East-West Road: Stranded commuters rain abuses on FG, contractor

BY JIMITOTA ONOYUME
THE rainy season is a period most travellers on the East- West road in the Niger Delta region wish should never be. This is due to the nightmare and bitter experience they go through on the road during the rainy season . For many years now, the road has been in a very deplorable state and the situation becomes worse for travellers whenever the rains set in.
These travellers could be trapped at a particular bad spot for the whole day.  The foregoing bitter experience played up again Wednesday and Thursday last week when hundreds of travellers were stranded for two days at the Ahoada West end of the road.
The distraught passengers  rained abuses on the Federal Government and Setraco, the construction company handling the  expansion of the road. They blamed them for the pain they went through.
One of the passengers who identified himself as Mr. Olumide said he left Omoku, in Rivers State for Lagos that Wednesday and got to the bad spot at about 9am.  After several hours at the spot, he said he had to cancel his trip when it dawned on him that there was nothing he could do to wriggle out of the long traffic caused by the bad spot.
“I had to call my wife that I was coming back home, so they could prepare food for me,” he told the Vanguard Features.  He was not alone in the pensive mood.
Hundreds of Edo, Lagos and Delta-bound passengers who could not make it through the bad spot after spending a whole day at the long stretch of vehicular traffic, also cancelled their trips and returned  to Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.
They looked exhausted as they spoke to the VF at one of the motor parks located along the  Waterlines area of the state capital. According to them,  they slept at a spot on the traffic and when it became very clear that there was no hope of meandering through,  they had to come back to Port Harcourt. They urged the Federal Government to take urgent steps to reduce the pain of travellers on the road.  The stranded commuters said they got to the spot on Wednesday morning and were trapped there the entire day.
Some said they slept at various hotels in Okogbe and other neighboring villages on Wednesday night. They said they woke very early the following day, being Thursday, to continue the trip only to be trapped again at the same spot for the whole day. Frustrated they had to cancel their trips.
VF was told that two trailers broke down at the bad spot close to the Mbiama bridge.   Describing their experience as very bitter, Mr Charles said it had become a re-occurring one on the road. He said it was really disturbing that the Federal Government was yet to fix the road.

East-West Road in the Niger Delta region…begging for reconstruction

He said he had been trapped about five different times at several bad spots on the road on many occasions.
A mother of five said she had to come back to Port Harcourt when she could not stand the long wait at the spot with her five children.
She said they were travelling to Edo State ahead of the resumption of their school. According to the lady who simply gave her name as Patience, some of the passengers in the commercial bus she boarded had to disembark to trek several kilometres to board another vehicle at the other end of the road
She said she could not do same because of her little children, stressing that the only option was to lose the transport fare they paid and return to Port Harcourt.
FG, SETRACO toying with our patience
Some of the passengers criticised  President Goodluck Jonathan for not doing much to fix the roads. Another stranded passenger who gave his name as Mr Paul said: “We can’t understand why this road is still in this state when the President is from this region. The area has Niger Delta Ministry, Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC. Mr President should reward the electoral support he got from this region by fixing this road urgently”.
Also a female student of the University of Port Harcourt who simply identified herself as Cindy, could not understand why the firm handling the expansion of the road and the Federal Government allowed travellers to go through such a harrowing experience.
Failure of governance
Mr.David said the state of the road was a clear indication that governance had failed in the country. “You can see that Setraco and the Federal Government are just toying with our patience in this country. Is the country at war for us to have this kind of ugly situation”? he queried.
Dave stated that it is only a country in crisis that could allow its road to deteriorate at such an alarming rate. “There is no justification for government’s failure to take care of its basic responsibility such as fixing of this road,” he cried.
Some little children who slept on the road on Wednesday night could not understand why they should.  According to Mrs Vero, her nine-year-old daughter kept asking if President Jonathan is aware that the road is that bad.
Mr Paul said there was also another bad spot before Ahoada when coming from the Warri end of the road. He said the spot, if not taken care of immediately, could cause problems for travellers soon.  He further drew the attention of Setraco to a bad spot in front of the company’s camp on the road and appealed to them to urgently address it before it creates another round of problem for travellers.
Some of the travellers pleaded passionately with government to prevail on the construction company to  repair all bad spots as it carries out the expansion of the road.
It would be recalled that about four months ago, a petrol tanker  veered off its lane on the East-West road and landed on its back, spilling its content and later burst into flames. About one 190 persons were allegedly consumed in the inferno. The deplorable state of the road was largely blamed for the sad incident.
Vanguard

The frequent fuel shortage

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Last week, Lagos residents experienced another round of fuel shortage which led to long queues at the few filling stations that had the product. Filling stations at Ikoyi, Mushin, Ikeja, Ogba and Isolo were mostly affected by the long queues. The scarcity of the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, made black market operators to sell a litre of the product between N200 and N300, up from its official price of N97, while transporters hiked fares by more than 100 per cent. Prices of goods and services also skyrocketted. Similar incidents were reported in Ogun State, Abuja, Kaduna and Owerri.
According to reports, the development crippled economic activities in Abuja and Kaduna as many filling stations were shut down. The story was the same in Owerri, the Imo State capital. The spokesman of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Fidel Pepple, attributed the scarcity of petrol in Lagos area to the closure of the Arepo line that supplies the product to Lagos depots. However, he assured that the Pipeline and Products Marketing Company (PPMC), a subsidiary of NNPC, had enough fuel to meet national demand for at least 30 days. It will be recalled that petrol vandals attacked and killed three NNPC engineers carrying out repair work at the ruptured distribution pipeline in Arepo village in Ogun State. Since that heinous incident, motorists in Lagos and Ogun states have witnessed the return of long queues at filling stations.
If the Ogun and Lagos scarcity is due to broken pipeline, what is the cause of the scarcity of the product in Kaduna, Abuja, Owerri and, perhaps, other places in the country? Industry sources claim that the scarcity is further fueled by the refusal of oil marketers to resume importation of fuel due to the N200 billion fuel subsidies owed them since last year under the Petroleum Subsidy Fund (PSF) scheme. Whatever is the cause of the almost nationwide fuel scarcity, let the government do something urgently to address the situation and ensure that there is enough supply of the product nationwide. It is shameful that Nigerians experience frequent fuel shortage. Efforts should be stepped up in ensuring that new refineries are in place so that there can be enough fuel for domestic consumption.
The current reliance on imported fuel for our local use is not tidy at all. That may be partly responsible for the frequent fuel shortage and return of long queues at filling stations. We condemn the heinous killing of the engineers that were detailed to fix the vandalized pipeline at Arepo and urge the NNPC and the security agencies to redouble their effort in securing and repairing the facility. It is quite unfortunate that our oil pipelines are insecure. In other countries that produce crude oil, pipelines are well secured. The problem of oil pipeline vandalization is rare. Government and the relevant security agencies must ensure that our oil pipelines are secure at all times to prevent recurrence of the ugly incident of the killing of oil workers on routine maintenance duties as witnessed at Arepo village.
To reduce pipeline vandalization, we urge oil-prospecting companies to involve communities that the pipes pass through in the task of safeguarding them. If this is done, it will go a long way in stemming the tide of pipe vandalization in the country. Let the NNPC move fast and repair the vandalized system that led to the current fuel scarcity in Lagos and Ogun states. While doing so, it must ensure that adequate security is provided for those undertaking the repairs. Whatever is the cause of the problem should be addressed forthwith so that normal fuel supply can return to the two states to stop the hardship being experienced by motorists in accessing the product.
The vandalized system should not be used as an excuse for imposing fuel scarcity on the people of Lagos and Ogun states. Let the government rise to the occasion and ensure that there is adequate fuel supply to all parts of the country.
The Sun Editorial

Chevron Gets Ultimatum in N’Delta Communities

Chevron Headquarters

Ejiofor Alike

Chevron Nigeria Limited has been handed down a seven-day ultimatum to provide employment to Ijaw graduates from Egbema and Gbaramatu Kingdoms in Warri North and Warri South-West Areas of Delta State.

The company has also been asked to employ 39 Egbema-Gbaramatu applicants, who were successful in the Ogere training programme and interview for the Project Operating Team (POT), for the Escravos-Gas-To-Liquid (EGTL) project.

Handing down the ultimatum in a statement at the weekend, the Niger Delta Indigenous Movement for Radical Change (NDIMRC) also called for the reinstatement of Ijaw indigenes, who were allegedly sacked by the company on February 7, 2011.

President of NDIMRC, Mr. Nelly Emma; Secretary, John Sailor and Public Relations Officer, Mukoro Stanley, threatened that the group would join forces with KOMBOT Employment Front to disrupt the company’s operations in Egbema and Gbaramatu territories.

According to the Niger Delta group, Chevron has grossly marginalised Ijaw graduates from Egbema and Gbaramatu kingdoms in the area of employment.

NDIMRC stated that the unemployed Ijaw graduates had attended different interviews organised by Chevron for employment but were not considered.

“Whereas their counterparts from the South-West and South-East were recruited and are currently working with Chevron Nigeria Limited,” said the group.

“We are in total support of the earlier ultimatum given to the company by KOMBOT Employment Front. We are ready for a total show-down with Chevron Nigeria Limited in the days ahead,” the statement added.

The group urged the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke; Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mr. Andrew Yakubu;  and the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Mr. Ernest Nwapa, to call the management of the company to order.

It also warned the oil company against what it called blind-folding the people with its existing Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU) with the Egbema/Gbaramatu Communities Development Foundation (EGCDF).

NDIMRC accused the company of conniving with some selfish leaders to undermine the general interest of the people.

ThisDay

Crude oil exports to hit 6-month high in November

Nigeria’s crude oil exports are due to hit a six-month high in November as almost all its oilfields pump near recent peak levels, provisional loading programmes showed on Monday.
The Federal Government will sell around 2.12 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil in November, up from 2.05 million bpd scheduled to load in October and 1.84 million bpd in September.
Provisional loading schedules are subject to minor changes but the programme indicates Nigeria plans to ship its highest volume since May, when it sold just less than 2.13 million bpd.
Scheduled maintenance work and some acts of sabotage on oil production facilities in the onshore Niger Delta have reduced output over the last few months.
A total of 72 full or part cargoes of crude oil will load from 17 different production streams in November, the schedule shows, with several streams close to recent highs.
Six full cargoes and three part cargoes will load over 230,000 bpd of distillate-rich Forcados crude in November, up from 194,000 bpd in October, reflecting strong demand for crudes which can produce large quantities of heating oil ahead of the northern hemisphere winter.
The country will export around 380,000 bpd of Qua Iboe crude oil in November, up from 368,000 bpd in October.
BusinessNews

Nigeria approves $6m for new ECOWAS Parliament Office

Nigeria has approved $6 million to build a new office for the ECOWAS Parliament, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, Speaker, ECOWAS Parliament, said on Monday.
Addressing the second ordinary session of the parliament in Abuja, Ekweremadu said the Federal Government had already paid the money into the account of the ECOWAS Parliament.
“We have notified the President of the Commission of the release of the sum as well as the intention of the parliament to apply it to the purpose for which it was secured.
“Tender processes and drawings are ongoing.
“Since we have the money intact, I see no reason why we should not complete the building project in a record time,’’ he said.
Ekweremadu who expressed gratitude to the federal government, also said that other financial provisions were being made to renovate the current building in Abuja currently occupied by the parliament.
The speaker said the need for renovation followed concerns expressed by the members over the state of the building.
He said the financial provision was included in the 2012 budget of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), adding that work would begin immediately after the session and would last for a year.
“You would recall that we have variously expressed concerns over the state of infrastructure we met in this complex.
“We have faced the challenges of leaking roof, non-serviceable elevators, lack of offices for the members of parliament and some members of staff, and unsuitable parliamentary auditoriums and committee rooms, to name a few.
“I therefore approached the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency, Dr Goodluck Jonathan (GCFR), as well as other relevant Nigerian authorities such as the presiding officers of the National Assembly, over this matter.
“A financial provision was therefore made for infrastructural rehabilitation of this parliamentary complex in the 2012 budget of the Ministry for the Federal Capital Territory.
“I am therefore happy to inform you that a contract has already been awarded for the total rehabilitation of the parliamentary building.
“The contract covers the full reroofing of the complex, reconfiguration of the plenary auditorium and the interpreters’ booths to meet the taste and needs of a modern day legislature, provision of brand new elevators, among others.
“Work will commence immediately we are done with this session and will last for about one year.
On the enhancement of powers, Ekweremadu expressed delight at the progress made and urged members to use their positions to reach out to relevant government organs in achieving the aim.
He reiterated that the enhancement of powers of the parliament would complement efforts of national parliaments of member states rather than compete with them.
“ I expect us to reach out to all ECOWAS institutions and organs, visit our Heads of State and Government, especially the Chairman of the Authority of Heads of State and Government, His Excellency, President Alassane Ouattara of Cote d’Ivorie and the Chairman of the African Union, His Excellency, President Boni Yayi of Benin Republic.
“We must take our advocacy to regional elder statesmen, founding fathers of ECOWAS, and influential voices in the sub-region. We will also partner with the press to drive our message home.
Amb. Kadre Ouedraogo, President, ECOWAS Commission, received the draft supplementary Act on the enhancement of the powers of the ECOWAS Parliament in August.
The document is expected to be communicated to the authority of Heads of State and Government and other relevant organs of ECOWAS.
The session is expected to consider and adopt the Draft Report on the 2013 Budget and also adopt the Draft Reports of the first Ordinary session of May 2012.
The session is expected to end on Oct. 9.
BusinessNews

Boko Haram Ambush Kills 5 JTF, Setting Off Revenge Rampage By Nigerian Troops Against Civilians

By SaharaReporters, New York

Suspected members of Boko Haram ambushed and killed 5 members of the Joint Task Force (JTF) on Saturday as troops were moving in on a gathering of suspected sect members at a wedding in Maiduguri. The troops were acting on intelligence from the JTF in Kano, but they were ambushed before they could reach the wedding.

The sect reportedly uses weddings as a way of sharing intelligence and distributing weapons and cash for its operations in Maiduguri and Yobe state.

A JTF source said their work was hampered by the crippling of telecom networks in the area as the militant sect has mostly destroyed telecom masts in many northern states where they are active.

The killing of the five JTF operatives is being avenged by the Nigerian JTF which sometimes acts like "vigilante squad". The JTF is made up of secret police and armed soldiers. Residents in Gwange ward said the JTF has been attacking their homes and killing people labeled as sect sympathizers indiscriminately.

SaharaReporters contacted Lt. Col. Sagir Musa, a JTF spokesperson in the city, but he claimed to be out of the area and lacked enough information to comment on the current situation in the troubled city.

The JTF recently claimed it killed several commanders of the islamic sect in Kano, Maiduguri and Yobe states. That appears to have infuriated the sect and led to several revenge attacks in recent days.

Is Bola Tinubu On To Something? By Okey Ndibe

Okey Ndibe

Last week, former Governor Bola Tinubu of Lagos State got the attention of Nigerian senators. In a comment he made at a public forum in Abuja, Mr. Tinubu proposed that the Senate be scrapped from the constitution, leaving the House of Representatives as Nigeria’s sole legislative body.
Mr. Tinubu’s words: “We have kept complaining about the cost of governance and the recurrent expenditure. But we have never examined the structural problem of even the constitution that we are operating. Why do we need two Houses of the National Assembly, whereas the House of Representatives representing the smaller constituencies is enough in the same number of population? Why not get rid of the Senate for a slim and better legislative activity? Let us start examining that.”
Well, several serving senators “examined” the proposal and failed to find it funny or impressive. As the Nigerian Punch reported last Sunday, numerous senators “excoriated” the former governor – who happens also to be a former senator – for his advocacy. According to Punch, senatorial adversaries “questioned Tinubu’s logic, and stressed that his wife was a serving senator. Besides, his party, the ACN has 17 senators in the red legislative chamber.”
For me, those broad objections are ill-thought and untenable. If anything, the fact that the proponent’s wife is a senator and his party, the Action Congress of Nigeria, occupies 17 seats in the Senate adds to the power and urgency of his case for abolishing the Senate. In fact, it won’t be odd in the least were a current member of the Senate to suggest that the body be expunged from the constitution. It would be silly to respond to such a prescription by demanding that the senator demonstrate her/his seriousness by resigning.
Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba (PDP, Cross River Central) offered a more substantive and interesting response to Mr. Tinubu’s advocacy. He argued, as reported by the Punch, “that the multiplicity of ethnic nationalities meant that minority rights must be protected for democracy to function.” He contended that a bicameral legislature “is adopted in a heterogeneous society,” that the “Senate is a representation based on equality,” and that scrapping it would amount to denying “minorities proper representation.”
Mr. Ndoma-Egba’s is not an argument to be easily dismissed. Nigeria is a politically vexed entity, a harvest of ethnic, religious and social tensions and crises. As its two most important writers, Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe, have noted on different occasions, Nigeria is, at best, a space without a nation (Soyinka) or a nation that is yet to be founded (Achebe).
Let’s put the issue of minorities aside for the moment. No Nigerian’s rights are protected in any effective way in the current arrangement. Wait a minute, I must correct that statement. I meant to claim that the only people whose interests are served or protected in present-day Nigeria are the small number of political henchmen (senators included) and their cohorts in the business world. These are the ones who reap without sowing, who do the big crimes but hardly ever do time in jail, who daily work to wreck Nigeria and, in return for their impunity, receive national honors and other rewards. If you doubt this conclusion, consider last week’s revelation that businesses owned by numerous members of President Goodluck Jonathan’s inner circle of friends, associates and advisers owe more than a trillion naira to Nigeria’s beleaguered commercial banks.
The vast majority of Nigerians have no say in the affairs of the country, no way to register their voices, and no rights or interests that the Nigerian state is inclined to respect. And now, let’s talk about minorities. Senator Ndoma-Egba’s claim is hardly controversial: Nigeria’s minorities often have it worse than everybody else.
Still, one wonders whether the Senate as a body based on equal representation has any record of serving minorities. I seriously doubt it, but I’m willing to concede that Mr. Ndoma-Egba might know something that I don’t. In that spirit, I have a question for him. Pray tell: In what specific, concrete ways has the Senate advanced the interests of Nigeria’s plethora of ethnic minorities? I’d like to know how, and where, the senators have done battle for this country’s weakest elements.
There are, it seems to me, two elements in Mr. Tinubu’s argument. One is the explicit contention that Nigerians spend far too much on their country’s law-making apparatus. By erasing the Senate from the constitution, we’d cut costs and have more funds to spend on infrastructure and other critical needs. The second argument, which Mr. Tinubu merely implied but did not voice, is that the country’s legislators have been a terribly incompetent bunch, a high-priced collection of mediocrities who appear either ignorant or indifferent about the uses of legislation as a nation-building tool.
I speak not only of the Senate or even of the National Assembly. One is hard put to it to find a single legislature in Nigeria’s thirty-six states that remotely measures up to the role that a law-making body ought to play in a vibrant democracy. It’s often easier to focus on the failures of the president, governors and local government councilors. By comparison, the legislatures operate in relative obscurity, under the radar of public scrutiny. All too often, our inept, wretched legislators escape the censure they richly deserve.
Perhaps because the Senate is expected to be the more august of the bicameral bodies, its ineptitude stands out. In recent times, it’s become a warehouse for former (incompetent) governors, retired (undistinguished) generals, and the politically connected – this category including Mr. Tinubu’s wife. In more than 12 years of our “nascent” democracy, the Senate has done little, if anything, to deeply affect the lives of Nigerians in a positive direction. But, oh, all the ways these men and (a few) women have pitched hundreds of billions of naira into their private pockets!
If there’s palpable frustration about the huge funds gobbled up by legislators, it is also because Nigerians hardly get anything in return. Nigeria’s minimum wage is less than N20000. Millions of Nigerians with families take home that measly sum that can’t buy meals and drinks for three in many restaurants in Abuja and Lagos. Yet, every three months or so, each senator in Abuja as well as each member of the House of Representatives haul away three or four times the salary of President Barack Obama. And the only constant is that, each year, they demand – and receive – more!
Even if these lawmakers knew what they were doing, Nigerians would still have a right to begrudge them their astonishing salaries and allowances. Once you factor in the fact that, with the exception of a smattering of men and women, Nigerian legislators are certified incompetents, you begin to understand why they are sometimes tagged legislooters.
In the end, Mr. Tinubu’s suggestion does not address the problem it presumes to tackle. Even if we sacked the Senate and cut the membership of the House by two thirds, the National Assembly would still remain an untenable burden. There won’t be any guarantee of a wiser, more attuned lawmaking machinery. In short, Nigerians won’t get legislative value for their money.
Nigeria needs to drastically cut the cost of our bloated, confused “democracy.” That would entail setting up independent institutions to scrutinize the activities of Nigeria’s public officials. It’s an open secret that the Nigerian president and each governor maintain a stash of cash in their office and dispense such funds to visiting traditional rulers, misguided student leaders, and sundry groups. That is proof that the system discourages accountability and transparency.
The Nigerian president, governors and local government chairmen should be denied fraudulent access to public funds in the name of “security vote.” If there’s a security vote, it should be handed over to the police, the armed forces, and the intelligence services concerned with security matters. Next, there’s no justification for feeding the Nigerian president and governors as well as their families from public coffers. The US president, governors and mayors pay for their families’ meals, toiletries and other personal expenses – and there’s no earthly reason for pampering their Nigerian counterparts.
With regard to legislators, Nigerians ought to be prepared to do something even more radical. Twelve years into the current “democratic dispensation,” there’s ample proof that full-time legislatures don’t make sense at all. The Nigerian constitution ought to be amended to allow for the National Assembly as well as state houses to sit only when necessary. Rather than their elephantine salaries and allowances, members of the various legislatures should receive sitting allowances for the days they are present to work.
Two benefits will flow from adopting this prescription. One, Nigerians will see a dramatic drop in the cost of doing legislative business. Two, we would have removed the cash incentive from the legislative sector. There would be improved odds of attracting more enlightened, visionary and patriotic citizens into the legislatures. As for those who are in it for their guts, many of them would be forced to look for something else to do.
Saharareporters