Video - Documentary on the women of the Niger Delta who use threat of stripping naked to protest unaccountability of oil companies

Fueled by the determination for a better future, grassroots women in Nigeria's Niger Delta use the threat of stripping naked in public, a serious cultural taboo, in their deadly struggle to hold the oil companies accountable to the communities in which they operate.  The women, at the risk of being raped, beaten or killed, are trained and armed, but not with anything you can see.  Through the leadership of the courageous, charismatic, and inexhaustible Emem J. Okon, these women are taking over where men have failed, peacefully transforming their ‘naked power’ into 21st century political action and mobilization.  THE NAKED OPTION: A LAST RESORT celebrates the perseverance and power of an organized group of women!

“Our weapon is our nakedness.”  Through the personal stories of Mama Bata, Aret Obobo and Lucky Ogodo, residents of Ugborodo and Amukpe, communities where oil giants Chevron and Shell operate, THE NAKED OPTION reveals the strength, the power, and the drive of the women to fight environmental ruin, loss of livelihoods, brutality, and corruption perpetrated by these corporate giants. Living in the only militarized zone in Nigeria and cemented firmly on the bottom rung of an already impoverished social and economic ladder, these women constantly struggle to maintain healthy, equitable, and self-sustaining livelihoods. We witness the hurdles that drive them to risk their lives taking over major oil-producing flow stations.

“We are the women who decided to take over the Chevron yard,” states 70-year-old Mama Bata, of  Ugborodo.   “We’ll go naked.  We’ll do our naked.  Shell wants us to suffer and we’re not taking it. Fear will come”, threatens Lucky Ogodo of Amukpe.  Fed up with the oil giants dismissing their demands to clean up the environmental destruction and to provide jobs for their husbands, the women were pushed to the wall. With nothing to lose they decided to risk everything and fight back using the lessons taught by their female ancestors. Stripping naked in public, a sacred weapon of last resort, has given them unprecedented power over both government and oil through landmark moments in Nigerian history. Their anger erupted July 8, 2002 when for ten days, 600 rural peasant women, ages 20 – 90, took over Chevron, the largest oil producing facility in Nigeria, which is the third largest oil supplier to the United States. Unarmed, they held 700 male workers hostage.  The women blocked the flow of a half million barrels of oil a day by threatening to strip naked in public. Actual footage of events combines with first-hand accounts from Mama Bata, Lucky, and Aret who, in the summer of 2002, joined the wave of women’s uprisings that swept the Niger Delta.  We discover how Emem Okon plays a crucial role in the women’s ability to negotiate with Chevron.
“Education doesn’t reduce the risks but it provides women with the skills and knowledge to confront that risk.  It makes them bolder. In my organization, we don’t promote that option (of stripping naked) but if it gets to the point where stripping naked is the only way they can get government attention, we will not stop them.” Emem, founder of Kebetkache Women’s Development and Resource Centre is championing a new vision for women and a safer way for their voices to be heard. Reaching across ethnic divides, she fights injustice with education, mobilization, and perseverance. Set against this backdrop, where government sends paramilitary soldiers to protect multinational oil companies from protesters, THE NAKED OPTION shows Emem as she travels to rural communities where women are prepared to use their weapon of last resort. Encouraging women to step up to decision making positions in government, she spearheads democracy and peace building trainings, teaches negotiating skills, and continually challenges the nexus of power created by the collusion of ‘Big Oil’ and a brutal Nigerian government through non-violence.

"Now, today a woman can be president.  Before these workshops we had no thoughts. The only thing we knew was every morning carry your cassava, every morning go to your farm…but today with ‘the awareness’ in us most families are training their children,” says Stella Fyneface, Emem’s protégé. Dedicated leadership, a passion for women’s rights, and new opportunities merge in THE NAKED OPTION as Emem passes the baton to hundreds of rural women, inspiring and mobilizing them to take charge of their futures, to stand up against injustice, and to become leaders.

Snag Films

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President Goodluck Jonathan makes it into TIME 2012 list of most influential people in the world

Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan exemplifies the African political renaissance at a time when the people of the continent are starting to reap the fruit of their resources and their hard work. President Jonathan, 54, possesses the qualities needed at this moment of great challenges, having come to power at a crucial moment in the history of Nigeria. The country has grown out of its past of corruption, mismanagement and brutality, but the foundation of good governance is still fragile.

In two short years, President Jonathan has shown the same dexterity he demonstrated as governor of Bayelsa, the same ability to find the remedies to the many complexities of running a nascent democracy. He has spearheaded the fight against corruption and turned Nigeria into an example of good governance. He has also made a significant impact on consolidating peace and security in West Africa. From the onset of our own crisis, Liberia has benefitted from the support of Nigeria. President Jonathan not only upheld the trend but added to it. With leaders like President Jonathan, Africa is sure to move toward prosperity, freedom and dignity for all of its people.

TIME

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Video - President Goodluck Jonathan wants dialogue with Boko Haram

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US warns of Boko Haram attacks coming to Abuja

The US embassy in Nigeria warned on Wednesday that Islamist group Boko Haram may be planning attacks in the capital Abuja, including against hotels frequented by Westerners.

“The US embassy has received information that Boko Haram may be planning attacks in Abuja, Nigeria, including against hotels frequently visited by Westerners,” an emergency message to US citizens on its website said.

“The US government has no additional information regarding the timing of these possible attacks. The Nigerian government is aware of the threat and is actively implementing security measures.”

It gave no further information on the threats.

A police spokesman told AFP “we are not aware of any special threat of attacks by Boko Haram or any individual or group.”

“However, police are ever ready and prepared to deal with any situation and security threat to Nigerians and foreigners living in Abuja or any other parts of the country,” said Olusola Amore.

The US issued a similar message in November that drew harsh criticism in Nigeria. No attacks occurred in Abuja in the wake of the November warning.

A US diplomat at the time however said the warning was based on specific and credible information, adding that the embassy had no choice but to warn American citizens.

Boko Haram has carried out scores of attacks, mainly in Nigeria’s predominately Muslim north, that have killed more than 1,000 people since mid-2009.

It claimed responsibility for the August suicide bombing of UN headquarters in Abuja which claimed at least 25 lives.

The group’s deadliest attack yet occurred in the northern city of Kano in January, when coordinated bombings and shootings left at least 185 people dead.

Despite heavy-handed raids and a number of high-profile arrests, Nigerian authorities have appeared unable to stop the attacks.

An attempt to hold indirect talks between Boko Haram and the government in March collapsed after a mediator quit over leaks to the media and the Islamists said they could not trust government officials.

Authorities blamed the deaths of a British and an Italian hostage in northwestern Nigeria in March on a faction of Boko Haram. A spokesman for what is believed to be the main branch of the group however denied any involvement.

US Ambassador to Nigeria Terence McCulley recently urged Nigeria to focus on development in its impoverished north as well as security to bring an end to an onslaught of deadly attacks blamed on Boko Haram.

Analysts say poverty and frustration in the north have pushed young people toward extremism.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation and largest oil producer with some 160 million people, is roughly divided between a mainly Muslim north and predominately Christian south.

The oil-producing south is wealthier and more educated, stoking resentment in the north.

Vanguard

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British Airways admits to evading tax in Nigeria

 

Major foreign airlines in Nigeria, especially the British Airways (BA), and Air France-KLM Nigeria, Tuesday admitted that they had failed to remit the five per cent Passenger Fuel Surcharge (PFS) on their tickets to Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) as required by global aviation practices.

Country Manager of BA, Mr. Kola Olayinka, told the Senate Committee on Aviation that organised an investigative public hearing on the violation of aviation laws by foreign airlines that, "no airline, as we speak, is remitting the five per cent charged on air fares to the NCAA. It is not only BA."

But the General Manager of Air France-KLM Nigeria, Mr. Christian Herpi, said if an extant Nigerian law required the airline to pay five per cent from the PFS, it was ready to comply, noting that it had been a practice by airlines worldwide and was not peculiar to airlines flying from Nigeria.

Olayinka also argued in the same line, assuring the committee that it was ready to comply with the directive, provided the legal requirement was clearly spelt out.

However, the Senate Committee on Aviation has threatened to recommend for prosecution BA for tax evasion.

The committee chairman, Senator Hope Uzodinma (PDP, Imo), said tax evasion is a criminal act and must be prosecuted accordingly.

The committee found that foreign airlines, including the BA, were not remitting the five per cent of PFS charged on air tickets to the NCAA as provided by law.

Uzodinma said: "Refusal to remit taxes is not a civil matter, it is a criminal offence which should be investigated by the appropriate department and we may have to do so."

The committee chairman however faulted the argument of BA's country manager, saying "That others are not paying doesn't make it right. The problem is that the NCAA continues to treat this matter as civil. Refusal to pay revenue to government is a criminal matter and we must treat it as such. We will invite relevant department to investigate the matter for possible prosecution."

Uzodinma frowned on the refusal of BA to pay the five per cent tax even when the company enjoys tax relief due to the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) between Nigeria and Britain.

Although the airlines had argued that the PFS was charged by the airlines to cover the cost of aviation occasioned by global increases in crude oil, the committee noted that the airlines never reflected in the value of the PFS any fall in the price of crude at the international market.

According to the committee, it has been established that the PFS is the revenue accruing to the airlines, since it usually appeared in their account books as a major revenue source to the airline, which is taxable.

Uzodinma, however, tasked the NCAA to immediately commence the recovery of the taxes from the airlines as soon as possible.

Some members of the committee suggested that the refusal to pay the money amounted to tax evasion and should be treated as a financial crime.

Meanwhile, the foreign airlines have advised the country to establish a national airline as a step towards boosting the aviation industry.

They suggested that although some smaller African countries own national airlines with difficulty in management, Nigeria should be able to run a national carrier.

Herpi said he had travelled around Africa for many years and would advise strongly for Nigeria to own its national airline.

Olayinka said a national carrier would be an ideal project to be pursued by the present administration.

He said: "We need more airlines and a national carrier. If not we need to ensure that existing local airlines were supported to be able to fly the nation's flag."

Olayinka had argued that the law of demand and supply was responsible for the increase in the air fares as it affects First and Business Classes, recommending that more frequencies be allocated to airlines flying the routes concerned.

But the consultant for NCAA, Mr. Babatunde Irukera, said more frequencies would not address the problem which was created by the fact that most of the airlines do not have directed flight from Lagos to London.

He said 90 per cent of the travellers from Lagos to London go by BA and Virgin Atlantic, adding that passengers flying Air France and KLM to London are those who could not fly BA because of the cost.

Nigerians flying to London had little or no choice to make, given that only BA and Virgin Atlantic operate direct flights to and from London.

Irukera argued that although the BA and Virgin argue on the basis of economics, the issue transcended economics as it was a matter of law and legality.

The committee however noted that since the foreign airlines admitted to not paying the statutory 5 per cent from the PFS, the NCAA should endeavour to commence the collection of the levies from the airlines.

This Day

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Former Nigerian governor to Delta state James Ibori sentenced to 13 years in UK prison

Former Delta state governor, Chief James Ibori was Tuesday jailed by a British court for 13 years on  for his part in a $250 million fraud of state funds.

James Ibori, 49, who was governor o foil-rich Delta State between 1999 and 2007, was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court in London.

Scotland Yard says that during his two terms as governor, Ibori “systematically stole funds from the public purse, secreting them in bank accounts across the world”, in a fraud worth $250 million.

In February, Ibori pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to launder money, five of money laundering and one of obtaining a property transfer by deception.

He also admitted conspiracy to defraud, conspiracy to make false instruments, and one count of money laundering linked to a $37-million share fraud surrounding the sale of shares in Nigerian company V Mobile.

Ibori “deliberately and systematically defrauded the people whose interests he had been elected to represent”, said Sue Patten, head of Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service central fraud group.

Britain’s International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell said corruption was a “cancer” in the developing world and the sentence sent a strong message to people eying Britain “as a refuge for their crimes”.

“We are committed to rooting out corruption wherever it is undermining development, and will help bring its perpetrators like Ibori to justice and return stolen funds to help the world’s poorest,” he said in a statement.

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