspot” on planet Earth. Minor and massive oil spillages are frequent and ubiquitous in the Niger Delta, around seven thousand of them. These spillages cause untold pollution and ecocide with highly devastating impacts on the lives and livelihoods of the people who reside in the region. There is evidence of a sleek everywhere on the water. The Niger Delta is a landmass of the riverine terrain bordered by a coastline with the Atlantic Ocean. Pollution is also on the land in the villages, in the towns, on farms, in houses, in schools, in churches. And it is in the air. Animal and plant life in the ecosystem suffer a terrible terminal fate. However, this is an endless perennial story, usually more of the same. Can it change for the better?

(more…)

Educating a Shell Worker

Post author:Grimot Nane Zine
Post published:November 19, 2010
Post category:Corruption Ecocide Governance Institutions Niger Delta Crisis The Environment
Post comments:4 Comments
Reading time:13 mins read

Ever since ex-President Obosanjo threw the gauntlet to Nigerians in general in to prove the acts of corruption of General Babangida (rtd) (Nwaobi 2004), it has become fashionable for specially interested Nigerians to ask for proof of obvious crimes and malfeasance carried out against the nation and its people by either privileged individuals or organisations with a sole purpose i.e. the presumed impossibility of individuals to provide the proof asked for. That is a very delusional precedent for Nigerians to uncritically follow since in reality there is abundant proof of Babangida’s acts of corruption. (more…)