The Nigerian Senate has dismissed claims by a former Central Bank governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi that $20 billion (N3.2 trillion) oil revenues had been diverted from government coffers.
Lamido Sanusi had accused the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC of failing to transfer the amount to government treasury.
In a report published May, the Senate’s finance committee, which probed the allegation, said it found no evidence that the huge sum had been diverted or stolen, and described Mr. Sanusi’s claim as “incorrect” and “misleading”.
“There was never any unremitted $49.8 billion,” the committee, headed by Ahmed Makarfi, said.
The committee said funds not accounted for by the NNPC- which must be paid to government- stood at $927 million.
The amount includes $218 million; another $262 million being expenses the corporation could not satisfactorily defend in respect of Holding Strategic Stock Reserve; Pipeline Maintenance and Management Cost; and Capital Expenditure; and $447 million being balance of Royalty and Petroleum Profit Tax to the federation account.
The Senate adopted the committee’s findings yesterday, as its general assembly considered full details of the recommendations.
The decision let the NNPC and the petroleum minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, off the hook, albeit temporarily, as an independent forensic audit authorised by the government, is awaited.
At the debates Thursday, the Senate President, David Mark, advised Nigerians to refrain from hasty conclusions as the committee had demonstrated that no money was “missing”, but only “unaccounted” for.
“Based on the facts we presented, I want to appreciate the details in this report,” Mr. Mark said. “Whether it is funds yet to be remitted or funds yet accounted for, I think we shouldn’t play politics with it.”
“As the committee pointed out, it’s unaccounted for and not missing,” he added.
Claims of the missing money became public in a leaked memo from Mr. Sanusi to President Goodluck Jonathan September 2013.
In the letter, the then CBN chief said as much as $49.8 billion oil receipts was missing.
He admitted, later, the figure was less, but said it would not be lower than $20 billion. The federal government denied the allegation, even before an investigation.
The government later admitted it could not account for $10.8 billion, but a meeting between the CBN, finance ministry, petroleum ministry and other officials, failed to reconcile the figure.
Mr. Sanusi was removed from office by President Jonathan in February, accused of “financial recklessness”, in a move many believed was to punish him for exposing government corruption.
Under mounting public pressure, the government announced an independent forensic audit of the NNPC, a government agency that constantly comes under allegations of graft- many of not investigated.
Despite ordering audit firm, PriceWatersCooper, to carry out the probe, the government has insisted no funds were missing. In an interview in May, Mr. Jonathan said if such an amount went missing, the United States of America would have known.
But while the government failed to account for the outstanding $10.8 billion for days, leading to repeated reschedule of Senate investigative hearings into the case, the NNPC and the petroleum ministry later claimed the money formed part of subsidy payments for petrol and kerosene, and cost for oil pipeline maintenance.
Asked to provide supporting documents, officials took weeks to do so, prompting the finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who said she could not vouch for them, to call for a forensic audit.
The outcome of the audit is still expected.
But the Senate said Thursday it accepted the conclusions of the finance committee that Mr. Sanusi’s claims were misleading.
The Senate, however, rejected a recommendation of the committee that fuel subsidy be removed.
“On the case of subsidy, if subsidy has to be removed, let us enlighten the people and take a final decision,” Mr. Mark said. [myad]
To most analysts, President Goodluck Jonathan’s name will be written in gold for his administration’s pragmatic efforts at reviving the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) which has been comatose for nearly 30 years.
A moving train on the 68 percent completed railway track of the Abuja – Kaduna fast train project launched by Vice President Namadi Sambo in Abuja
They note that the feat is even more evident with the president’s recent inauguration of two Diesel Multiple Units (DMUs) train sets and six air-conditioned passengers’ coaches at the NRC terminus in Lagos.
The president, who was represented by Vice-President Namadi Sambo, said that the inauguration of the coaches had signaled the commencement of the 25-year transport sector development plan for the country.
“This is part of the concerted efforts of our administration to steadily improve the railway rolling stock. It is the beginning. Within the next few months, more rolling stocks will be delivered.
“My presence here today is to further show the full resolve of this administration to bring Nigeria at par with modern railway services available globally by constantly upgrading our rolling stock.
“The ongoing railway rehabilitation will continue, because of adequate funding from regular budget and SURE-P intervention.
“The step is aimed at resuscitating and revitalising Nigerian railway which had suffered neglect for decades,” Jonathan said.
He said that the strategic transformation project included the rehabilitation of the existing narrow gauge, the construction of new standard gauge rail line and maintenance.
“ With the support of the Senate Committee on Land Transport, the House of Representatives Committee on Land Transport and the efforts of the NRC management, the goal will be realised,” he said.
Echoing the president’s optimism, the Minister of Transport, Sen. Idris Umar, assured that most of the rail transport projects across the country would be completed by the end of the year.
“I wish to assure the President, the Vice-President and all Nigerians of our determination to ensure the completion of ongoing railway projects across the country, “ he said.
Besides, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, the Chairman, NRC Board of Directors, attributed the economic development of any nation to the effective and functional operation of the rail system.
“The survival and indeed the extent of development of any economy depend very significantly on the extent of development and efficiency of its transportation system.
“Our intention is to improve on the infrastructure of the NRC to ensure it increases passengers and freight movements, “ he said.
In the same vein, Gov. Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, said new trains and coaches would improve the transport system in the state for the benefit of all residents.
Fashola, who was represented by the Deputy Governor, Mrs Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, said the state needed rail infrastructure for its teeming population.
“It is a very welcome development to our nation, Nigeria and to the Centre of Excellence, Lagos State. No doubt, we require this infrastructure.
“We appreciate it and we will continue to give every moral support that the corporation requires as we now have complementary services in the transport system of Lagos State, “ the governor said.
Shedding more light on the progress so far achieved in the railway transformation agenda, Mr Adeseyi Sijuwade, the Managing Director of NRC, also said that significant part of the Eastern Line rehabilitation would be completed by the third quarter of 2014.
“The corporation would continue to pursue its vision, mission, and core values to attain its mandate of carriage of passengers and goods in a manner that is safe, reliable and affordable,” he said.
The Jonathan’s administration also inaugurated the revitalised Lagos-Jebba rail lines, a project which cost the government over N12 billion.
To add value to the initiative, the NRC had also launched its Mass Transit Train Service (MTTS) in Lagos.
Available records show that the corporation has deployed 11 trains, carrying close to 15,000 passengers daily within the Lagos metropolis.
Commuters say the introduction of the intra-city train service in Lagos has reduced the cost of transportation in the area.
For instance, a returned trip from Agege – Ebute Metta under the MTTS now costs less than N150, as against the more than N1,000 it would have cost by taxi, while it now costs about N180 only by train service from Lagos to Abeokuta.
The resuscitation of the train service has also reduced the cost of transportation from Lagos to Kano, which now costs less than N1,800 as against between N4,000 and N5,000 by car or bus.
Industry watchers also believe that the completion of Lagos-Maiduguri standard gauge will make it cheaper and faster to move goods and services from Lagos to the north-eastern part of the country.
The Federal Government also signed a N67 billion contract for the rehabilitation of the 2,119 kilometres three Eastern rail lines.
This comprises the 463 km rail line from Port Harcourt to Makurdi; 1,016 km rail line from Makurdi to Kuru, including spur line to Jos and Kafanchan; and 640 km rail line from Kuru to Maiduguri.
Available records showed that appreciable progress had been made in the completion of the 1,657km Eastern line from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri.
Besides, the administration says it has also procured 25 new locomotives from General Electric and refurbished 366 coaches and wagons, among others.
This is in addition to the 20 units of oil tank wagons, five railroad emergency vehicles, 60 tonnes overhead workshop cranes and three rail inspection vehicles.
Records further showed that the Iddo terminus station, Ebute Metta junction station, Ilorin station, Kaduna junction station, Kano station, Port Harcourt station, Enugu station, Jos station and Gombe station were also being remodeled.
Vice-President Namadi Sambo, recently performed the official track laying of the Abuja-Kaduna fast train line, signifying the complete modernisation of the railway system in the country.
Sambo, who performed the ceremony at the Idu area of Abuja, said that the project was part of President Goodluck Jonathan’s people oriented projects aimed at touching the lives of Nigerians.
According to him, the funding of the project was enhanced through the SURE-P.
He said that the project was also co-funded with the 500 million dollars concessionary loan from China Exim Bank.
“Therefore in our efforts to ensure adequate funding for the Transformation Agenda, government has created the enabling environment for the private sector to play significant roles.
‘’This administration is determined to concession the railway facilities upon completion.
‘’Similarly, opportunities abound for Foreign Direct Investments in this important sector,” he said.
Sambo commended Messrs China Civil Engineering & Construction Company (CCECC) Nigeria Limited, the project handlers for its efforts at ensuring timely completion of the project.
Throwing more light on the project, Umar said that the project was part of the strategic plan to rejuvenate, modernise and revitalise the rail transport system.
According to him, the Kaduna-Abuja rail project is the first segment of the Lagos to Kano standard gauge rail line, adding that when completed and operational it will enable people to live in Kaduna and work in Abuja.
He said that the project had reached 68 per cent completion, including earthworks, hydraulic structures, railway bridges; box bridges; precast T-beams for bridges; and over pass bridges.
Umar said that seven new standard gauge lines were also being proposed under the Public-Private Partnership arrangement.
He listed them as the 322km Lagos-Benin City line, 500km Benin-Abakiliki line, 673km Benin- Obudu Cattle Ranch line, 615km Lagos-Abuja high speed line, 520km Zaria-Birnin- Koni line, 533km Ega nyi-Otukpo and the Ega nyi-Abuja line.
Umar assured that the Abuja-Kaduna railway project would be completed by December 2014.
On challenges facing the project, the minister said that efforts were being made to ensure that the two major constraints- water interference at km 19, and certain estates built along the rail lines at Kubwa were addressed by the relevant authorities in the FCT.
On his part, Mr Shi Hongbing, the Managing Director of CCECC, assured that the project would be completed on schedule.
He also said that the project had employed over 4,000 Nigerians and would on completion, provide jobs for over 5,000 Nigerians who would be trained in various skills relating to the operations and maintenance of facilities.
To further complete the modernisation of the railways, the Federal Government had also earmarked more than N10 billion from its 2014 SURE-P share to fast-track the completion of the Abuja Rail Mass Transit project.
Appraising the progress of work so far, the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Sen. Bala Mohammed, said that the project would cost the government more than 823 million dollars.
This, he said, would cover the cost of final design and construction of Lots 1 and 3, respectively, which is approximately 60.67 kilometres.
To ensure its early completion, the minister said that the Federal Government had obtained a concessional loan of 500 million dollars from the China Exim Bank.
According to him, an estimated 700,000 passengers are projected to ride the Abuja Light Rail (ALR) on daily basis, when the first phase of the project takes off in 2015.
Nonetheless, analysts have advised the government to allow more private sector participation in the railway modernisation programme in order to ensure sustainability.
They note that more pragmatic efforts should be intensified to link the FCT and neighbouring states with standard gauge lines, while the ongoing light rail project should be extended to the satellite towns, particularly Nyanya, Mararaba and Karu to reduce vehicular gridlock.
45-year-old Umar Kwairanga from Gombe State , with over 21 years cognate experience in banking, pension, manufacturing and trading, is returning home to chair and give leadership to the board of AshakaCem that was incorporated when he was virtually five years old. Nigeria’s AshakaCem is now a subsidiary of Lafarge, one of the world’s leaders in cement production.
As Chairman of the Board of Ashaka Cem, he knows that he is now a global player in an industry with a market size estimated to hit $394,553 million dollars by 2016.
Last April the merger of the Swiss company Holcim and Lafarge, a French company was announced. With capacity of producing some 400 million metric tons of cement per annum, the new company has become the largest producer of cement in the world, beating the combined 345 million metric tons output of Anhui Conch and CNBM, two major Chinese cement producers.
In the same month Kwairanga’s AshakaCem was holding a ground-breaking ceremony in Gombe for its planned capacity expansion from 850 tons to four million tons per annum contributing its quota to the 400 million-ton capacity of its parent company.
Cement, which is made from clay and limestone, is a key building material which is used basically as a binder. One of the major drivers for cement market is steady and consistent growth in construction industry not only in Nigeria but globally. There is no doubt that Nigeria is witnessing a boom in the construction industry. There is clearly a huge demand in the country if one looks at the race among many state governments and private developers to close the housing deficit in the country. Projects such as the Centenary City in Abuja, which President Goodluck Jonathan recently commissioned and other landmark projects in the Federal Capital Territory are a testimony to the kind of positive development the Nigerian construction industry is witnessing.
What does the AshakaCem expansion mean for the economy of Gombe State, the people of the state, the community round the sprawling industrial complex and to Nigeria in general? The answer to that lies in the fact that the company is injecting about N120 billion in this expansion exercise to build a new cement factory with installed capacity of 2.5 million tons per annum and a 64mw power generating plant. The fund for the project will be sourced from the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Industrial Intervention Fund. This project will throw open employment opportunities to the Nigerian youth as the company operates an equal opportunity policy. It will substantially increase AshakaCem workforce from its current 640 staff level by almost double that figure. It will also boost staff morale and increase motivation because of the huge opportunity for manpower development.
In today’s age of environmental protection advocacy, AshakaCem is treading carefully and is systematically addressing the associated environmental concerns such as relocation of local communities away from its quarries.
Cement occupies a very important position in world economy that today its consumption per head of population is an index for measuring economic development. This is true when we look at the statistics. As a result of the global financial crisis affecting Europe, most of its cement producing countries, such as Italy and Germany, have lost their ranking, while most of the progressing countries, in terms of ranking, are the emerging markets. For example, in 2013 Brazil moved to the fifth position from 15th; Turkey from 10th to 6th and Vietnam from 17th to 8th position. And China until the merger of Lafarge and Holcim this year was the leading producer with 230 million tons in 2013 followed by another emerging market, India with 280 million tons.
Asia pacific is the largest consumer of cement in the world followed by North America and Europe. Based on types of cement, white cement is largely used to increase the visual appearance of construction. Portland cement is used in commercial, residential, industrial, and public infrastructure. Mortar is used in brick works and road surfaces. Blended cement is heavily used in ready-mix concretes.
Some of the major players operating in the global cement market include LaFarge-Holcim (France/Swiss), Anhui Conch (China), Cemex (Mexico), Heidelberecement (Germany), Italcement (Italy), Ultratech (India), Eurocement (Russia).
Although Africa contributes only five percent of the global output of cement, the expansion of cement companies such as AshakaCem is a beacon of hope for Africa. And it is consistent with the forecast made by the global Portland Cement Association, PCA, that the world cement consumption is expected to record sustained growth during 2013-2016. According to PCA, growth is expected to be characterised by weaker economic conditions in China and many of the industrialised economies’ cement markets. World cement consumption is expected to grow 3.6% in 2013, 4.0% in 2014, and remain near 4.0% growth during 2015-2016.
With three degrees in Business Administration and Finance, Umar Kwairanga the Sarkin Fulani of Gombe, understands global finance and its dynamics. He has found a way to manage his tight schedule between his various businesses. Currently the CEO and Managing Director of Finmal Finance Services Limited, he is also a director in many other companies.
His involvement in policy and strategy formation in the public sector through participation in intellectually challenging projects such as the Vision 2020 business support group and technical working group and active membership of the board of Gombe State Investment and Property Development has by no means equipped Kwairanga for his new position at AshakaCem.
No doubt the favourable conditions in the construction industry in the emerging markets in sub-Saharan Africa represented by Nigeria’s rising economic boom is fuelling the growth AshakaCem is recording. Equally contributing to the growth is quality of leadership of its board under Kwairanga in particular and the management of the company in general.
Mr. BASHIR HASSAN, a public affairs analyst, wrote from Abuja. [myad]
The FIFA Disciplinary Committee has imposed a fine of 300,000 Swiss Francs (about £196,380) on the Argentina Football Association (AFA) and also pronounced a reprimand against it.
A statement from FIFA’s Media Office today said that the fine was in relation to breaches of the Regulations of Brazil 2014 FIFA World Cup and the competition’s Media & Marketing Regulations.
“Disciplinary proceedings were opened after Argentina turned up for three consecutive Match Day press conferences in the stadium with only the head coach present, instead of the required head coach, plus at least one player.
“The matches are Argentina versus Nigeria, Argentina versus Switzerland, and Argentina versus Belgium.
“The same incident occurred at the Match Day press conference prior to the semi-final match between Argentina and The Netherlands.
“After analysing all necessary elements, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee found the Argentina FA guilty.
“The Argentina FA breached article 4 paragraph 1 lit. f and article 4 paragraph 2 of the Regulations 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
“The FA also breached article 12.2 second part (i) of the competition’s Media & Marketing Regulations,’’ it said.
The statement added that the objective of the said regulations is, inter alia, to allow media and, ultimately, fans to have an opportunity to follow a team’s preparations.
“It also allows each team to have the best possible environment for those preparations.’’
“Of all religions, Christianity is the most materialistic. And religion is the greatest predator on man”. (Pope St. Malachys)
THE Church is not just a superstructure or building for Christian public worship. It is the Body of Christ- a universal ecumenical collectivity of Salvation Armies dedicated to professing, evangelising and possessing the “Spirit of the Word” of God through Jesus Christ. The élan and verve of the Church is hallmarked by the move of the Holy Spirit and Divine afflatus with Christ as its primus interpares.
The Church has come along way. After the ascension of Christ, the disciples and other converts formed the Christian group-followers of Christ. There were other religious groups, but Christians were particularly hand-picked for persecution and oppression by the Roman authorities. This culminated in the dispersal of Christians.
The Sanguinary proclivities of Roman Emperors was visited upon the Christians. In 64 A.D. a great fire burnt Rome and Emperor Nero attributed the fire to Christian heresies, thereby justifying his wanton persecution. The persecution gained ascendancy under Nero’s successors, Emperor Domitian who reigned from 81 A.D. to 180 A.D. and Emperor Diocletian.
A profoundly historic decision was taken in 47 A.D. by the Christian Council of Jerusalem. It was that non- Jews (gentiles) who were Christians need not to practise Jewish mores, customs and traditions. It was explicitly articulated that Christianity is not a Jewish religion and that the basic condition for the Christian’s faith is a belief in Jesus Christ” as the author and finisher of our faith. This singular decision cosmopolitanised Christianity.
In 306 A.D. “Constantine” was made Emperor of Rome. He fought many wars, notably the war against Emperor Maxentus. He won the war after he had received an apocalyptic afflatus, visions of the cross and a divine call to fight in the name of Jesus Christ. He subserviently kow-towed and they stopped Christians persecution in 325 A.D. He called all Christians groups together in 330 A.D. under the auspices of the Christians Council of Jerusalem (The Conference of Nicae). This ultimately gave birth to the Roman Catholic Church. Arguably, in fulfillment of the prophecy of Jesus Christ in Matthew Chapter 16:18, “Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it”.
The Roman Catholic Church was universalised and its doctrine’s of the infallibility of the Pope became prevalent. The Catholic Church compromised monarchical absolutism, state terrorism and oppression in return for its own protection and growth. The despotism of the papacy, its unscriptural heathenistic practices, its being used by the Roman government to carry out the persecution of the faithful, papal dogmas and its surrogacy in the perpetuation of yahoo-like weird practices stimulated pockets of dissenters.
The Bible scholar and staunch advocate of religious puritanism, E.G. White, said in his book: The Great Controversy that “Amidst the gloom that settled upon the earth during the long period of papal supremacy the light of the truth could not wholly be extinguished. In every age there were witnesses for God. Men who cherished faith in Christ as the only mediator between God and man, who held the Bible as the only rule of life, and who hallowed the true Sabbath. How much the Earth owes to these men posterity will never know. They were branded as heretics, their motives impugned, their characters maligned, their writings suppressed, misinterpreted, or mutilated. Yet, they stood firm in its purity, as a sacred heritage for the generations to come”.
The Waldeneses were one of the first known religious groups to resist papal dominion and its popish apostasy. They resisted even under torrents of persecution and the fiercest tempest of opposition. Many later joined in The Great Declaration “that the church of Rome is the apostate Babylon of the apocalypse. The efforts of the Waldeneses watered the seed of the Reformation to its luxurious growth. It produced John Wycliffe, Martins Luther, Jerome and others who suffered all things for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Wycliffe heralded the commencement of the reformation, not only in England, but for all Christendom. He remains the morning-star of the reformation. He stood up against the monks and taught the distinctive doctrines of Protestantism- Salvation through faith in Christ and the sole infallibility of the scriptures and not the Pope.
This flame of Protestantism gained conflagrational accentuation and its tentacles engulfed virtually all nations of the earth. The foundation of Catholicism was inveterately shaken. God raised men who were monumentally instrumental to spreading the reformation Protestantism. Huss and Jerome in Bohemia, Luther in Germany’s Withemberg and Augsburg, Uric Zwingle in Swiss Basel, Eck, Zurich, Baden and Oecolampadia, the French Lefevre in Meux, Netherlands Menno Simons, Sweden, Olaf and Laurentius Perri. Farel in Switzerland and many others around the world.
But its aftermath was the dynamic liberalisation of Christianity and formation of other sects, notably the Lutherans, Wesleyans, Methodists, Anglicans, the Baptist and the Adventists. In more recent times, the gains of reformation Protestantism has graduated into Pentecostalism, and through it, the great commission of taking the gospel through evangelism to the ends of the world is being fulfilled.
Today, the church has virtually won the battle against papal dominance and state persecution, but it has fallen into a self-induced spiritual asphyxiation, doctrinal imbroglio, ecumenical stultification, sensationalism, ungodly proliferation and mammonism. The church is in its darkest hour of growth reminiscent of the Babylonish era and hypocritical wantonness of Sodom and Gomorra.
Without slips of prolixity, Jesus Christ spelt out archetypal formats which church men or clerics must keep to enable them be worthy of the “Divine Call” and to remain as vessels of light and honour unto salvation. He prophetically said: “No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon”. This didactic message, amongst others, has been consigned to the oubliette of immorality, greed, quest for material abundance by any means, covetousness, adultery, fornication and lack of fear of God amongst the royal priesthood.
The ecclesiastical paradigms of righteousness, Godliness, faith, humility, patience and meekness have been compromised. Every clergyman now wants to live a life of sumptuousness, monetary wantoness, sensational debauchery and arrogance. This has led to the wanton proliferation of churches for material gains. The bible warns in the first epistle of Saint Paul to Timothy, Chapter 6 verses 10-14 “But thou O men of God flee these things (mammonism) and follow after righteousness, fight the good fight of faith, lay hold of eternal life where thou art also called and has professed a good profession before many witnesses. That thou keep this commandments without spot unrebukable until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ”.
If gold should rust what will iron do? If green leaves should burn what will dry leaves do? asked the poet. Mammon and Beezeelbub have taken total control of the House of God from where the great judgment will start. The men of God are saying like the hedonistic and Sybaritic lotos-eaters by Lord Tennyson “We will return no more; our Island home is far beyond the waves; we will no longer roam. Let us swear on oath and keep it with an equal mind. In the hallow lotus-land to live and be reclined on hills like gods together, careless of mankind”.
How can one explain the flamboyant revelry and salaciousness of our so-called men of God who live in state-of-the-art Houses, drive customized cars and wear Saint Michael’s gold rimmed shoes under the guise of “My God is not a poor God”, for goodness sake where lies the justification for these teratoid moral standards? We all know salvation is a personal thing, but those who claim to have had a divine call to lead us the flock into salvation should set better standards. They should preach the gospel with their life styles other than empty verbalizations and sanctimonious pontifications. We need more orphanages, gospel vans, hospitals and more aggressive evangelization in the rural areas. Juju men, witches and wizards and the wicked should not be left out of the salvation bandwagon. If they, the clerics truly believe and are out to serve GOD in truth and in spirit they should not be psychologically paranoid with material things. Shakespeare said “What touches us ourselves, should be last served”. The Pentecostal Bishops, Archbishops and Pastors are the supreme culprits in this quest for material abundance and acquisition of empty titles.
Scriptural texts copiously abound in the bible to show that, these are the end times and the clerics have very onerous spiritual responsibility to lead the heathens back to GOD. Let them collectively shun mammonism and declare a war against sin to enable them maximize the numerical turn-out unto the train of salvation. They should stop the fanciful interpretation of the gospel to suit their selfish purpose, for the word is spirit and it is life.
Nobody is saying that the clergy or men of God have no right to material possessions. But that it should not be an end in itself. Their attitude towards material or worldly things should be Christ-like and submerged in humility. Jesus Christ the insignia and standard bearer of their calling was selected and delivered through a humble family, born in a stable, lived and shared the grief and agony of the poor, had no properties he could call his own and died with humble and total submission to the will of his Father – God Almighty.
The church must have a societal relevance. We cannot profess a mountainous faith and possess a molehill demonstration of our faith. Christians must begin to see the crucified Christ in their fellow men and act out of love for each other instead of the doctrine of “everybody to himself and GOD for us all”. All our actions must have a functional salvational base vis-a-vis our society. Society is bad because Christians are bad; if we practice one bit of our faith society will change for the better. Especially, those who claim to have been called by God. There will be Christianity in action a reflection of “pragmatic Christianism” – which is, by the Grace of God the only path to salvation.
The church must remain pure all embracingly, and shun meretricious earthly power struggles and strives through polities. People who suggest that the church should be in polities have no scriptural foundation to back up their claims. A sacerdotalism that borders on strictly the ceremonial could be accepted, but not what they are doing now. We must keep the Christian body “select” unto salvation.
Finally, it is said that the greatest form of prayers is to give the Almighty GOD His glory through praises and thanksgiving, that is why i have written this piece. The Chinese sage said “Little things are but little things, when put in the right places they go along way”.I have strong hopes for mankind like E.G. WHITE and believe very optimistically that if Christians and the Clergy walk aright in Jesus Name – the great controversy will be ended. Sin and sinner will be no more. The entire universe will be clean- One pulse of harmony and gladness, throughout the realms of illimitable space. From the minutest atom to the greatest world, all things, animate and inanimate, in their sun shadowed beauty and perfect joy, will declare that GOD is “Love”. WHAT IS THE GENERIC FAITH OF THE CHURCH IN THE LIGHT OF THE HORRENDOUS BOKO-HARAM’S ESCHATOLOGICAL ATTACKS?
BOBSON GBINIJE a social critic, wrote from Warri, Delta State. [myad]
Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) has said that 173 school teachers have so far been killed in the various deadly attacks carried out in the North East by members of Boko Haram.
The National President of the union, Michael Olukoya, who spoke on behalf of the union in Uyo, Cross River state today, explained that 170 teachers were killed in Borno while three were killed in Yobe state.
This is even as he lamented that more than three months after, abducted female students of the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok in Borno are yet to be brought back by the government.
The NUT president called on the Federal Government to do everything possible to free the abducted schoolgirls and save them from the psychological trauma.
“Government should appropriately police the school environment for the security of pupils and teachers and create conducive learning environment for quality education delivery,” Olukoya said.
He urged governments at all levels to provide schools within their jurisdiction with perimeter fencing and security personnel at all times.
The conference, according to him, had called on the Federal Ministry of Education to incorporate the crèche system into the national educational policy and practice in Nigeria.
He emphasised that the issue of early childhood education should be given top priority in the country.
Olukoya complained of non-payment of 27.5 per cent teachers salary scale (TSS) allowance to teachers in unity schools.
He said that teachers in the unity schools would soon embark on strike, adding that all teachers nationwide would embark on sympathy-strike if the situation persists. The conference was its fifth quadrennial meeting with the theme, “Changing Nigeria’s fortune through quality teachers.” [myad]
A Nigerian sports administrator and long-time sports editor, Olajide Fashiku has called on minister of sports to institute an independent committee to probe the allegations of financial improprieties and maladministration leveled against the officials of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) since 2010. In a petition to the minister, Fashikun, who was once a group sports editor of Thisday newspaper, insisted that government needs to know what happened to billion of naira allocated to the leadership of the NFF since 2010 with a view to bringing about the desired changes that Nigeria’s sports deserves. The areas that Fashikun wants the Federal Government to investigate include the $2 million paid by the Federal Government and $8 million paid by FIFA for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa as some players are still claiming that they have not received their share of the participation, having played in the qualifiers without playing in the finals; the $1 million reserved by the Sani Abdullahi-led board for the furnishing of the Sunday Dankaro House and secretariat of the NFF in Package B at the National Stadium, Abuja; the N790 million for the 2013 African Cup of Nations; the N170 million received for the 2013 FIFA Confederation Cup in Brazil and the money paid by FIFA for the same. He wants the government to similarly probe the $1.5 million grant given by FIFA to prepare the team, the Super Eagles for the 2014 World Cup; proceeds from the sponsorship deals with Globacom, Guiness, TomTom, Peak Milk and Adidas; N1.288 billion being the sum of the monthly subvention received from government from January 2013 to June 2014; N850 million received from government for the preparation and participation of the Super Eagles in the fifirst round of the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the $8 million and $6 million expected revenue from FIFA for playing in the first round and qualifying for the round of 16 respectively. “If Nigeria football must be saved and helped to progress without committing the same error in the future, and as a measure to prevent this from repeating itself, given as a deterrence, you must act in good faith,” Fashikun charged the minister. According to him, since Football is one of the 26 sectors under the purview of the minister and for the fact that Nigeria are too emotional and passionate about football, it is urgent that a probe be initiated to address the anomalies in the system. “It is sad and unjustifiable that monies taken from the public till is being fritted away for unnecessary and under developmental purposes.” He is of the view that if the NFF board had used the funds available to them judiciously “the eventual protest by the players that embarrassed the nation would have been avoided. The cost of that embarrassment cannot be quantified in monitary term.”
The ace Nigerian musician, 2Face, has released two songs from The Ascension: ‘Let Somebody Love You’ featuring Bridget Kelly and the thrilling party anthem, ‘Go’ featuring Machel Montano.
THE ASCENSION album tracklist:
1. GO featuring Machel Montano 2. #APROKO 3. HOLIDAY 4. CANT HEAR YOU featuring Vector 5. THE BEST I CAN BE featuring Iceberg Slim & Rocksteady 6. LET SOMEBODY LOVE YOU featuring Bridget Kelly 7. KISS OF LIFE 8. HATE WHAT YOU DO TO ME 9. CONFESSIONS featuring Rocksteady & Dammy Krane 10. CLOSE TO WHERE YOU ARE 11. INTERNATIONAL LOVING featuring Kim Almarcha 12. BOULAY BOULAY featuring Shurwayne 13. DIASPORA WOMAN featuring Fally Pupa 14. JEJE 15. LESSE PASSE featuring Sir Victor Uwaifo 16. IFE DINMA with Tony Oneweek 17. NOT A SURPRISE
National Conference appears to have ran from one stormy session to another in the last two weeks and finally grounded today over another controversial issue, which is the resource control. For the third day running, the confab failed to find a solution to the contentious issue of resource control or derivation. This is besides the conference’s resolve to encourage the creation of additional 19 autonomous states which nearly tore it along regional line last week. The heat that generated from the debate of resource control debate today forced the conference to once more adjourn abruptly as those for and against an increase of the derivation fund refused to reach a compromise. The division was principally between the South South and most parts of the North.
Iraq, Syria, Nigeria, South Sudan, Ukraine, the East and South China Seas: wherever you look, the world is aflame with new or intensifying conflicts. At first glance, these upheavals appear to be independent events, driven by their own unique and idiosyncratic circumstances. But look more closely and they share several key characteristics — notably, a witch’s brew of ethnic, religious, and national antagonisms that have beenstirred to the boiling point by a fixation on energy.
In each of these conflicts, the fighting is driven in large part by the eruption of long-standing historic antagonisms among neighboring (often intermingled) tribes, sects, and peoples. In Iraq and Syria, it is a clash among Sunnis, Shiites, Kurds, Turkmen, and others; in Nigeria, among Muslims, Christians, and assorted tribal groupings; in South Sudan, between the Dinka and Nuer; in Ukraine, between Ukrainian loyalists and Russian-speakers aligned with Moscow; in the East and South China Sea, among the Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Filipinos, and others. It would be easy to attribute all this to age-old hatreds, as suggested by many analysts; but while such hostilities do help drive these conflicts, they are fueled by a most modern impulse as well: the desire to control valuable oil and natural gas assets. Make no mistake about it, these are twenty-first-century energy wars. Nigerian Soldiers
It should surprise no one that energy plays such a significant role in these conflicts. Oil and gas are, after all, the world’s most important and valuable commodities and constitute a major source of income for the governments and corporations that control their production and distribution. Indeed, the governments of Iraq, Nigeria, Russia, South Sudan, and Syria derive the great bulk of their revenues from oil sales, while the major energy firms (many state-owned) exercise immense power in these and the other countries involved. Whoever controls these states, or the oil- and gas-producing areas within them, also controls the collection and allocation of crucial revenues. Despite the patina of historical enmities, many of these conflicts, then, are really struggles for control over the principal source of national income.
Moreover, we live in an energy-centric world where control over oil and gas resources (and their means of delivery) translates into geopolitical clout for some and economic vulnerability for others. Because so many countries are dependent on energy imports, nations with surpluses to export — including Iraq, Nigeria, Russia, and South Sudan — often exercise disproportionate influence on the world stage. What happens in these countries sometimes matters as much to the rest of us as to the people living in them, and so the risk of external involvement in their conflicts — whether in the form of direct intervention, arms transfers, the sending in of military advisers, or economic assistance — is greater than almost anywhere else.
The struggle over energy resources has been a conspicuous factor in many recent conflicts, including the Iran-Iraq War of 1980-1988, the Gulf War of 1990-1991, and the Sudanese Civil War of 1983-2005. On first glance, the fossil-fuel factor in the most recent outbreaks of tension and fighting may seem less evident. But look more closely and you’ll see that each of these conflicts is, at heart, an energy war.
Iraq, Syria, and ISIS
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the Sunni extremist group that controls large chunks of western Syria and northern Iraq, is a well-armed militia intent on creating an Islamic caliphate in the areas it controls. In some respects, it is a fanatical, sectarian religious organization, seeking to reproduce the pure, uncorrupted piety of the early Islamic era. At the same time, it is engaged in a conventional nation-building project, seeking to create a fully functioning state with all its attributes.
As the United States learned to its dismay in Iraq and Afghanistan, nation-building is expensive: institutions must be created and financed, armies recruited and paid, weapons and fuel procured, and infrastructure maintained. Without oil (or some other lucrative source of income), ISIS could never hope to accomplish its ambitious goals. However, as it now occupies key oil-producing areas of Syria and oil-refining facilities in Iraq, it is in a unique position to do so. Oil, then, is absolutely essential to the organization’s grand strategy.
Syria was never a major oil producer, but its prewar production of some 400,000 barrels per day did provide the regime of Bashar al-Assad with a major source of income. Now, most of the country’s oil fields are under the control of rebel groups, including ISIS, the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, and local Kurdish militias. Although production from the fields has dropped significantly, enough is being extracted and sold through various clandestine channels to provide the rebels with income and operating funds. “Syria is an oil country and has resources, but in the past they were all stolen by the regime,” said Abu Nizar, an anti-government activist. “Now they are being stolen by those who are profiting from the revolution.”
At first, many rebel groups were involved in these extractive activities, but since January, when it assumed control of Raqqa, the capital of the province of that name, ISIS has been the dominant player in the oil fields. In addition, it has seized fields in neighboring Deir al-Zour Province along the Iraq border. Indeed, many of the U.S.-supplied weapons it acquired from the fleeing Iraqi army after its recent drive into Mosul and other northern Iraqi cities have been moved into Deir al-Zour to help in the organization’s campaign to take full control of the region. In Iraq, ISIS is fighting to gain control over Iraq’s largest refinery at Baiji in the central part of the country.
It appears that ISIS sells oil from the fields it controls to shadowy middlemen who in turn arrange for its transport — mostly by tanker trucks — to buyers in Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. These sales are said to provide the organization with the funds needed to pay its troops and acquire its vast stockpiles of arms and ammunition. Many observers also claim that ISIS is selling oil to the Assad regime in return for immunity from government air strikes of the sort being launched against other rebel groups. “Many locals in Raqqa accuse ISIS of collaborating with the Syrian regime,” a Kurdish journalist, Sirwan Kajjo, reported in early June. “Locals say that while other rebel groups in Raqqa have been under attack by regime air strikes on a regular basis, ISIS headquarters have not once been attacked.”
However the present fighting in northern Iraq plays out, it is obvious that there, too, oil is a central factor. ISIS seeks both to deny petroleum supplies and oil revenue to the Baghdad government and to bolster its own coffers, enhancing its capacity for nation-building and further military advances. At the same time, the Kurds and various Sunni tribes — some allied with ISIS — want control over oil fields located in the areas under their control and a greater shareof the nation’s oil wealth.
Ukraine, the Crimea, and Russia
The present crisis in Ukraine began in November 2013 when President Viktor Yanukovych repudiated an agreement for closer economic and political ties with the European Union (EU), opting instead for closer ties with Russia. That act touched off fierce anti-government protests in Kiev and eventually led to Yanukovych’s flight from the capital. With Moscow’s principal ally pushed from the scene and pro-EU forces in control of the capital, Russian President Vladimir Putin moved to seize control of the Crimea and foment a separatist drive in eastern Ukraine. For both sides, the resulting struggle has been about political legitimacy and national identity — but as in other recent conflicts, it has also been about energy.
Ukraine is not itself a significant energy producer. It is, however, a major transit route for the delivery of Russian natural gas to Europe. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), Europe obtained 30% of its gas from Russia in 2013 — most of it from the state-controlled gas giantGazprom – and approximately half of this was transported by pipelines crossing Ukraine. As a result, that country plays a critical role in the complex energy relationship between Europe and Russia, one that has proved incredibly lucrative for the shadowy elites and oligarchswho control the flow of gas, whille at the same time provoking intense controversy. Disputes over the price Ukraine pays for its own imports of Russian gas twice provoked a cutoff in deliveries by Gazprom, leading to diminished supplies in Europe as well.
Given this background, it is not surprising that a key objective of the “association agreement” between the EU and Ukraine that was repudiated by Yanukovych (and has now been signed by the new Ukrainian government) calls for the extension of EU energy rules to Ukraine’s energy system — essentially eliminating the cozy deals between Ukrainian elites and Gazprom. By entering into the agreement, EU officials claim, Ukraine will begin “a process of approximating its energy legislation to the EU norms and standards, thus facilitating internal market reforms.”
Russian leaders have many reasons to despise the association agreement. For one thing, it will move Ukraine, a country on its border, into a closer political and economic embrace with the West. Of special concern, however, are the provisions about energy, given Russia’s economic reliance on gas sales to Europe — not to mention the threat they pose to the personal fortunes of well-connected Russian elites. In late2013 Yanukovych came under immense pressure from Vladimir Putin to turn his back on the EU and agree instead to an economic union with Russia and Belarus, an arrangement that would have protected the privileged status of elites in both countries. However, by moving in this direction, Yanukovych put a bright spotlight on the crony politics that had long plaguedUkraine’s energy system, thereby triggering protests in Kiev’s Independence Square (the Maidan) — that led to his downfall.
Once the protests began, a cascade of events led to the current standoff, with the Crimea in Russian hands, large parts of the east under the control of pro-Russian separatists, and the rump western areas moving ever closer to the EU. In this ongoing struggle, identity politics has come to play a prominent role, with leaders on all sides appealing to national and ethnic loyalties. Energy, nevertheless, remains a major factor in the equation. Gazprom has repeatedlyraised the price it charges Ukraine for its imports of natural gas, and on June 16th cut off its supply entirely, claiming non-payment for past deliveries. A day later, an explosion damaged one of the main pipelines carrying Russian gas to Ukraine — an event still being investigated. Negotiations over the gas price remain a major issue in the ongoing negotiations between Ukraine’s newly elected president, Petro Poroshenko, and Vladimir Putin. Ukrainian Rebels
Energy also played a key role in Russia’s determination to take the Crimea by military means. By annexing that region, Russia virtually doubled the offshore territory it controls in the Black Sea, which is thought to house billions of barrels of oil and vast reserves of natural gas. Prior to the crisis, several Western oil firms, including ExxonMobil, were negotiating with Ukraine for access to those reserves. Now, they will be negotiating with Moscow. “It’s a big deal,” said Carol Saivetz, a Eurasian expert at MIT. “It deprives Ukraine of the possibility of developing these resources and gives them to Russia.”
Nigeria and South Sudan
The conflicts in South Sudan and Nigeria are distinctive in many respects, yet both share a key common factor: widespread anger and distrust towards government officials who have become wealthy, corrupt, and autocratic thanks to access to abundant oil revenues.
In Nigeria, the insurgent group Boko Haram is fighting to overthrow the existing political system and establish a puritanical, Muslim-ruled state. Although most Nigerians decry the group’s violent methods (including the kidnapping of hundreds of teenage girls from a state-run school), it has drawn strength from disgust in the poverty-stricken northern part of the country with the corruption-riddledcentral government in distant Abuja, the capital.
Nigeria is the largest oil producer in Africa, pumping out some 2.5 million barrels per day. With oil selling at around $100 per barrel, this represents a potentially staggering source of wealth for the nation, even after the private companies involved in the day-to-day extractive operations take their share. Were these revenues — estimated in the tens of billions of dollars per year — used to spur development and improve the lot of the population, Nigeria could be a great beacon of hope for Africa. Instead, much of the money disappearsinto the pockets (and foreign bank accounts) of Nigeria’s well-connected elites.
In February, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Lamido Sanusi, told a parliamentary investigating committee that the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) had failed to transfer some $20 billion in proceeds from oil sales to the national treasury, as required by law. It had all evidently been diverted to private accounts. “A substantial amount of money has gone,” he told the New York Times. “I wasn’t just talking about numbers. I showed it was a scam.”
For many Nigerians — a majority of whom subsist on less than $2 per day — the corruption in Abuja, when combined with the wanton brutality of the government’s security forces, is a source of abiding anger and resentment, generating recruits for insurgent groups like Boko Haram and winning them begrudging admiration. “They know well the frustration that would drive someone to take up arms against the state,” saidNational Geographic reporter James Verini of people he interviewed in battle-scarred areas of northern Nigeria. At this stage, the government has displayed zero capacity to overcome the insurgency, while its ineptitude and heavy-handed military tactics have only further alienated ordinary Nigerians.
The conflict in South Sudan has different roots, but shares a common link to energy. Indeed, the very formation of South Sudan is a product of oil politics. A civil war in Sudan that lasted from 1955 to 1972 only ended when the Muslim-dominated government in the north agreed to grant more autonomy to the peoples of the southern part of the country, largely practitioners of traditional African religions or Christianity. However, when oil was discovered in the south, the rulers of northern Sudan repudiated many of their earlier promises and sought to gain control over the oil fields, sparking asecond civil war, which lasted from 1983 to 2005. An estimated two million people lost their lives in this round of fighting. In the end, the south wasgranted full autonomy and the right to vote on secession. Following a January 2011 referendum in which 98.8% of southerners voted to secede, the country became independent on that July 9th.
The new state had barely been established, however, when conflict with the north over its oil resumed. While South Sudan has a plethora of oil, the only pipeline allowing the country to export its energy stretches across North Sudan to the Red Sea. This ensured that the south would be dependent on the north for the major source of government revenues. Furious at the loss of the fields, the northerners chargedexcessively high rates for transporting the oil, precipitating a cutoff in oil deliveries by the south and sporadic violence along the two countries’ still-disputed border. Finally, in August 2012, the two sidesagreed to a formula for sharing the wealth and the flow of oil resumed. Fighting has, however, continued in certain border areas controlled by the north but populated by groups linked to the south.
With the flow of oil income assured, the leader of South Sudan, PresidentSalva Kiir, sought to consolidate his control over the country and all those oil revenues. Claiming an imminent coup attempt by his rivals, led by Vice President Riek Machar, he disbanded his multiethnic government on July 24, 2013, and began arresting allies of Machar. The resulting power struggle quickly turned into an ethnic civil war, with the kin of President Kiir, a Dinka, battling members of the Nuer group, of which Machar is a member. Despite several attempts to negotiate a cease-fire, fighting has been under way since December, with thousands of people killed and hundreds of thousands forced to flee their homes.
As in Syria and Iraq, much of the fighting in South Sudan has centered around the vital oil fields, with both sides determined to control them and collect the revenues they generate. As of March, while still under government control, the Paloch field in Upper Nile State was producing some 150,000 barrels a day, worth about $15 million to the government and participating oil companies. The rebel forces, led by former Vice President Machar, are trying to seize those fields to deny this revenue to the government. “The presence of forces loyal to Salva Kiir in Paloch, to buy more arms to kill our people… is not acceptable to us,” Machar said in April. “We want to take control of the oil field. It’s our oil.” As of now, the field remains in government hands, with rebel forces reportedly making gains in the vicinity.
The South China Sea
In both the East China and South China seas, China and its neighbors claim assorted atolls and islands that sit astride vast undersea oil and gas reserves. The waters of both have been the site of recurring naval clashes over the past few years, with the South China Sea recently grabbing the spotlight.
An energy-rich offshoot of the western Pacific, that sea, long a focus ofcontention, is rimmed by China, Vietnam, the island of Borneo, and the Philippine Islands. Tensions peaked in May when the Chinese deployed their largest deepwater drilling rig, the HD-981, in waters claimed by Vietnam. Once in the drilling area, about 120 nautical miles off the coast of Vietnam, the Chinese surrounded the HD-981 with a large flotilla of navy and coast guard ships. When Vietnamese coast guard vessels attempted to penetrate this defensive ring in an effort to drive off the rig, they were rammed by Chinese ships and pummeled by water cannon. No lives have yet been lost in these encounters, but anti-Chinese rioting in Vietnam in response to the sea-borne encroachment left several dead and the clashes at sea are expected to continue for several months until the Chinese move the rig to another (possibly equally contested) location.
The riots and clashes sparked by the deployment of HD-981 have been driven in large part by nationalism and resentment over past humiliations. The Chinese, insisting that various tiny islands in the South China Sea were once ruled by their country, still seek to overcome the territorial losses and humiliations they suffered at the hands the Western powers and Imperial Japan. The Vietnamese, long accustomed to Chinese invasions, seek to protect what they view as their sovereign territory. For common citizens in both countries, demonstrating resolve in the dispute is a matter of national pride.
But to view the Chinese drive in the South China Sea as a simple matter of nationalistic impulses would be a mistake. The owner of HD-981, the China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC), has conducted extensive seismic testing in the disputed area and evidently believes there is a large reservoir of energy there. “The South China Sea is estimated to have 23 billion tonsto 30 billion tons of oil and 16 trillion cubic meters of natural gas, accounting for one-third of China’s total oil and gas resources,” the Chinese news agencyXinhuanoted. Moreover, China announced in June that it was deploying a second drilling rig to the contested waters of the South China Sea, this time at the mouth of the Gulf of Tonkin.
As the world’s biggest consumer of energy, China is desperate to acquire fresh fossil fuel supplies wherever it can. Although its leaders are prepared to make increasingly large purchases of African, Russian, and Middle Eastern oil and gas to satisfy the nation’s growing energy requirements, they not surprisingly prefer to develop and exploit domestic supplies. For them, the South China Sea is not a “foreign” source of energy but a Chinese one, and they appear determined to use whatever means necessary to secure it. Because other countries, including Vietnam and the Philippines, also seek to exploit these oil and gas reserves, further clashes, at increasing levels of violence, seem almost inevitable.
No End to Fighting
As these conflicts and others like them suggest, fighting for control over key energy assets or the distribution of oil revenues is a critical factor in most contemporary warfare. While ethnic and religious divisions may provide the political and ideological fuel for these battles, it isthe potential for mammoth oil profits that keeps the struggles alive. Without the promise of such resources, many of these conflicts would eventually die out for lack of funds to buy arms and pay troops. So long as the oil keeps flowing, however, the belligerents have both the means and incentive to keep fighting.
In a fossil-fuel world, control over oil and gas reserves is an essential component of national power. “Oil fuels more than automobiles and airplanes,” Robert Ebel of the Center for Strategic and International Studies told a State Department audience in 2002. “Oil fuels military power, national treasuries, and international politics.” Far more than an ordinary trade commodity, “it is a determinant of well being, of national security, and international power for those who possess this vital resource, and the converse for those who do not.”
If anything, that’s even truer today, and as energy wars expand, the truth of this will only become more evident. Someday, perhaps, the development of renewable sources of energy may invalidate this dictum. But in our present world, if you see a conflict developing, look for the energy. It’ll be there somewhere on this fossil-fueled planet of ours.
Michael T. Klare is a professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College and the author of “Resource Wars,” “Blood and Oil,” and “Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet: The New Geopolitics of Energy.”
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
A Nigerian sports administrator and long-time sports editor, Olajide Fashiku has called on minister of sports to institute an independent committee to probe the allegations of financial improprieties and maladministration leveled against the officials of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) since 2010.
The ace Nigerian musician, 2Face, has released two songs from The Ascension: ‘Let Somebody Love You’ featuring Bridget Kelly and the thrilling party anthem, ‘Go’ featuring Machel Montano.
National Conference appears to have ran from one stormy session to another in the last two weeks and finally grounded today over another controversial issue, which is the resource control.
