Nigerian blogs this week

This week, Chippla comments on “What Oil Has Done“, in a write-up where he scrutinizes the development of Equitorial Guinea's foremost airport, as well as the militancy in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria, that is as a result of unfair distribution of wealth generated from Nigeria's oil export. In his own words:

“… My focus however is on the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, which produces the bulk of the country's oil wealth. Unlike Kuwait, Qatar and Norway, Nigeria simply does not produce enough oil to make it wealthy (if it depended entirely on wealth from oil). Centralized control of wealth—in which the Federal Government allocates funds to State and Local Governments—has meant that inhabitants of resource rich parts of Nigeria haven't been guaranteed good infrastructure or amenities. Of recent oil-producing states began receiving 13% of earnings from the oil or gas obtained from their territories. While this appears to be somewhat significant, these states actually demanded a minimum of 25%…”

Nigerian Times also talks about the unrest in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, in a blog entry titled: “SHELL, ASARI DOKUBO AND THE NIGER DELTA CRISIS

“The majority of the employees of the Royal Dutch Shell Overseas are more interested in collecting their fat salaries than in social responsibility in the host communities. And the corrupt kleptocratic governments of the host communities have made matters worse by plundering the natural resources of the host communities and squandering the revenue allocations and accruing profits from crude oil and gas exports since when the Royal Dutch Shell first struck its commercial oil well in Nigeria in 1956, at Olobiri now in Bayelsa State in the Niger Delta region to date.”

The banning of same sex marriages and any campaigning around the issue was the subect of much discussion in the Nigerian blogosphere. Black Looks writes

not exactly surprising news – still dont quite understand the point of this since homosexuality is already illegal in the country. The law is backed up by the usual homophobic rants. What is worrying and of more immediate concern is the ban on those campaigning for human rights

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African Shirts visits Egypt and makes comparisons with Tunisia and Nigeria and talks about the novely of being a black man in Egypt.

Black people here are a bit of novelty, so the black African press corps walk around waving their hands like they would on the red carpet in Leicester Square. As usual, I arrived without a proper plan, because these things are best done spontaneously. I knew I needed to go to Port Said, since Nigeria is based there, and all the initial groups games will played here. When I landed, I was a approached by a man who turned out to be a friend of Obafemi Martins, and was going in the same direction. So we saddle up together and got a taxi to Port Said. Two hours on the road. Not one pothole, abrasions every once in a while, but nothing a modern car suspension couldn’t handle.

Emmanuel Oluwatosin shares his thought about the new unified licencing regime in Nigeria, and stated:

“Unlike before, when operators were restricted to specific service segments like mobile, fixed, Internet, among others, they can now provide a basket of services on their network signalling government’s tacit move towards convergence of various ICT services. According to the regulator, “for the post exclusivity period all wireless licences shall not be segmented in terms of mobile and fixed service categories. Once a spectrum is allocated, licensees shall be free to offer voice, data or multimedia services as they deem fit.”

Gbenga Sesan's blog entry, titled: “E je ki a maa so oro naa…” examines news reporting by the leading African media houses and insists on Africans reporting what happens in Africa, writes about a yet-to-come pan-African TV news network and also encourages Africans to blog about Africa.

“…In fairness to African broadcasting, one must however note the role that the likes of NTA, SABC and others play. But how objective are the items on these networks (but is there really any objective news?) The height of this was when some airline disasters happened late last year. Most Nigerians trusted the foreign networks for reliable news, while the incidents wee actually a few miles away from such homes. When will Africa start reporting Africa? In the battle between the hunter and the hunted, the one who lives to tell the story is the “owner” of history. Part of the reason why many Africans assume the role of “inferiors” is because of the lack of our historical pedigree! Civilisation has its roots in Africa, and our sons and daughters keep feeding the world with innovative creations in times of need…”

He explains the title of his blog entry by saying,

“…E je ki a maa so oro naa, ki ariyanjiyan ma baa sele lojo ola! That was in my local language (Yoruba), and it means, “lets keep speaking so that there will be no arguments in the future”. That explains why my blog is titled “Oro” (word). In the days to come, our words will speak for what we stand for — and the fruits of our many labours will also stand by the words.”

The recent news about foreign firms not accepting credit cards originating from Nigerian banks does not fail to catch the attention of Emmanuel Oluwatosin. He titled his blog entry “Foreign firms reject e-payment from Nigeria

Six months after it began, the electronic card-payment system issued by some Nigerian banks has been rejected by merchants in Europe and the United States (U.S.). Citing the prevalence of large-scale fraud, the merchants say the mastercards and other card-based instruments of payment from the country are “high risk.”

Many of such would-be transactions originated by Nigerians through these cards have resulted in still births. In many cases, the cold shoulders have not been because the card issuers cannot back them up with cash, but because “the card owners are located in Nigeria.”

Grandiose Parlor also talks about this very same issue, and chose to title his blog entry: “The “419 Chickens” have Come Home to Roast

“The actions of few wayward and criminal Nigerians have resulted in the exclusion of millions of honest Nigerians. The dreams of Nigerian entrepreneurs wanting to expand their business or jostling to try their hands in the untapped e-commerce and credit service industry may have kaput or seriously threatened.

Sadly too, it seems there is no recourse in sight for Nigerian credit card holders and other business people affected by the 419 scams. It appears there hasn’t been any clarity on how to arrest the menace of advance fee fraud in Nigeria. The inauguration of the Nigerian Cybercrime Working Group (NCWG) in 2004 to stem the 419 menace was seen by some as counterproductive and redundant since its duties appear to duplicate, to some extent, that of the Economic and Financial Crime Commissions (EFCC). Till date, the functions and accomplishments of the NCWG remain foggy.”

Niajaman chooses to through a spotlight on Anthropology in Nigeria, and said:

“I think contemporary Nigeria is great subject material for anthropologists- how for instance the same people who profess a rigid and unbending religious fundamentalism square it with their illicit sexual escapades, stealing government money, bending the rules, flamboyance and conspicuous consumption in the face of grinding poverty. I recently stumbled across this article by an American anthropologist married to a Nigerian [www.righttodecide.org] which is the kind of thing I think about.”

Seun Osewa delivers his usually hilarious blog entries at Naijarita.com with another piece titled: ” 3rd Term Saga: Obasanjo Threatens To Freeze NFA Account!

“Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, serving president of Nigeria, has threatened to jeopardize the Super Eagles’ chances of winning the ongoing African cup of Nations by freezing the NFA account if Nigerians fail to show evidence of overwhelming support for his 3rd term bid by tomorrow morning.”

This fabricated story is worth reading :)

5 comments

  • […] This post Nigerian Blogs round-up was published in a modified form on “Global Voices Online” […]

  • AFAM OYEKA

    It shocked me to hear that Nigeria consumes 30 million litres of oil a day and has to import 13 million of this . Can somebody please tell me or lead me to where i can get info on the recent effort of government to bring the refineries back to full capacity. Plus I hear that the kaduna refinery is now defunct. REALLLY!!!

  • Mishael Devlin

    I read a BBC News article that discussed how Nigeria settled its debt to the Paris Club in April. I’m in the United States, and I’m curioius to know what opinions from Nigerians are. What do you think this debt settlement means for Nigeria? I’ve read that about 70 percent of the people work in agricultural jobs although the country gets much of its money from oil. Do you think the debt settlement will change things economically and socially? I’ve read that this debt settlement was part of President Obasanjo’s economic reform plan. What type of impact do you think the economic plan will have?

  • Abu

    http://ubashangerson.blogspot.com/

    Please look at the blog above i find it deeply interesting and proves that as Nigerians our very worth is divided up into but a few hands,

    Abu

  • MY TRUSTY OLD HOSE

    My quest to beat the long fuel queues (now a reality in Lagos) was gong awry before my very eyes. Where was my old hose? This wasn’t what I had planned for today.
    I had attempted a day earlier to set out “on time” to buy fuel. While driving by, I decided to stop and queue at Texaco filling station Alaka. It was 7.25am and having observed a moderately long line of cars, I reasoned that the line meant that there was petrol at that station. I also believed that the long line would advance rapidly since the station had three pumps with two nozzles each per pump, and large premises for easy movement.

    Or so I thought.

    Five hours later, the line barely advancing, I began to have second thoughts. A stroll to the station and I saw that fuel was being sold from only one nozzle out of all six! On enquiry, I was told that the [ump was the only point in the station that had any fuel. After observing the “VIP entrance” (with several cars waiting to pay the requisite N200 to gain entry without joining the long queue), the multitudes of “jerry cans” held by black marketers and others, and multitudes of “okada” being carried one by one into the station over the barriers, I decided to abandon my task and spring my trump card by waking up earliest the next day to beat the trap. I hadn’t realized that the problem had gotten this bad.

    On waking up the following day by 4.30am to carry out my mission, the car refused to start. The fuel must have been exhausted! What a tonic to start my day.
    I took out a 25litre can from the trunk resignedly and set out to look for “black market” fuel in order to at least get my car to a fuel queue early as I had planned.

    On getting to Ojuelegba (on Oando station half a mile from my house) at 5.15am, I was surprised to see a long queue of “danfo” (Lagos commercial buses). In spite of that, I wasn’t prepared for what I would shortly come across at the station.

    It was fully open and there were total of four vehicles and hundreds of jerry cans with all manner of touts and miscreants collecting money from black marketers and other “area boys”.
    “owo e da”? a gangly pockmark faced apparition with two misplaced front teeth and a chewing stick bobbing up and down the side its mouth had appeared, it seemed, from nowhere, kicking away a row of cans queuing at a pump while dealing a heavy blow to a hapless urchin standing nearby. A skirmish ensued with “chewing stick” quickly proving his deadly mettle. The urchin eventually “settled”. Observing this, I quickly begged one who looked a bit authoritative to help me with my can. After initially demanding N3000, my pleas eventually brought the price down to N2000. “but e no go full o”! I agreed, and the nozzle was thrust into the can.

    Having bought the fuel, I lugged it back home and began wondering how to safely pour this precious substance into the car without spilling a drop if I could help it. I remembered my trusty old friend the hose. This was an inanimate object which had virtually monopolized contact with my lips during the Abacha/ Abubakar military years. Then, a hose was an unquestionable ubiquity. You needed it to siphon fuel either from or into your car or jerry can (equally ubiquitous) for as many reasons as a fuel scarcity could bring up. Everyone had one then, but I couldn’t seem to find mine now! Having rummaged everywhere with little success, I glanced at my watch.

    5.45am! My “Joker” in this game was becoming an ugly joke!

    I eventually made do with a substitute and got some fuel into my tank, zooming off to find a place to queue before it became too late. All stations I came across in Surulere were overflowing with long queues, and wasn’t yet six!

    I began to think this plan wouldn’t work after all.

    I headed out to the island with the famous “NNPC” as my destination. On the way, I branched at the “Oando” station on the Marina close to the Net building. There were only 3 cars. Having confirmed there was fuel, I decided to queue and wait till the station opened to sell.

    While regaling the other drivers with tales of the resurgence of the bad old “hose days” and what I had observed this morning, a man strolled over towards our direction.
    “Fuel dey for Texaco at Igbosere. No queue. In fact I filled my tank long ago”!

    We decided to give the place a try.

    Fifteen minutes later, I had filled my tank and was on my way home. I had “settled” a total of N300 for my purchases. Cheap at the price, in my opinion, considering what was going on in other parts of Lagos. I passed by the “Oando” at marina on my way, where a fresh queue had built up, and yelled out through the window “Texaco igbosere. No queue”! Through my rear view mirror, I observed some bolt into their cars to head for the place while others stayed put. That was Lagos for you.

    Now to get home and find my old hose in order to siphon some fuel from the tank, for a rainy day . . .

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