April 7, 2007:
There are a growing number of
stories in the Nigerian media expressing doubts about the ability of Nigerians
to solve their political and economic problems. The major problem is
corruption, and the eagerness of even the best regarded elected leaders, to
shirk their responsibilities and concentrate on stealing the wealth they have
been entrusted with. A recent example of this can be seen in the provincial and
national elections scheduled for April 14 and 21. Preparations are apparently
poorly organized. This is believed the result of incumbent politicians trying
to insure they will be reelected. There is a growing use of heavily armed gangs
to coerce people to vote for the guy who sponsors the gang with stolen public
money. Public utilities don't work, the most noticeable being the electricity
supply, which regularly goes off for hours at a time. Crime is rampant, and
many of the police are more interested in stealing, than in catching
crooks. There are efforts to curb the corruption, and each successful
move in that direction is big news. But overall, the crooks appear to be
winning.
April 5, 2007: In the Niger Delta, the oil
companies, particularly Shell, have reached agreement with tribal, political
and criminal organizations, so that they can resume production in the western
part of the Niger Delta. Over the last year, 500,000 barrels a day of
production has been halted. This was mainly because of attacks on oil
facilities by political organizations like MEND. But the halt in production did
not help the locals, or MEND. Thousands of locals lost their jobs because of
the suspended oil extraction and pumping to the coastal terminal, where tankers
pick it up. MEND supports itself through oil theft (by punching holes in the
pipelines, and stealing the leaking oil), as do many purely criminal gangs. But
with no oil being pumped, there was none to steal. The lost production also
meant that the oil companies and the government were losing $30 million a day
in revenue. The government was unable to must sufficient military, police or
political power to pacify the area. So the oil companies went and negotiated
their own deals. The pitch was pretty blunt, if you want the oil flow turned
back on, the tribes, rebel organizations and gangs will have to agree to allow
that to happen. How much money this is costing the oil companies is not known.
The oil companies believe it will take about five months to repair damage and
get full production going again. What is ominous here is that the government
had little to do with this deal. In the past, the oil companies have made many
similar, but smaller, deals with unhappy locals. But now the oil companies are
doing this sort of thing on a much larger scale. The locals prefer to work with
the foreign oil companies because the company executives are not corrupt, as
well as being more efficient that government officials.
April 4, 2007: Four kidnapped foreigners were
released after ransoms were paid.
April 2, 2007: Two more foreign workers were
kidnapped in the Niger Delta. Over 70 have been grabbed so far this year.
March 31, 2007: Gunmen in speedboats boarded
an off shore oil rig and kidnapped a British oil worker. This one was not
political, but for ransom. This makes four foreign oil workers (two Chinese and
one Dutch) held captive in the Niger Delta.