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Abiodun: Ambode should adopt ‘Walk Lagos’ to curb city’s gridlock

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Abiodun: Ambode should adopt ‘Walk Lagos’ to curb city’s gridlock

In the June 21, 2015 edition of EnviroNews, this writer wrote an article titled “How to tame Lagos gridlock,” wherein some of the causes responsible for the daily traffic congestion in Lagos Mega were identified. Some solutions on how to ameliorate the problem were also proffered in the article under reference.

Akinwunmi Ambode, Governor of Lagos State. Photo credit: ecomium.org
Akinwunmi Ambode, Governor of Lagos State. Photo credit: ecomium.org

Recently, it was reported in the media that Governor Akinwunmi Ambode had embarked on the reorganisation of Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) as part of the efforts to tame the city’s gridlock. The Governor, in October 2015, appointed a new Chief Executive Officer, a retired Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG), Mr. Kayode Olamkpe, as the helmsman of LASTMA. He sacked a couple of the management staff and injected new blood into the Authority.

The Governor gave the new CEO and his team of officials the directive that they must change the traffic situation in the mega city for the better. Mr. Olamkpe must bring his profound experience as a “super cop” to bear on the performance of the Authority he was appointed to superintend. Governor Ambode publicly declared that the present gridlock in Lagos was unacceptable; but not insurmountable (my emphasis). Hence, he solicited the co-operation of all stakeholders to combat the menace.

Another step in the right direction taken by the Governor in addressing the problem was the agreement he reached with the Tanker Drivers’ Union and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), which also made headline news in the dailies. As reported, the executive of the Tanker Drivers’ Union had voluntarily agreed that its members would desist from parking their vehicles at unauthorised places on Lagos roads once the NPA provides designated parking facilities for their use. The NPA has promised to fulfill its part of the agreement within a stipulated timeframe so that the tanker drivers would commence using the authorised parking lots.

It was equally reported that some Local Government Areas (LGAs) within the city had constituted the Traffic Volunteer Corps (TVC) to complement the efforts of LASTMA in traffic management. This is a welcome development. It is hoped that the LGAs would be able to sustain the new initiative.

However, as much as Governor Ambode made valiant efforts to unchain Lagos from the firm grip of daily traffic lock jam, we are suggesting new creative approaches and desirable actions which are worthy of his immediate consideration and implementation being the Chief Executive of Lagos State.

We propose as follows:

Lagos should adopt Walk (Your City) concept

Walk (Your City) was the ingenuity/creative idea of an American urban designer and activist, Matt Tomasulo, based in Raleigh, North Carolina in the United States of America, which unexpectedly became a “Global Movement” whereby cities are encouraged to adopt a “walking culture.” At the inception of the idea in Raleigh, North Carolina, Matt Tomasulo thought of how to make the city user-friendly and encouraged walking among the city residents instead of driving their cars very often. Tomasulo opined that: “a big obstacle to walking is this perceived barrier of a destination being ‘too far’; when in fact it is a walk-able distance.”

To correct this erroneous public impression, in 2012, Matt started a project code-named Walk Raleigh and created low-cost handy tools made up of 27 corrugated plastic signs which he posted on utility poles in three popular zones within the city of Raleigh overnight. The signs simply contained directional/walking distance messages of how long it would take to walk to nearby destinations within Raleigh such as a sporting arena, civic centre, school, train station, bus stop, government building (for example: city hall, museum), bank, historical district, popular monument and other places of interest for both local residents and visitors to Raleigh.

Walk Raleigh signs. Photo credit: Walk Raleigh, Matt Tomasulo, 2012
Walk Raleigh signs. Photo credit: Walk Raleigh, Matt Tomasulo, 2012

The signs caught the attention of Raleigh municipal administrators, who officially adopted the concept and incorporated it into its city-marketing strategy, by show-casing how walkable the city is. Walk Raleigh caught the bug among the city’s residents who now prefer to walk more often than driving. And with less driving, traffic congestion on the city roads reduced drastically. Added to this, Raleigh-ites are enjoying health benefits of walking, way-finding is easier and there are more people on the city streets fueling more social interaction and helping citizens becoming more engaged.

The novel idea of Walk Raleigh had since given birth to a “world-wide movement” known as WALK (YOUR CITY) with a dedicated website launched in November 2013. The website enables users to generate customised street signs in order to improve walkability of their cities’ neighborhoods. Cities across the globe have initiated their own fashion of the project. We now have Walk London, Walk Amsterdam, Walk New York, Walk Beijing, Walk Sydney, Walk Mexico, Walk Paris and Walk Moscow, among the most popular global examples. In essence, Matt Tomasulo, the originator of the creative idea, is a shining example of what is known in planning parlance as Tactical Urbanism. That is: direct action people can take without waiting endlessly for city leaders. In other words, he took a short-term action that precipitated a long term change in Raleigh in particular, and the world at large.

This expose is to draw the attention of the Lagos State Governor to what is trending about cities around the world and how innovative idea (with low-cost wayfinding signs) can be applied to solve urban problems. More often than not, cities are held back by Analysis Paralysis – too much studies never got implemented. Therefore, it is being suggested that Governor Ambode adopt Walk Lagos as a strategy to encourage walking among the residents of Lagos Mega City. If people imbibe the culture of walking to go to places that are walkable, instead of using their cars, there would be less vehicles on the road leading to drastic reduction in environmental pollution and cleaner air for people to breathe to stay healthy.

The trio of Ministries of Transportation, Physical Planning and Information should collaborate and agree on the templates of the signage to use and where such directional signs would be posted within the nooks and crannies of the mega city. For effect, Lagosians should begin to see in public places catchy sign messages such as:

  • 7-minute walk to Lagos State Secretariat
  • 10-minute walk to Sheraton Hotel
  • It is a 15-minute walk to the National Stadium
  • The Federal Museum is 25-minute walk from here
  • Freedom Park is 16-minute walk by foot
  • You can walk to University of Lagos in 14 minutes
  • The local airport is 17 minutes by foot
  • You are 22 minutes walking distance to Lagos Central Business District
  • Tejuosho Market is walkable in 23 minutes

These signs are to deliberately erase the erroneous perception of places being too far to walk by foot thereby boosting walkability in Lagos. By using this approach, government would consciously change people transportation choices for the better and create new opportunities for public participation.

 

Make Lagos streets pedestrian-friendly

To kick-start Walk Lagos, the LASG would need to urgently take certain actions to support and encourage walk trips. Such actions would include the provision of pedestrian infrastructure, sustainable public enlightenment campaign for attitudinal change and blanket prohibition of street trading. If walking on the streets of Lagos is to appeal to pedestrians, there must be conducive environment for them to do so. As presently constituted, most of the streets lack walkways for pedestrians. Motorists and other street users are always in competition for space on Lagos roads and in the process, traffic get disrupted, stalled and gridlocked. For Walk Lagos to be a successful campaign, the government, as a matter of urgency, must begin to rehabilitate most city streets where human traffic is high and retrofit them with walkways for the convenient use of pedestrians.

 

Ban street trading

The notoriety of street traders in Lagos is public knowledge. The traders are always in constant clash with officials of Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI). There are also traders who display their goods on pedestrian walkways where they are provided, which should not be so. Both habits are condemnable and must be discouraged. The adverse effect on the free flow of traffic and the danger inherent in street trading should be intensified in the public enlightenment under this dispensation that the city is experiencing daily gridlock. Lagos might want to understudy Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, a sister African city, as a ‘model’ in how to curb street trading. The city was adjudged the most pedestrian-friendly city in Africa in 2013 by Future City, a quarterly periodical on planning in Africa. The walkways for pedestrians in Addis Ababa are free of obstruction because traders are strictly prohibited by law not to display their goods on the sidewalks. What we consider impossible in Lagos could be out of ignorance, but experience from an African city where street trading has been successfully banned by law can invoke a change of attitude among Lagosians.

 

LASTMA must change its modus operandi

Governor Ambode’s body language about the un-impressive performance of the Authority was very clear to discerning minds. Having overhauled the Authority and injected new blood, the Governor expects a change for the better. LASTMA officials require new orientation. The Authority will perform better by employing experienced personnel and must ensure that those hired with no experience are properly trained on the rudiments of traffic management before they are sent to the street to control traffic. Finally, there must be zero-tolerance for venality. Any officer caught in the web of corruption must be sacked with immediate effect to serve as deterrent to other unscrupulous officers. Need is often a prime driver of innovation. Lagos gridlock requires innovative and sustainable approach, not ephemeral solution. It is about time Lagos joins the league of global cities of Walk (Your City) movement.

By Town planner (Tpl.) Yacoob Abiodun (former Secretary, National Housing Policy Council, in Hayward City, California, USA.)

40 firms showcase oil & gas potentials at SNEPCo exhibition

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40 firms showcase oil & gas potentials at SNEPCo exhibition

Nearly 40 Nigerian companies showcased their potential for offshore materials and services in the oil and gas industry at an exhibition held in Lagos by the deep-water subsidiary of Shell in Nigeria, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited (SNEPCo.) The exhibition, the 4th in the series, aimed to raise the level of awareness in critical offshore oil and gas categories where local investment opportunities exist, and where Nigerian businesses are currently under-represented. Among the exhibitors at the 2015 edition were two companies, the Nigeria Machine Tools, and Kay Global, whose products are now being used in the oil and gas industry in the country.

L-R: Managing Director, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Ltd (SNEPCo), Mr. Bayo Ojulari; Manager, Monitoring, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Mr. William Arikekpar; and SNEPCo's Finance Director, Ralph Wetzels, at the 2015 SNEPCo Nigerian Content Exhibition in Lagos, on Thursday, November 12, 2015.
L-R: Managing Director, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Ltd (SNEPCo), Mr. Bayo Ojulari; Manager, Monitoring, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Mr. William Arikekpar; and SNEPCo’s Finance Director, Ralph Wetzels, at the 2015 SNEPCo Nigerian Content Exhibition in Lagos, on Thursday, November 12, 2015.

“The annual Nigerian content exhibition has helped Nigerian companies to keep pace with the fast-evolving local market for offshore materials and services,” said Bayo Ojulari, SNEPCo Managing Director, in his opening remarks. “Looking back on the three editions, I’m happy to say that the event has provided a platform for the alignment of offshore industry demands with local capabilities, which has in turn promoted exchange of ideas and best practices among the indigenous service providers, SNEPCo and other stakeholders.”

Manager, Monitoring at the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Mr. William Arikekpar, commended SNEPCo for sustaining the exhibition since the first edition in 2012. He urged Nigerian companies to take advantage of the opportunity to demonstrate their capabilities in offshore oil and gas operations.

SNEPCo’s Finance Director, Ralph Welzels, said he was happy to see many Nigerian companies exhibiting at the event, saying they must sustain the drive for excellence by improving processes and benchmarking against global standards.

The Nigeria Machine Tools attended the Nigerian Content Exhibition on November 11 having just successfully introduced some of its products, such as stud bolts and nuts, for use in offshore oil and gas exploration and production, after SNEPCo supported them with testing and certification. Also, Kay Global achieved a breakthrough when the backing of Shell led to the acceptance of the company’s locally manufactured personal protective equipment for use in the oil and gas industry in Nigeria.

General Manager, Nigerian Content Development, Shell companies in Nigeria, Mr. Chiedu Oba, said: “Shell companies in Nigeria will continue to support local manufacturers and vendors to bring them up to international standards. In doing this, we’re looking to see manufacturer suppliers who will make their mark on the international scene.”

SNEPCo helped to create the first generation of Nigerian deep-water oil and gas engineers and service providers when it commenced production at Bonga field in 2005, Nigeria’s first oil and gas project in more than 1,000 metres of water. Today, 90% of Bonga’s core offshore staff are Nigerian. SNEPCo has also led the way in providing financial empowerment and facilitating the transfer of knowledge and competences from global offshore service providers to local firms in exploration and production activities.

22 years after, Chevron pollution victims still await justice in Ecuador

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22 years after, Chevron pollution victims still await justice in Ecuador

Hundreds of families are caught in a 22-year-long legal battle with Chevron over Ecuador pollution, with no end in sight, writes Priyanka Gupta, who reported from Ecuador on a fellowship from the International Reporting Project (IRP)

A contaminated water water body at the Ecuadorian Amazon region. Photo credit: rogerhollander.files.wordpress.com
A contaminated water water body at the Ecuadorian Amazon region. Photo credit: rogerhollander.files.wordpress.com

It is exactly 22 years since the first class-action lawsuit was filed on behalf of the residents of the Ecuadorian Amazon region, known as the ‘Oriente,’ against Texaco in New York for allegedly causing environmental damage and increasing the risk of exposure to diseases like cancer among others.

The US company is accused of dumping toxic waste water carrying hazardous hydrocarbons and carcinogenic materials into the surrounding water bodies and rain forests, during its oil exploration and drilling operations between the late 1960s and early 1990s.

Hundreds of families have been caught in the legal battle with the US multinational energy company Chevron, which had acquired Texaco in 2001.

The company has denied any involvement and has called the allegations false.

Activists and lawyers representing the community say the remediation process carried out by Texaco to remove toxic waste from open pits and wells did not fix the problem, instead more than two decades later, saying a simple drill under the surface reveals mud-soaked in oil.

In 2013, Ecuador’s highest court imposed a fine of $9.5 billion on the company, upholding an earlier ruling by a local court, holding it responsible for pollution in the Amazon.

The case is now caught in international tribunals and class actions suits in several other countries. For the families of Lago Agrio, it has been a long wait for “justice”.

My father, Ken Saro-Wiwa, may not have died in vain

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My father, Ken Saro-Wiwa, may not have died in vain

Ken Wiwa, the son of human rights activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, says in this article published in The Guardian of London, that Nigeria’s Ogoniland still looks as devastated by oil pollution as when the junta executed his father 20 years ago. But, according to him, the carbon economy seems to be reaching a tipping point at last. Wiwa was a Nigerian government adviser from 2006 to 2015

Ken Wiwa. Photo credit: AP/Mary Altaffer
Ken Wiwa. Photo credit: AP/Mary Altaffer

Twenty years ago today my father and eight other Ogoni men were woken from their sleep and hanged in a prison yard in southern Nigeria. When the news filtered out, shock and outrage reverberated around the world, and everyone from the Queen to Bill Clinton and Nelson Mandela condemned the executions.

What I recall of the long days and sleepless nights afterwards was the slogan that caught on with my father’s devastated friends and supporters; we were united in a determination to ensure that “his death must not be in vain”. So has anything changed?

 

Nigerian government finally sets up fund to clean up Ogoniland oil spills

The trite answer is yes and no. Back in 1994 Ken Saro-Wiwa and scores of Ogoni men were arrested, detained without charge for six months, tortured and denied access to lawyers, doctors and family. When they were finally brought to court, they were arraigned before a military tribunal and accused of murder.

The late Ken Saro-Wiwa
The late Ken Saro-Wiwa

That it was a kangaroo court is no longer in dispute. The trial and execution were consistent with the way Nigeria’s military regimes summarily dealt with people they regarded as a threat to their authority. A UN fact-finding mission led by eminent jurists vigorously condemned the process, and John Major, Britain’s prime minister, described the trial as “fraudulent”, the convictions as a “bad verdict”, and the executions as “judicial murder”.

Despite several aborted attempts to reconcile the victims and perpetrators, my father and the other men remain convicted criminals in Nigeria’s legal books. More worrying is that, although the military junta that killed my father is long gone, Nigeria’s civilian government has yet to come to terms with a man and a community whose story stands as enduring testimony to the consequences of reckless and unaccountable oil production.

My father went to the gallows an innocent man. He loved his country but refused to remain silent while his land and his people were being exploited. His real “crime” was in exposing the double standards of Shell, who had been quietly drilling oil for years in Nigeria, earning good profits for its shareholders but leaving the host community wallowing in levels of pollution that he described unflinchingly as “devastation”, pointing out that the operations in Ogoniland betrayed Shell’s own global standards.

If my father were alive today he would be dismayed that Ogoniland still looks like the devastated region that spurred him to action. There is little evidence to show that it sits on one of the world’s richest deposits of oil and gas.

And yet the impression that nothing has changed is deceptive. For a start the Ogoni’s claims of pollution against Shell have been vindicated. Shell always bristled against my father’s accusations, insisting, without any apparent sense of irony, that he was being emotive.

In 2006, however, the Nigerian government invited the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) to assess the   in Ogoniland and the Niger delta. Among its sobering findings was the conclusion that  . Although the report was not comprehensive, it represents the most detailed and evidence-based analysis of the situation in Ogoni. In one community, researchers reported that surface water contained 900 times acceptable levels of cancer-causing benzene. Unep even recommends that Nigeria establish a community cancer registry.

Although the Unep report was delivered in August 2011, the implementation of its recommendations is proving to be a political, fiscal, legal and administrative challenge to the government. I can attest that, despite its skittish hypersensitivity to criticism of its Ogoniland operations, Shell has repeatedly told me it is   (£650m) that Unep recommended to kickstart the cleanup. However, my community is still waiting for social justice, with gathering impatience.

Only time will tell whether this process will deliver. Nigeria has plenty of challenges beyond Ogoniland. Many of these arise because our leaders lack the courage to right the wrongs of the past. While we are busy applying plasters to fundamental malfunctions, these efforts could be superseded by seismic shifts in law, in technology and in public opinion.

In the past 10 years the Ogoni have registered landmark victories in court cases against Shell in New York and  . I am sure my father will be looking down and chuckling that activists who cut their teeth on the Ogoni case were part of the coalition that last week pushed President Obama to reject the controversial Canada-to-Texas Keystone XL pipeline. At the same time Exxon is facing the possibility of legal action over claims that it lied about climate change risks, which Exxon denies. We may finally be arriving at a tipping point in the carbon economy, and perhaps one day my father’s story will be more than a footnote in that history.

Sometimes it seems as if 10 November 1995 was another era. In some ways it was, and in others it feels like it was just yesterday. Between the disabling nature of his death and the enabling tests of time, one thought still sustains me: it is the old idea that the arc of the moral universe may be long, but it still bends towards justice.

Campaigners back solar, wind energy, knock biofuels

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Campaigners back solar, wind energy, knock biofuels

The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has backed a move towards renewable energy sources such as solar and wind energy as a solution to addressing the energy crisis in the developing world.

L-R: Dr. Sofiri Joab Peterside, activist and lecturer in the Department of Sociology, University of Port Harcourt; Barrister Iniro Wills, Commissioner for Environment in Bayelsa State; Ms Jagoda Munic, President of Friends of the Earth International (FoEI), Prof Margret Okorodud-Fubara of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife; Dr Godwin Ojo, Executive Director, Environmental Rights Action/ Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN); Chief Emma Pii, Ogoni leader; and Mr Eguaoje Festus Ikosin, Assistant Director/Global Environment Facility (GEF) Desk Office, Federal Ministry of Environment, at the 8th National Environment Congress of ERA/FoEN… Port Harcourt, River State on Monday, November 9, 2015
L-R: Dr. Sofiri Joab Peterside, activist and lecturer in the Department of Sociology, University of Port Harcourt; Barrister Iniro Wills, Commissioner for Environment in Bayelsa State; Ms Jagoda Munic, President of Friends of the Earth International (FoEI), Prof Margret Okorodudu-Fubara of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife; Dr Godwin Ojo, Executive Director, Environmental Rights Action/ Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN); Chief Emma Pii, Ogoni leader; and Mr Eguaoje Festus Ikosin, Assistant Director/Global Environment Facility (GEF) Desk Office, Federal Ministry of Environment, at the 8th National Environment Congress of ERA/FoEN… Port Harcourt, River State on Monday, November 9, 2015

Dr Godwin Ojo, head of ERA/FoEN, who made the submission on Monday in Port Harcourt, River State, at the organisation’s 8th National Environment Congress, frowned at energy from biofuels “because of their deleterious consequences on mother earth.” The congress was themed: “Extractives and Energy Transition: A Roadmap to Zero-Carbon Development.”

His words: “While we resist all false solutions such as biofuels to the global energy deficit, we support a move towards renewable energy sources such as solar and wind energy. Biofuels or the production of energy from food sources means that energy sources are competing for farmlands and food thus aggravating food deficits, hunger and impoverishment in developing countries.

“The African continent needs to wean itself from the imposed historical ‘Energy Colonialism Syndrome’ where gigantic infrastructure, huge capital and personnel are emblems of development. For the Africa continent the energy challenge remains a lack of vision to achieve the right energy mix from renewable sources. This Congress aligns with the global coalition against dirty energy to strongly resist any form of dirty energy expansion to nuclear, coal, shale gas and fracking, and tar sands oil.”

While stressing that extractives thrive on subsidies, Dr Ojo urged the World Bank and other financial institutions and national governments to eliminate public finance, incentives in loans and subsidies promoting extractive activities.

“Instead, focus should be on investment in renewable energy research, green technology, subsidies and zero tariffs to promote non-grid systems. An Energy Democracy is expedient to kick-start the new energy revolution. Such energy model should be decentralised, generate green jobs, and in ways that production and supply chain are managed by the communities themselves rather than monopolistic entities,” stressed the ERA/FoEN executive director.

He described the Niger Delta as an ecocide scene, which he holds the oil companies accountable.

“Nationwide, ecological devastation and pressure on livelihood sources is traced to the root of conflicts. Since oil extraction has destroyed rural livelihoods in the Niger Delta, desertification has wrecked similar havoc in the north, just as the west is also faced with deforestation and the east ravaged by gully erosion. In all these, rural people throughout Nigeria have been impoverished. Thus, rather than amnesty to a select few, a social security in the form of National Basic Income Scheme (NaBIS) of about N10,000 for all Nigerians that are unemployed is the solution to the spate of violence and loss of livelihood sources.

“Such social security will account for all unemployed including old age poverty. For Nigeria, a NaBIS is long overdue and has the potency to unlock creative potentials, reduce crime rates and promote peace and harmony in our society.”

At a press conference held on Tuesday and jointly organised by ERA/FoEN, Social Action, Ogoni Solidarity Front (OSF), Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) and Ogoni people to commemorate 20 years of the murder of playwright and environmental activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa, Ojo declared that oil giant, Shell Petroleum Development Corporation (SPDC), must pay the full cost of Saro-Wiwa’s murder as well as polluting Ogoniland.

He said: “The 20th anniversary commemoration of Ken Saro Wiwa’s murder underscores again his (Saro-Wiwa’s) struggle against Shell and, by extension, polluting corporate giants and dirty energy across the globe. As you all know, the social and environmental crisis and injustice exposed by Saro Wiwa in the massively polluted Niger Delta and in particular, Ogoniland, are still ongoing. The people of Ogoniland are still suffering from the effects of fifty years of land, air and water pollution of which, Shell is the principal culprit. For us in the environmental sector, Ken Saro Wiwa’s legacy serves as a beacon of hope to the Ogoni and others across the world campaigning for environmental justice and abuse-free environments.”

While delivering a key note address, a lecturer in the Department of Sociology, University of Port Harcourt, Dr. Sofiri Joab Peterside, claimed that some highly placed Nigerians were behind the illegal crude oil bunkering operations in the Niger Delta region.

According to Peterside, “Oil bunkering has become an industry of its own in Nigeria. There is executive oil theft going on in the Niger Delta region. Those who are involved in this illegal act are mostly those who are in it just to ensure that they remain among the highly placed in the country.

“You may ask, why do our security men stationed at the Cawthorne channel turn the blind eye while ships come in to illegally load crude oil. You may also ask, who owns these ships.”

Delivering his keynote address titled, “The Age of Fossil Fuels and the Emerging Quest for Sustainable Energy Model of Development,” Peterside observed that illegal crude oil bunkering in the Niger Delta has claimed the lives of many youths.

UN-REDD gets new phase, national programmes

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UN-REDD gets new phase, national programmes

A fresh five-year phase for the UN-REDD Programme has been endorsed by its three collaborating United Nations (UN) agencies – the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

Mario Boccucci, Head, UN-REDD Programme Secretariat
Mario Boccucci, Head, UN-REDD Programme Secretariat

The UN-REDD Programme is the “United Nations Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) in Developing Countries”.

Support for the 2016-2020 phase of the Programme was reaffirmed during the week in San José, Costa Rica, at the 15th meeting of the UN-REDD Programme’s Policy Board, during which three new National Programmes were presented by Chile, Myanmar and Peru.

The meeting was held 9-10 November and was opened by Dr. Edgar Gutierrez Espeleta, Costa Rica’s Minister of the Environment, and was co-chaired by Jorge Mario Rodriguez Zuñiga, Executive Director of Costa Rica’s Fondo Nacional de Financiamiento Forestal, and Mette Løyche Wilkie, Director of UNEP’s Division of Environmental Policy Implementation, and was attended by more than 70 participants from 23 countries.

In addition to the National Programme presentations, the meeting included sessions on the UN-REDD Programme’s new 2016-2020 governance structure; lessons learned related to results-based management; and prioritisation, criteria and needs assessment experiences.

UN-REDD Programme Head of Secretariat, Mario Boccucci, reported on the 2015 semi-annual progress of the Programme, presenting an aggregated review of the outputs, results and impacts of the Programme, which Policy Board members recognised as notable in the impacts achieved. This includes supporting the Programme’s now 64-partner countries of which 10 have now achieved, and 24 are in the process of achieving, the operational elements of REDD+ readiness (four elements of the Warsaw Framework for REDD+) – a 20 percent increase in this six-month period alone.

The latest partner country to complete its National Programme and advance its REDD+ readiness phase is Cambodia, which presented an evaluation of its completed programme at the meeting. The Policy Board formally congratulated Cambodia for this achievement and encouraged Cambodia to sustain its efforts.

As the UN-REDD Programme transitions into its 2016-2020 strategy, the next governance meetings are anticipated to be the first UN-REDD Programme Executive Board meeting in March/April 2016, and the first UN-REDD Programme Assembly to take place in mid-June 2016, possibly in Oslo, Norway to run back-to-back with the 2016 Oslo REDD+ Exchange.

 

Global Knowledge Exchange

The two-day policy board meeting was preceded by the 2015 Global Joint FCPF / UN-REDD Programme REDD+ Knowledge Exchange Day, held on 8 November. The event brought together 100 REDD+ practitioners from more than 30 countries, including representatives of developing countries, indigenous peoples, civil society organisations, World Bank agencies, UN agencies and donor countries. Designed as country-led to facilitate South-South knowledge exchanging, the day’s eight technical sessions were led by partner countries of the UN-REDD Programme and FCPF.

Countries shared their experiences on eight technical issues: forest reference levels; social inclusion in REDD+; private sector engagement; REDD+ and INDCs; REDD+ policies and measures; indigenous peoples’ achievements in measuring carbon stocks in their territories; developing a safeguards information system and country approach to safeguards; and monitoring, reporting and verification.

Launched in 2008, the UN-REDD Programme supports nationally led REDD+ processes and promotes the informed and meaningful involvement of all stakeholders, including indigenous peoples and other forest-dependent communities, in national and international REDD+ implementation.

Benue varsity lays emphasis on food hygiene, safety

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Benue varsity lays emphasis on food hygiene, safety

The recently launched Centre for Food Technology and Research (CEFTER) at the Benue State University in Makurdi has commenced its first short course with the inauguration of a weeklong workshop on “Basic Food Hygiene and Safety” It kicked off on Monday, 9th November, 2015 at the institution’s College of Health Sciences auditorium.

CEFTER temporary complex
CEFTER temporary complex

Inaugurating the workshop, Wife of the Benue State Governor, Mrs Eunice Ortom, stated that it is a thing of worry that, all over the world, people are seriously affected every day by diseases that are caused by eating unhygienic and unsafe food.

“We therefore have to give due emphasis to good hygienic practices to prevent and control food borne diseases. It is essential for us all to understand what good food hygiene is and to ensure that the food we eat is free from contaminants such as micro-organisms and chemicals,” she noted.

Stressing further, Mrs. Ortom, who noted that food hygiene and safety is every nation’s priority, outlined that, in developed nations, focus is usually on trying to curb the risk of spreading food borne pathogens and contaminants challenges arising from food global trade across national borders, necessitating more efficient global sharing of food safety information pertaining to emergencies.

She added that, in most developing countries (Nigeria inclusive), the challenge is the poor food handling culture which leads to contamination of food which causes diseases that result to millions of death that could have been averted through basic education and change of attitude towards food handling.

To this end, she stated that the Governor Samuel Ortom led administration’s agriculture-driven industrialisation policy would have a multiplier effect in due course that will translate to increased food production and processing and, as such, the need for training of food handlers in the aspect of hygiene and safety becomes not just important but an unavoidable necessity.

“It is therefore time for us to take the lead in Food Hygiene and Safety so that we can control diseases that result to millions of deaths yearly,” she said, adding that it is equally in this regard that she accepted to collaborate with CEFTER to train people across the state on food handling techniques, from the harvest point to the kitchen.

“CEFTER, a World Bank Africa Centre of Excellence for Control of Post-Harvest Losses, is in a position to take the lead in this crusade in Benue State, Nigeria and Africa as whole,” she added.

She maintained that she believes that the impact of the one-week training will be enormous because of the target trainees. “It is a direct impact; training food handlers, mostly women, who harvest, store, market, buy and prepare food for our nation, this means that, in no distant future, we shall educate all to a level that we would be sure of clean and safe food for consumption and/or commercial purposes,” said Mrs. Ortom.

According to her, she has looked at the curriculum and can assure participants that they will gain immensely from the training, recommending the training for at least one member of every household; noting that it is as important as immunisation and promised not to relent in ensuring that the coverage across the state is on a larger scale.

“As a first step towards achieving this, I am poised to coordinate the training of at least 100 food handlers per local government in the next phase of this project which is expected to commence this December to engender the ideals of entrepreneurship development in food technology and research as they relate to agribusiness,” she stated.

Mrs. Ortom, who promised to brief the governor accordingly on CEFTER and assured of his support in ensuring that appropriate agencies with the responsibility of enforcing entrepreneurship certification is implemented in the state, called on all stakeholders such as the federal, state and local governments, relevant agencies of government, NGOs and lawmakers to collaborate with CEFTER to take the crusade further in order to make the message more powerful and impacting.

In his remarks, the Vice Chancellor, Benue State University, Prof Msugh Kembe, who commended the Wife of the Governor for aiding in the drafting of participants for the workshop, said more of such projects as what CEFTER is doing would come up in the university.

According to the VC, there are expectations from CEFTER’s programmes and, expectedly, more stakeholders are expected to join in the project so that hygienic food would be made available across the state.

In his remarks, the Director, CEFTER, Prof. Daniel Adedzwa, who stated that World Bank statistics reveal that 1.5 million people die of food borne diseases yearly, noted that it will be exciting that, as a nation, wholesome food is served.

According to the Director, more and more people now eat outside and the need to serve wholesome food cannot be overemphasised.

Prof. Adedzwa, who went on to thank the Wife of the Governor for the support given CEFTER, also commended the VC for being an integral part in the setting up of CEFTER right from the proposal stage, adding that as Prof. Kembe’s baby, he is passionate for CEFTER’s success.

Earlier, giving an overview of CEFTER, Project Manager/Deputy Director of CEFTER, Dr Barnabas Ikyo, stated that CEFTER is one out of 10 Africa Centres Excellence (ACE) in Nigeria and one out of 18 such Centres in West and Central Africa sub-regions.

According to him, the university won the World Bank grant after stiff competition involving more than 100 universities in the West African sub-region.

Dr Ikyo, who noted that women would be major beneficiaries of the training, added that the grant is worth $8 million and will cover a period of five years. The World Bank brought the project to address the problems of higher education in West and Central Africa which has not been a priority for the past two decades.

He stressed that CEFTER is aimed at stimulating innovation, building capacities to support policy and regional development, generating scientific excellence and technological development.

“It is a regional collaboration and sharing of limited resources in running post graduate programmes and undertaking research for Control of Post-Harvest Losses,” he added.

Speaking further on the relevance of the training, Dr. Ikyo said bad hygiene and sanitation especially in handling of food leads to many diseases such as cholera which is a major killer that necessitates adherence to health education and training for food handlers, sanitation and hygiene, behavioural change, and enforcement of public health regulations.

He noted that closing the infections windows of food borne diseases would go a long way in giving way to healthier eating and living.

By Damian Daga, Makurdi

Rights groups demand end to land grab in the Philippines

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Rights groups demand end to land grab in the Philippines

A recent fact-finding mission by regional human rights groups in the south-western island of Palawan, the last ecological frontier of the Philippines, has revealed a pattern of land grabs and forest destruction by palm oil companies, partly owned by Malaysian and Singaporean investors.

Protest against land grab in the Philippines
Protest against land grab in the Philippines

Motalib Kimel, Chairman of the local Coalition Against Land Grabbing (CALG) and himself a Taganua leader from Palawan, said: “The palm oil company AGUMIL is taking over our indigenous peoples’ lands through forced and fraudulent land sales. It is quite contrary to national laws. We are losing our lands and our livelihoods. We are calling on the Philippines Government to uphold our rights.”

The appeal was taken up by a regional team of human rights experts, attending the 5th South East Asian Regional Conference on Human Rights and Agribusiness, some of whom visited the affected villages and heard testimony from the farmers and indigenous peoples.

Josie Rodriguez, Regional Coordinator of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, said: “The company has been taking land without the mandatory Free, Prior and Informed Consent of the indigenous peoples and without our involvement as required by law. In view of these violations, NCIP has the power to issue a restraining order upon filing of complaints by indigenous impacted communities, in order to halt the company’s operations while the case is dealt with by the courts.”

The fact-finding team found that AGUMIL and other oil palm companies, have been acquiring lands contrary to community wishes and in violation of their rights, with the alleged complicity of local government officials. The land grabs are depriving the indigenous communities of their food security, dislocating them from their culture, and driving them into further poverty.

John Mart Salunday, a board member of CALG and President of NATRIPAL, the federation of indigenous peoples in Palwan, said: “It is like people in the impacted oil palm communities are dying little by little because they no longer have the plants needed to cure themselves. Before they only walked half an hour to get the raw material for building their houses, for their artifacts and medicinal plants.  Now they have to walk half a day to the other side of the mountain before they can find the plants they need.”

Forests are being cleared contrary to law, a representative of the team disclosed, adding that, in some areas, AGUMIL’s managed cooperatives have imposed unexplained and heavy debts on communities “and these debts are being maintained in ways resembling debt slavery.”

Welly Mandi, CALG’s secretary, stated: “We are being strangled by huge debts with both Agumil and the LandBank [the key financier of oil palm development], and our land titles are being withheld by the bank as collateral.”

Moreover, AGUMIL and other oil palm enterprises have bypassed with impunity regulations of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and those relating to Strategic Environment Plans (SEP), and have only obtained environmental clearance for their seedling nursery and oil mill area but not for the 7,000 hectares so far converted into oil palm plantations.

Marcus Colchester, Senior Policy Advisor of the Forest Peoples Programme which co-convened the conference along with CALG and the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines, noted: “Having reviewed some of the available documents and official maps, it seems clear that local officials of the DENR are implicated in this process. Tragically we find such cases all through South East Asia where oil palm expansion is occurring. The Philippines has some of the best laws in the region that protect indigenous peoples’ rights but they are being ignored by local officials.”

Nigeria, UNODC, Japan train prosecutors on terrorism cases

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Nigeria, UNODC, Japan train prosecutors on terrorism cases

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), with support from the Government of Japan and in collaboration with the Director of Public Prosecution in Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Justice, has delivered a series of in-depth training workshops for 34 Nigerian prosecutors. The workshops focused on strengthening capacity to prosecute terrorism and other serious offenses, in accordance with the rule of law and human rights.

Yury Fedotov, Executive Director, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
Yury Fedotov, Executive Director, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

The workshops, held in Abuja, Nigeria between May and September 2015, involved two select groups of prosecutors who took part in a series of three in-depth training workshops. The workshops adopted a practical approach utilising case studies and practical exercises, covering prosecutorial standards and good practices.

The workshops strengthened prosecutors’ understanding and knowledge of the relevant Nigerian and international legal frameworks and enhanced their case analysis and written and oral advocacy skills – knowledge and skills which will be relevant in their daily work. Prosecutors also benefited from the expertise and experience of practitioners from Kenya, Uganda and the United Kingdom.

This training series builds on UNODC’s ongoing partnership with the Office of the Director for Public Prosecutions. In 2014, UNODC delivered a similar in-depth training series for 21 select Nigerian prosecutors, as part of a broader assistance programme funded by the European Union.

The UNODC initiative has assisted Nigeria to develop a pool of trained prosecutors with enhanced capacity to prosecute terrorism and other serious offenses in accordance with the rule of law and human rights, supporting the transition from confession-based to evidence-based prosecutions.

Activists ask government to compel Shell to pay for Delta ecological damage

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Activists ask government to compel Shell to pay for Delta ecological damage

The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) and related groups under the aegis of the Friends of the Earth International (FoI) have demanded justice for the Ogoni people in the Niger Delta region, asking the Nigerian government to compel Shell to pay the full cost of cleaning up Ogoniland, as recommended by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Pollution and environmental degradation in the Niger Delta
Pollution and environmental degradation in the Niger Delta

The call coincides with the 20th anniversary of the murder of playright and environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni leaders at the hands of late Nigerian dictatorship, General Sani Abacha.

“Known around the world for his struggle with oil giant Shell, Ken Saro-Wiwa is now a figure acclaimed globally for showing how people’s power can win over polluting corporate giants,” says the ERA/FoEN/FoI in a statement released in Port Harcourt, Rivers State on Monday, November 9, 2015.

“The social and environmental crisis and injustice exposed by Ken Saro Wiwa in the oil-rich and massively polluted Niger Delta are still ongoing; the people of Ogoniland are still suffering from the effects of fifty years of land, air and water pollution by the oil industry.”

FoI chairperson, Jagoda Munic, adds: “Ken Saro Wiwa’s legacy is not only a major source of inspiration to the people of Nigeria, it also serves as a beacon of hope to people across the world struggling for environmental justice.”

“Oil companies such as Shell continue to dodge their responsibility. They must prevent further spills, clean up, and provide adequate compensation to people affected by oil pollution in Nigeria,” contends Godwin Uyi Ojo, executive director of ERA/FoEN.

On November 9, ERA/FoEN, at its annual National Environmental Consultation, held a Ken Saro-Wiwa Night Vigil. On November 10, ERA/FoEN and social and environmental activists from around the world will gather in Port Harcourt for a ‘Freedom March for Ken and other activists’.

In a related development, Friends of the Earth Netherlands, along with four Nigerian farmers, brought a lawsuit against Shell in The Netherlands for oil pollution in three Nigerian villages. According to ERA/FoEN, this is the first time that a Dutch company has been brought before a Dutch court to account for environmental damage caused abroad. A judgement is expected on Friday 18 December.

A British lawsuit resulted in 76 million euros compensation for the farmers and fisherman of the Bodo area, in Ogoniland, whose livelihoods were destroyed by two oil spills. Shell’s initial offer of compensation was 5,500 euros.

Four years after the 2011 publication of a groundbreaking report by UNEP on oil pollution in Ogoniland, the report’s recommendations are yet to be implemented.

“The resilience of the Ogonis and persistent pressure by local and international civil society is however starting to bear fruit: the present government of President Buhari recently committed to the implementation of the UNEP report. With an initial pledge of $10 million there are high expectations that the proposed governing body to oversee the clean-up will be inaugurated soon.

“Because the UNEP report recommendations still have not been implemented, the Ogonis remain shortchanged and justice denied. Shell and the other companies, as well as the Nigerian government, should immediately implement the recommendations. Shell should also compensate communities affected by continuing oil spills and agree to pay their share of the full cost of cleaning Ogoniland and other affected areas of the Niger Delta,” says Ojo.

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