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The Drug and Sex Lives of Boko Haram Terrorists

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Women abducted during the early years of the Boko Haram insurgency in Borno, northeastern Nigeria, ended up becoming wives of the insurgents. Hauwa Shaffi Nuhu spoke to those who recently escaped about an aspect of their abduction that has been under-documented — the sex life of the insurgents.

One hot night in the deep forests of Sambisa, in northeastern Nigeria, shortly after a military airstrike targeted the Boko Haram settlement where they lived, Amina Mohammed and her husband — alongside many members of the terror group who had fled the location during the bombing — are hurdled up in hiding.

 

They are under small, inconspicuous tarpaulin tents. It is very uncomfortable because they are trying not to attract attention to themselves, as an aircraft can still be heard hovering above their heads. This means staying still is the surest means of surviving. Still, in the middle of the palpable tension and ensuing danger, she sees her husband approaching her corner of the tent with a familiar expression. She knows what is to come and braces herself for it. 

There is no talk; he simply comes to her. The sex is aggressive. So aggressive that it numbs out her inner thighs, and she feels as though there is an organ from deep inside her that may spill out of her vagina. It is not an irrational fear or concern. 

She has a friend who experienced a curious incident she believes was prompted by her husband’s use of excessive and prolonged force during sex, which she says was so aggressive that her uterus fell out of her vagina. This friend was married to a Boko Haram member as well.

When Amina’s husband first enters her tent as she sits on a tarpaulin, she notices that he smells of drugs and so knows this is one of those nights he can go several rounds without tiring. The first round lasts two hours, then he rests and goes another round. 

He is her third Boko Haram husband, the other two having died — the first, by execution, and the second at the war front. So, by now, she knows the drill. It does not make it any less bearable.

“They make love like horses,” she says, referring to their energy. 

“They only care about their satisfaction […] Even when you complain of tiredness, they won’t let you be, as long as you are not on your period, they don’t care. They have sex anywhere, even when we are under attack. Sometimes, even under the tree.”

Even now that she has returned to town, she hears comments about her marriageability. 

“People see me and whisper among each other that no man can sexually please any woman who has been married to a Boko Haram member before.”

Uterine prolapse 

Uterine prolapse is a condition in which the uterus in a woman’s body falls out of place and protrudes out of her vagina. It usually needs to be pushed back into place. The prolapse occurs when the ligaments and muscles supporting the uterus get weakened and can no longer support it in place. 

According to Dr Ishaku Musa, a chief consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at the Gwarinpa General Hospital in Abuja, “forceful intercourse can damage the support structures of the womb. This now leads to uterine descent, also called uterine prolapse.”

This was what happened to Amina’s friend.

Illustration showing a dejected IDP at the tent of a Boko Haram terrorist. Illustration by Akila Jibrin/HumAngle.

Uterine prolapse is widespread among the women captives, especially due to limited access to medical supplies. Often, it happens during childbirth. Many of the women are girls who were abducted seven to 10 years ago and who have had to grow among the terror group and be married off to its members. Some of them are now radicals as well. 

Stephen Yusuf, a doctor at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH), explains that the uterus is kept in position by various ligaments. “Repeated pregnancy and delivery weakens these ligaments,” he says. “Or if there is a very large baby. And some other conditions that weigh down on the uterus from above.”

Amina says there wasn’t enough support for child birthing in the terrorist camps. Even though there were sometimes medical personnel, usually those abducted in Maiduguri and Adamawa, they were not enough for all the people needing help. 

“All the children I gave birth to there, I did it alone. No doctor, no help […] A lot of women die when giving birth. There is no proper care. When I had my last child, it was my friend that served as a midwife. We used a stick to cut the umbilical cord after the baby was born.”

Drug use among the terrorists 

On the day Amina asked her husband for ₦500 to buy tomatoes for food, he not only denied having the amount, he nearly became violent towards her. It would not have been the first time. 

But later that same day, he pulled a wad of naira notes from his pockets and gave them to her. It totalled ₦30,000 when she counted it. She became terrified. 

“How can someone that refused me ₦500 give me ₦30,000?” she remembers thinking. “I became scared.”

Still, she took it. After handing her the money, he hung his rifle around his neck, then walked out without first wearing his shoes. 

When he returned later at night, still barefoot, he informed her his money was missing. ₦30,000 to be exact. She reminded him that he had given her the money. He labelled her a liar and accused her of stealing it from his pockets.

Amina admits that before he gave her the money, she had seen him injecting himself with drugs, as he occasionally did. He was more of the pills-popping type, but sometimes he injected himself too. The effect usually lasted hours. 

“I told him he was not in his right senses; that I saw him take the injection, and what was it meant for?”

He told her to keep quiet, asking if she was looking to get him killed. The punishment for drug use amongst Boko Haram members is death. It did not stop the terrorists, including Amina’s husband, from using it in hiding. 

Usually, after he had injected himself, he would give her the bottles to bury in the ground, she says. But after she confronted him that day about his drug use, he became suspicious and scared that she might one day out him. So he ordered her to dig up all the bottles from wherever she had buried them, and then give them to him to dispose of himself.

File photo of bottles of pentazocine in a plastic bag, pictured among drug users in Kano state, northwestern Nigeria. Hauwa Shaffii Nuhu/HumAngle.

“I went and dug everything out with my bare hands and gave them to him, and he threw them away,” she recalls.

The pills were easier to take for him because then he could just claim they were pain killers. Once, she asked to take the pills to numb the pain she was feeling, and he warned her not to, saying that she would run mad if she did.

“They always say they are pain killers. One time I attempted to take the drug — it is red in colour — and my husband said I will run mad if I take it. How will I run mad when he has not? And they usually take it when they are about to go to the battlefield. They go out of their senses after taking these drugs.”

She did not know it then and would not until she left Sambisa forest but the pills her husband took were mostly tramadol, and the injections, pentazocine. 

But Boko Haram members do not use drugs only before going to the battlefields. They also used them in preparation for sex. It made them so energetic and powered up that they could spend an entire night on rounds and rounds of sex tirelessly, Amina says. It was also often aggressive. Another woman, Maijiddah, tells HumAngle that barely three months into her marriage with one of the men in Sambisa, she sought to end the marriage for this reason. 

But she could not ask for divorce explicitly. She, therefore, threatened to report his drug use to the terror group’s leadership because it was what powered his violent sexual activities. 

Before this, she had first tried to run away from the group. She was caught and locked up in prison for some time. 

“He was so into drugs that without it, he would be useless. He was also a dealer. He could spend an entire night on top of me. Sometimes he would sleep off on top of me, and if I tried to roll him off, he would immediately get violent.” 

Like Amina’s husband, he also partook in the use of tramadol and pentazocine. When she threatened to report him, he opted to divorce her instead. “He said since I wanted to destroy his life, he would rather divorce me, and he did. That was how I escaped that life.”

After the divorce, she was transferred to a building known as Gidan Zaurawa, she saysA Hausa term that translates to mean ‘House of the single-women.’ It was where women among the terror group who were either divorced or widowed were kept for three to four months before being remarried. 

Amina displays her scars gotten after an airstrike. Photo: Hauwa Shaffii Nuhu/HumAngle

How does Pentazocine work?

Pentazocine is an opioid in the same class as tramadol. According to Dr Yusuf, there are other opioids that can be injected for the purpose of ‘getting high’, like morphine and fentanyl but they are very expensive. Their effect is also short-lived. Pentazocine, known among drug users as ‘Penta’ for short, is cheaper than the rest, in addition to having a more lasting effect.

“It’s usually to numb pain but it also causes euphoria and makes them happy. That’s the major feeling. The feeling of euphoria,” Dr Yusuf says. 

“That euphoric feeling might be the reason he took that amount of money and gave it to his wife even though he would not have given it to her normally if he wasn’t under drug influence.”

Any religious justification?

Drugs — intoxicants, generally — are prohibited in Islam. And, since the terror group insists it is Muslim, the use of drugs is generally prohibited among Boko Haram members. 

However, the group has seen different stages of evolution and acceptance towards the vice. According to sources familiar with its operations, at some point it started to unofficially overlook the use of hard drugs, especially tramadol, on the basis of it being helpful to them on the war front and therefore necessary for their work. When certain members were questioned about its use, they argued that it usually helped them with strength on the battlefield. 

While the use of tramadol, therefore, has always been rampant among the group, it is usually mostly hidden. It is ferried through to the militants from Damboa, according to Maijiddah, usually the same way that bullets are sent down to them through canoes. She also explained that individuals partner with allies who are domiciled inside the towns. 

report published in 2018 described the pill as “the drug of choice for Boko Haram.”

Certain hard drugs have been used, too, by the group to aid amputation due to their limited access to medical supplies. Later, as the group evolved, they began to use the drugs for sex too. 

According to women who had been wives of eminent members of the insurgent group, hardcore members of the group are not punished for the use of hard drugs. Sometimes, even high-ranking members were punished, as long as they were identifiable as people with milder or less radical ideologies. 

“It’s usually the members that are not hardcore radicals that are punished for it,” one of the women says. “The ones that don’t know what they’re doing, that are only there to fight aimlessly.”

Culled From HumAngle

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South Eastern Governors Are Collaborating to End Sit-at-home, Soludo Says

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By Prosper Okoye, Abuja

The Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, has said that the governors in the South Eastern states are collaborating to put an end to the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra’s Sit-at-home order.

“Once we put in place the vigilante in the community, we are going to focus on opening up Anambra and ending the sit-at-home once and for all.

Because what had happened is that there are seven people pursuing a cow, but there are eight people chasing after those pursuing the cow, but now I think the reverse is becoming the case,” Soludo added in an Igbo proverb during a recent town hall meeting in Abuja.

The Sit-at-home order is enforced throughout the southeastern states on Mondays, the 30th of May every year, and every other day that the leader of the IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, is taken to court.

“Even though there are no killings in my area in Anambra, the news of the killings in other parts of the east makes people comply with the Monday sit-at-home order. People don’t open their shops in the big markets, and on the express, people don’t move freely. But in the inside areas, shops open, and people move about watching their backs,” a resident in Anambra, Ada, told DAILY ASSET.

Although the leader of the outlawed group, Emma Powerful, has denied IPOB’s role in enforcing the Monday’s sit-at-home order, and other violence in a recent media statement, the unknown gunmen still enforcing the order are tied to the group’s fighting arm, the Eastern Security Network.

However, DAILY ASSET learned that the “Unknown gunmen” are allegedly led by Asari Dokubo.

“Under former President Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria’s Southeast region, once the most peaceful, suddenly exploded in a wave of inexplicable violence. Prisons, police stations, court houses, electoral commission offices, and random public establishments were attacked and razed by armed gangs. Individuals were kidnapped, hacked to death, or gunned down in broad daylight by hooded men who escaped without a trace. Dr. Chike Akunyili, husband of Late Prof Dora Akunyili, one-time Minister of Information and DG of NAFDAC, was gruesomely murdered by these men in an attack with no obvious aim other than to instill public fear. Many went missing and were never found, and gloom descended on the peoples of five states best known for their industry and enterprise.

“For years, not a single one of those crimes was solved, and not a single culprit was successfully apprehended and prosecuted by law enforcement operatives. Officially, fingers were promptly pointed at IPOB, the Biafra separatist organization, for every incident – sometimes even before investigations formally opened. IPOB vehemently denied these accusations, but government propaganda was too strong. Many soon believed the government and joined in demonizing IPOB for mindlessly turning the region into a war front. Gradually, though, everyone began to realize that there was something fishy in the official position.

“Federal and state authorities had all the means to nab the gangsters but preferred to issue increasingly sterile press statements instead. It soon became clear that the armed forces, police, and other official security agencies were either in cahoots with the criminals or consciously turning a blind eye to their activities. In villages across the Southeast and North Central regions, locals began to notice that whenever the Army and Police showed up for patrols, Unknown Gunmen or armed “herdsmen” followed shortly afterwards. It was as if the patrols were surveillance missions for the bad guys. So, villagers took the hint and scampered for safety whenever those who were supposed to protect them reported for duty. It was even law enforcement officials who coined the moniker, “Unknown Gunmen” (UGM) to describe criminal elements they were paid to hunt down.

“People with experience in security matters soon concluded that Nigeria was dealing with “false flag operations” – crimes deliberately committed (in this instance by secret agents of the state) to incriminate an innocent party to achieve some dark political objectives. The problem was: There was no concrete evidence or proof to show the world. Those who were supposed to gather evidence were busy covering the tracks of the criminals.

“Well, that mystery lasted until Asari Dokubo, the voluptuous and loquacious Niger Delta warlord, visited the Presidential Villa in Abuja as a guest of the new Nigerian leader, Bola Tinubu, only two weeks after the latter’s inauguration. At the end of his visit, Dokubo addressed a press conference from one of the chambers of the villa, a rare privilege accorded only to close allies of an administration.

“Unable to control his impulses whenever in front of cameras and microphones, Asari said several things that have since become subjects of controversy. One of the few which almost evaded public scrutiny holds the key to the mystery of the Unknown Gunmen. He said he was “in charge of security in six states of the federation,” and his boys were responsible for some of the successes in the security situation of the country for which the Armed forces often get credit.

“To add color to this sketchy claim, he recounted an actual operational experience in these words: “… my men and I discovered a camp in Imo with hundreds of vehicles. Where are the owners? If you want me to show you pictures, I will show you. We discovered their camp, kicked their asses, and sent them to where they belong.”

“For the avoidance of doubt, Dokubo boasted: “I am a participant in this war. I fight on the side of the government of the Nigerian state; in Plateau, in Niger, in Anambra, in Imo, in Abia, and in Rivers state and in Abuja. Today you’re traveling to Kaduna on this road, it’s not the army that makes it possible for you to travel to Abuja, or travel to Kaduna, vice versa. It is my men, employed by the government of the Nigerian state, stationed in Niger.”

“In those words, Asari Dokubo blew his own cover. He owned up to working in an undercover capacity or as a non-state actor in a sector which belongs exclusively to the Federal Government. He owned up to extra-judicial killings. He mentioned specific theaters of operation – Imo State and the Abuja-Kaduna highway. He named those who hired and paid him – “the government of the Nigerian state.” It was like a painter framing his masterpiece.

“Three of those states named by Asari Dokubo (Anambra, Imo & Abia) are in the Southeast. Two others and the Federal Capital Territory (Niger, Plateau, and Abuja) are in the Middle Belt. Another state (Rivers) is in the South-South. All named territories have one thing in common in the last few years – random, unsolved killings and attacks on members of the opposition, rural farming communities, and government facilities. Anambra, Imo, and Abia were the epicenter of unknown gunmen activities in the period leading up to the last elections. Niger and Plateau were the main theaters of operation for the so-called “Fulani herdsmen.” Kuje Prison within the FCT was attacked, and inmates set free.

“So, what exactly was Asari Dokubo’s “security brief” in a region (the Southeast) where Army and Police checkpoints adorn nearly every hundred meters of the highway? What was he doing in a state (Imo) where a special military task force was assigned to “crush” separatist agitations? What was he paid to do for a country that boasts about a dozen security agencies with hefty yearly federal appropriations? More still, what “contract” is Asari desperately lobbying to retain with the new administration of President Bola Tinubu, for which reason he broke all protocols of civility to support the Tinubu candidacy and gain his attention before and during the last elections? Why has he been so vociferous with his anti-Igbo rhetoric in courting the Tinubu camp – knowing that Igbophobia is one of the favorite weapons of the APC in its struggle to retain power after the failed Buhari years?

“If you read between the lines and fill in the blank spaces, all the fingers point in one direction – Asari Dokubo is the man behind the mask of Unknown Gunmen. He was recruited and paid by the Buhari Administration, working closely with the Imo State Governor (Hope Uzodimma), to help deal with the threat of Biafra in Southeast Nigeria by unconventional means. Asari Dokubo, in turn, recruited, coordinated, and paid the men who carried out all those killings and criminal activities to blackmail IPOB and ESN. Plus, at least some of the mysterious attacks on villagers and facilities in the Middle Belt region.

“That’s what he meant when he boldly said, “I am a participant in this war.”

The trouble with people who talk too much is that they ultimately talk themselves into trouble. Asari Dokubo has now talked himself into deep trouble – beyond being broke. Not only has he antagonized the armed forces, which he was recruited to “help,” he has also given away the identity of the evil masquerade terrorizing the neighborhood.

“In trying so hard to corner the next “security contract” after squandering what he was earlier paid for hatchet jobs under President Buhari, Melford Asari Dokubo Goodhead has given away his own secret position. He is like a drunken and unprofessional sniper who uses his weapon indiscriminately. His enemies can see clearly where the deadly shots are coming from. His position in the bushes is no longer a mystery. The sniper himself is now a sitting duck. It’s only a matter of time before he too is sniped. That’s the way the cookie crumbles,” the source noted.

Meanwhile, the Enugu State governor, Peter Mbah, has been making efforts to stop the sit-at-home order enforced in the state. This includes the threat to sanction business owners that comply with the order by closing down their businesses and calls to arrest Emma powerful.

Military Victories:

Furthermore, the military has recently announced that some IPOB fighters were killed in Delta state, while others were arrested, and arms were recovered. This announcement sparked numerous comments on social media, with most questioning the truthfulness of the report, including a tweet by Emma Powerful dismissing the report as mere propaganda against the IPOB.

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Empowering Nigeria’s Tech-savvy Entrepreneurs

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The growing global demand for Information Communication and Technology (ICT) services has emboldened tech-savvy entrepreneurs to grab the opportunities inherent in the multi billion dollar sector to propel the world to new heights in various areas of human endeavours.

The global demand for ICT was heightened during the COVID-19 pandemic as people relied on technology to stay connected, work remotely and access essential goods and services.

When Nigeria set up the Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy in 2019, the aim is to fully exploit the opportunities in the sector, create new businesses and jobs, enhance security and transparency and diversify the country’s economy.

The country also launched the Digital Nigeria Programme on March 19, 2020, a key initiative to empower innovators and entrepreneurs with skills required to thrive in the emerging digital economy.

This was followed by digital training for Nigerians at a time the world stayed home to combat the spread of ‪COVID-19.

The Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy partnered a number of institutions to enable Nigerians acquire cutting edge digital skills within the comfort of their homes.

Within the period, the Ministry provided Nigerians with over 280+ hours of free learning and 85+ courses on key emerging technologies like Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Cloud Computing.

This is in line with the Ministry’s commitment to developing the capacity of Nigerians to use technology to solve problems. Thus, the Digital Nigeria programme helped to empower Nigerians to develop skills and build innovative solutions to tackle challenges affecting communities.

This aim is being largely achieved, because as at the second quarter of 2022, ICT had contributed 18.44 per cent to Nigeria’s GDP, making it the fastest revenue generator in the Nigerian economy

Digital and high tech savvy Nigerians had grabbed the opportunity and delved into the multi billion dollar industry, setting up businesses to drive the sector. Today, out of the seven Unicorns from Africa valued at 11.45 billion dollars , four of the unicorns, valued over 1 billion dollars each, originated from Nigeria.

According to the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami, the revolution in Nigeria’s digital economy, which began under President Muhammadu Buhari, has been remarkable.

‘‘All these unicorns in Nigeria attained this position during this administration. The first was in 2019, while the second, third and fourth attained this position in 2021.

‘‘57.14 per cent of the entire African unicorns originated from Nigeria while the market value of seven of them combined as at February 2023 is $11.45 billion, with the four from Nigeria contributing $7.5 billion,’’ Pantami said.

For clarity, Unicorn companies are those that reach a valuation of $1 billion without being listed on the stock market. It is the dream of any tech startup.

To push the boundaries of inclusiveness in the tech ecosystem, the Nigeria Startup Act was signed into law by President Buhari in October 2022. It is a bold step to institutionalise funding support for tech-savvy Nigerians.

“Today in the Act, there is a provision of supporting them financially. The government will set aside a minimum of N10 billion yearly in addition to other sources of funding that have been captured in the law,” Pantami said.

The law has also made clear provisions for tax breaks for Startups, ease of doing business, intellectual property protection and participation in public procurement, among others.

Nigeria has also raised broadband penetration now to 100 per cent following the deployment of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite Internet service. This will invariably spur more investment in ICT and its generative residue in the tech ecosystem.

However, in spite of these interventions towards making Nigeria a global talent factory in the digital space, the country’s startup ecosystem still faces significant challenges, such as access to funding, appropriate support infrastructure and skilled manpower.

‘‘These remain major barriers to the growth of the ecosystem, particularly for early-stage startups,” President Buhari acknowledged when he inaugurated a council to drive the implementation of the Startup Act.

He however said ‘‘the provisions of the Nigeria Startup Act 2022 represent an important step towards addressing these challenges and promoting the growth of a more vibrant and inclusive startup ecosystem in Nigeria.

‘‘Furthermore, implementation of the Act will lead to consolidation and further development of the gains recorded by Nigeria’s digital economy in the last four years, in the areas of contribution to GDP and increased revenue generation, among others.’’

To ensure the implementation of the Act, Buhari on April 5, 2023, inaugurated a 14-member National Council for Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship to be chaired by the President, while the Vice President will serve as the council’s vice chairman.

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, will however preside over the Council in the absence of the President and Vice President.

Other members of the council are Ministers of Finance, Budget and National Planning; Industry, Trade and Investment; Science, Technology and Innovation, and the Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria.

Also on the council are four representatives of the Startup Consultative Forum, one representative each of Nigeria Computer Society and the Computer Professionals, as well as Director-General, NITDA, as Secretary.

The inauguration of the council is significant to Nigeria’s determination to remain in the forefront of the remarkable growth of startups in Africa, having already raised up to over 4 billion dollars in Startups between 2019 and 2022.

Buhari said at the inauguration that Nigeria was enticed to join the race for a slice in the sector by the remarkable growth of startups worldwide, where over 400 billion dollars of venture funding was accessed in 2022.

‘‘This growth was fuelled by a surge in demand for digital services as people worldwide turned to technology to stay connected, work remotely, and access essential goods and services largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

‘‘In Africa, the startup ecosystem has also been growing at a remarkable pace. In 2022, African startups raised a record of 5.4 billion dollars in funding,’’ he noted.

In this respect, Nigeria’s target has been to fully harness its youth talents, lift the country’s economy to new heights, and propel its vision and commitment towards ramping the potential of its young and innovative population in the tech ecosystem.

According to the President, the Council will also serve as a critical governance structure in the implementation of the Startup Act.

It will ensure that government agencies, entrepreneurs, investors and support organisations collaborate with the startup ecosystem to achieve the goals of promoting the growth of a vibrant and sustainable startup ecosystem in the country.

‘‘I had earlier directed the Secretariat, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) to commence the execution of the implementation plan it developed.

‘‘One of the important aspects of the implementation plan is the development of the Startup Portal, which will serve as a platform that will drive the implementation of the NSA 2022 and collaboration between all stakeholders,’’ Buhari said.

No doubt, digital innovation and entrepreneurship are prerequisites to building an indigenous digital economy, as such the Council should consolidate the gains and achievements recorded in the Nigerian digital economy sector.

According to Pantami, the Buhari administration has set three unprecedented records of ICT contributions to GDP which should be surpassed.

“For example in the first quarter of 2020, ICT alone contributed 14.07 per cent to the country’s GDP. In the second quarter of 2021, ICT alone, without digital services, contributed 17.92 per cent to GDP while in the second quarter of 2022, ICT contributed 18.44 per cent.

‘‘Annually, this administration has been setting new records when it comes to ICT contributions to GDP,’’ the minister said.

Mr Gbenga Adebayo, Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunication Companies in Nigeria, said the digital economy sector has done very well.

“Today we are one of the largest contributors to the GDP, we are also one of the largest in terms of employment generation. The industry has become a driver of many other sectors of the economy.

“From the number of policies formulated by the Buhari administration, we have quantum leap in the development of the sector. We have seen rapid development of the industry,” Adebayo said.

He advised that the incoming administration should maintain and sustain the achievements in the sector, while also addressing local problems such as high energy cost, to further propel the gains in the ICT and digital economy. (NAN)

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The Agony of Ikarama Community

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FROM TAYESE Mike, Yenagoa

Ikarama is a Community under Okordia Clan in Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State which is also blessed with crude oil in large quantity that have brought untold hardship and penury to them. The oil that suppose to be a blessing is more or less a curse as a community with less than hundred thousand people cannot feel the impact of their God given resources.

What a sad and pathetic situation and the agony Ikarama people are facing might not be too different from other oil and gas producing communities across the Niger Delta.

Why Ikarama case is so peculiar is because the community has witnessed the highest frequency of oil spill since 1991 and till date  not much has been done to clean up the environment and proper remediation carried out within and around  the community and its environment.

The peaceful Ikarama Community that have been enjoying agrarian life in time past started their problem when oil was discovered in 1964 and from that time till date every valuable things to the Community have virtually been eroded due to the activities of the multinationals. Shell Petroleum Development Company started operation of oil exploration in Ikarama community and also Exxon Mobil since that same 1964 but nothing to show forth as an oil producing community.

The constant oil spills in the community has caused so much environmental pollution as the people can no longer farm while fishing activities has completely come to a halt since fish cannot survive in an Hydrocarbon polluted areas, most of the economy trees have gone into extinction while so much sickness and diseases have ravaged the community. Diseases like cancer, skin disease, infertility especially in men, blood disorder, asthma, still birth and other horrible disease due to the activities of the Oil Companies.

The Community cannot boast of a good health center, clean water and other social amenities that make life more meaningful despite the fact that every part of the community is blessed with crude oil. The recent incident that took Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) to the Ikarama Community was the case of a young man who was trying to make a living for himself and his family hired an excavator last year to excavate the ground for fish pond but surprisingly oil was oozing out of the ground and the same experience this year after spending so much resources only to end in futility.

Visiting the community is the Director of HOMEF and his team in company of Morris Alagoa an environmental Activist to see the extent of oil pollution in the community. Dr. Nnimmo Bassey described Ikarama Community as the capital of oil spill incident in the whole of Niger Delta because Ikarama community has the highest frequency of oil spill. It’s really shocking to see the level of pollution in this community. Meanwhile we heard that shell has come severally to take samples of the soil at various depths but till date, nothing has been heard about the result been released.

Nnimmo said what really brought HOMEF to the community was to see for themselves the sad situations of a community youth who have invested so much by trying to excavate the ground for fish pond last year and this year and surprising oil was coming out of the ground. He said, they want to make sure the result of various samples shell have collected so far is been released for proper action.

Not just NOSDRA only should involved in it but Ministry of Environment at both the state and federal level should get involved in the process of ascertaining the level of contamination, not just in one location but the entire community soil because oil pipeline transverses the length and breath of the Community and in fact other Niger Delta Community “we are very disturbed by what we are seeing that plants will remain stunted for a over a year. It says a lot about what the people have to contend with and it is a sad thing that government will just be carrying on as if nothing is happening, as if Niger Delta is just a place to be exploited, this is totally unacceptable.

He described the health challenge of the people as pathetic because anywhere there is activities of oil and gas activities, oil spill, gas flair and other unwholesome activities will follow like exposing them to hydrocarbon. They will definitely have serious health challenges like skin disease blood disorder, cancer, still birth infertility especially in men amongst the rest. So the critical thing is to clean up the environment, carry out heath audit across the Ikarama Community and the rest of the Niger Delta, take measure to remove the sickness and diseases hiding in the body of the people or already manifesting and they should make sure they stop completely the oil spill and the gas flares.

Shell and other oil companies must need to carry out thorough remediation in the community. The HOMEF Director said what is going on in Ikarama and the Niger Delta can be called environmental racism and they won’t do this in their country. So we are calling for enough clean up.

As the oil companies are planning to sell of their Assets and move to deep waters, obviously they are running away from responsibility and accountability and before they move to the deep waters operation they should consult with the communities that they are leaving and must be ready to clean up the environment they have polluted over the years and carry out proper remediation and make sure adequate compensation are paid.

Seeing the pathetic situation of the people and the community environment is Mr Alagoa Morris, an environmentalist, who said  monitoring the environment demanded factual and evidence-based data collection, recording and reporting. Alagoa who had written over seventy (70) reports on Ikarama oil spills called on Shell and other oil companies to be proactive when such happens for the safety of the rural dwellers, and the aquatic lives that the people depend on. 

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