Nigeria - Worse than Iraq?

[Al-khiyal]

Nigeria's president and onetime hope for a stable future is leading his country toward implosion — and possible U.S. military intervention:

With an ethnically and religiously combustible population of 130 million, Nigeria is lurching toward disaster, and the stakes are high — for both Nigeria and the United States. An OPEC member since 1971, Nigeria has 35.9 billion barrels of proven petroleum reserves — the largest of any African country and the eighth largest on earth. It exports some 2.5 million barrels of oil a day, and the government plans to nearly double that amount by 2010. Nigeria is the fifth-largest supplier of oil to the United States; U.S. energy officials predict that within ten years it and the Gulf of Guinea region will provide a quarter of America's crude.

It is hardly surprising, then, that since 9/11 the Bush administration has courted Nigeria as an alternative to volatile petro-states in the Middle East and Latin America. In 2002, the White House declared the oil of Africa (five other countries on the continent are also key producers) a "strategic national interest" — meaning that the United States would use military force, if necessary, to protect it. In short, Nigeria's troubles could become America's and, like those of the Persian Gulf, cost us dearly in blood and money.

Moreover, Nigeria's problems far exceed those of the petro-states the administration hopes to sidestep. They begin with the ad hoc nature and impossible structure of the country, which even a leading Nigerian nationalist called "a mere geographical expression." The entity of Nigeria was cobbled together to serve London's economic interests. Having established the Royal Niger Company to exploit resources in the Niger River Delta, and expanded inland from there, the British found themselves by the late nineteenth century ruling territories and peoples — some 250 ethnic groups in all—that had never coexisted in a single state. They ran Nigeria as three separate administrative zones, divided along ethnic and religious lines. The Muslim north, arid and poor but with half the country's population, would eventually gain supremacy over the army. Through a succession of military dictatorships, it would dominate (and plunder) the fertile and oil-rich but disunited south, whose largest ethnic groups — the Yoruba in the west and the Igbo in the east — together represent just 39 percent of the population. Democracy, too, has favored the north, which, united by Islam and voting as a bloc, has determined the outcome of virtually all elections. In Nigeria, where one generally votes for one's religious or ethnic brethren, democracy has deepened divisions rather than healed them. Whoever holds the presidency faces an insoluble dilemma: either let the country break up, or use violence to hold it together......

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[Al-khiyal]

June 2, 2006 -- The U.S. presence in the Gulf of Guinea is said to be a result of the U.S. Navy protecting Nigerian oil plants from terrorists, Nigeria's The Guardian reported.

A report published in the Nigerian newspaper Wednesday said that the U.S. Navy was patrolling the Gulf of Guinea, home to Nigeria's biggest oil field, Bonga Project, to prevent the field from being targeted "by terrorists and other maritime criminals."

Adm Harry Ulrich, commander of U.S. Naval Forces in Europe and Africa, told The Guardian: "We hear a series of stories for our presence in the Gulf of Guinea, but I want to say that we are concerned for Nigeria and we want to help her protect the region from the hands of maritime criminals.

"In all parts of the world, the U.S. and any good nation want safe coasts for those countries who are supplying our/their energy, and that is why we are often there. So there is nothing to fear for Nigeria."

There had been fears that the ships were in place for military purposes, but Ulrich, speaking at the Seapower for Africa symposium in Abuja, said that though the Nigerian federal government was trying to secure the area, the U.S. ships were in the region as a result of their concern for Nigeria, and their dependence on its oil.

U.S. warships protecting Nigerian oil

[nesreen]

I saw a Heartbreaking documentary about the NIger Delta community . their land is so rich in oil yet they lack jobs , roads, schools , health centres, decent infrastructure, electricity , not even Clean water . the Oil companies are polluting the river and not doing anything to clean it up .

when the Ogoni people demonstrated peacefully , the Generals sent the Apache (US) to kill a few to quieten them down . the Niger Delta people said we do not want to cause trouble , we just need a little share in the Rich resources IN OUR AREA which are not benefiting our people , is that too much to ask .

Unfortunately , EXXON ,Chevron MOBIL and SHELL , put their fingers in their ears and continue to contribute in the Ogani People despair and misery .

[Al-khiyal]

THE United States government has listed Nigeria among the 29 trouble spots in the world. Nigeria was ranked among such countries as Afghanistan, which topped the list, Iraq, Indonesia, Iran, Liberia, among others.

Other countries on the ranking by the US government are Algeria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, East Timor, Eritrea, Haiti.

The remaining countries on the list are Israel, Cote D’Ivoire Coast, Kenya, Lebanon, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Uzbekistan, Yemen and Zimbabwe.

The US government has, therefore, asked its citizens to avoid travelling to these countries, describing them as volatile spots in the world.

According to the report, the warning on Nigeria was being issued over what it called the deteriorating security situation in the country, reflecting in the number of kidnappings occurring in the area and the alleged killing of hostages in the land.

“The Department of State continues to warn US citizens of the dangers of travel to Nigeria. The lack of law and order in Nigeria poses considerable risks to travellers. Violent crimes committed by ordinary criminals, as well as by persons in police and military uniforms, can occur throughout the country and tend to peak between November and January,” the statement by the department said.

According to the report, the security situation in the Niger Delta had deteriorated significantly. “Travel to the region remains very dangerous and should be avoided,” the statement further added.

The statement also said apart from the Niger Delta area, crimes had continued to take place in Lagos, Abuja and other parts of the country.

“Crime in Lagos and Abuja is an ongoing problem. Some expatriates have been robbed in the outlying Lagos suburb of Lekki and in Abuja, the Maitama area has seen a series of home invasions. In a working class section of Lagos Mainland, an October 25, 2005 clash between police and residents left several dead.

“Even Victoria Island and Ikoyi, which are generally safer than other parts of Lagos, have experienced attempted bank robberies and have seen an increase in smash-and-grab car robberies, including some involving some expatriates,” the statement added.

The statement, therefore, advised American citizens travelling to Nigeria and the other 28 countries listed to register through the State Department travel registration website or register directly with the nearest US embassy or consulate.

U.S. ranks Nigeria among world’s trouble spots - Afghanistan, Iraq top list

[Al-khiyal]

January 2, 2008 -- Thirteen people died after armed militants attacked targets in Port Harcourt, Nigeria's main oil industry hub, a military spokesman said today.

Bands of armed men invaded the city on Tuesday morning, attacking two police stations and raiding the lobby of a major hotel.

Four policemen, three civilians and six attackers were killed, said Lt Col Sagir Musa, a spokesman for the military task force in charge of security in Nigeria's troubled oil region.

The Niger Delta Vigilante Movement, led by militia leader Ateke Tom, claimed responsibility for the attack, the group's spokesman Richard Akinaka told Associated Press.

The group's strongholds in the creeks surrounding Port Harcourt have come under military bombardment in recent days. On Sunday, military planes bombed suspected training camps thought to be run by the militia group in mangrove swamps and creeks in the Okirika district, south of the city.

Tom later threatened reprisal attacks on the oil hub, where the major western oil companies have bases.

The group is one of several armed movements active in the southern Niger Delta oil-producing region. Nigeria is Africa's leading oil producer, and fifth-biggest source of US oil imports.

The attacks have cut the country's oil exports, standing at 2.5 million barrels daily, by more than 20% in the last two years, and have added to the upward pressure on global oil prices.

Some of the groups claim to be fighting for increased access to oil wealth for inhabitants of the Niger Delta, who remain desperately poor despite the huge wealth pumped from their backyards. Other groups have simply targeted western oil companies, seizing oil workers in exchange for ransom.

More than 200 foreign oil workers have been seized in the region since attacks resumed two years ago. Most were released unharmed after payment of a ransom.

Thirteen dead as militants attack Nigerian oil port