tagged w/ Umaru Yar'Adua
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One year ago, Nigerian police and soldiers killed more than 130 civilians while responding to deadly sectarian clashes in the central Nigerian city of Jos. Since then, Human Rights Watch says that the Nigerian government has not conducted a single prosecution, nor has it even begun investigations.One year ago, Nigerian police and soldiers killed more than 130 civilians while... more
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Joint Task Force attacks Niger Delta Villages. Killing civilians and burning down houses in Gbaramatu kingdom.Joint Task Force attacks Niger Delta Villages. Killing civilians and burning down... more
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Nigeria is due to complete the final handover of the potentially oil-rich Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon, ending a long-standing territorial dispute.
The flag swapping ceremony in the main town on the peninsular, Abuna, has been scaled down due to security concerns. The majority of the local population considers itself Nigerian, but an international court ruled in favour of Cameroon in 2002. Over the past year about 50 people have been killed in clashes.
The International Court of Justice ruling was based on an early 19th Century colonial agreement between Britain and Germany. Nigeria challenged the ruling, but finally agreed to relinquish the territory two years ago. Part of the territory was handed over to Cameroon two years ago.
A spokesman for Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua said the process was "painful.... for everyone including the president", but added that Nigeria had made "a commitment to the international community and we have a responsibility to keep it".
Cameroon said the final handover would mark "the end of a crisis". The transfer of Bakassi had been described by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon as "a model for negotiated settlements of border disputes".
A group of Bakassi leaders have been seeking compensation from the Nigerian government. About 90% of the population of the area is made up of Nigerian fishermen, estimated to number up to 300,000. An area has been set aside by Nigeria for people moved out of Bakassi, but it has no access to the sea, campaigners say. Bakassi has a rich fishing culture and people say the handover has destroyed their way of life. The Bakassi peninsula juts out into the Gulf of Guinea close to the Niger Delta. Its offshore waters are thought to contain substantial oil fields - untapped because of the border dispute - which Nigeria and Cameroon will now work together to explore.
Nigeria is due to complete the final handover of the potentially oil-rich Bakassi... more
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The only explanation for this problem seems to be unbelievable incompetence!
"Nigeria will not be able to generate enough electricity for its population until at least 2015, President Umaru Yar'Adua has said. Speaking live on television, the president answered critics who said he had been slow to address the problem.
Nigeria is the eighth largest exporter of oil but cannot generate enough electricity to meet the needs of its 140 million-strong population. Before his election, President Yar'Adua promised to take swift action on power. But three finished gas-fuelled power stations are unable to generate electricity because Nigeria has sold all its gas for export, the president said. These deals with international oil companies would have to be renegotiated over seven years, he added.
"It is only now that the nation realises the critical importance of gas to the national economy," the president said.
During the televised press conference with a select group of journalists he declared his intention to spend some of Nigeria's savings from oil earnings on repairing the nation's power stations and transmission grid. Under the previous administration of Olusegun Obasanjo, the government-run power company was split up so parts of it could be sold.Power stations are rotting away unfinished, and imported generator turbines are still in ports unable to be moved years after they were delivered, a parliamentary investigation found in March.
There was no way investors could be attracted to the industry as it was he said.
"Today, still, most of the companies are still publicly owned," President Yar'Adua said. "Emergency legislation" will be needed to allow the government to spend some of the billions of dollars in oil revenue it has saved in the central bank on power, he said.
For every barrel of oil sold $59 goes to the national budget. The rest is held in an account which has now swelled to $12 billion. By law this has to be shared among the state governments".The only explanation for this problem seems to be unbelievable incompetence!... more
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