By Ulrike Koltermann Apr 17, 2007, 14:14 GMT
Port Harcourt - The days of wild parties in Port Harcourt are over. Building contractor Gabriel Bitar remembers when nightclubs were full of foreigners working for oil firms such as Shell, Agrip and Total.
'We caroused the whole night and walked freely through the city,' he recalls. 'As foreigners we felt secure here,' says the Briton who has worked at the centre of Nigeria's oil industry for the last 12 years.
Oil firm employees no longer dare leave their compounds at night and by day, only in the company of armed escorts, he says, observing that the situation in Port Harcourt 'has never been as bad as now.'
For as long as oil has been produced in the Niger Delta, there have been crises. But in the last year the situation has intensified considerably, with attacks on oil installations and the sabotage of pipelines accumulating.
Increasingly, however, oil industry workers are being targeted in kidnappings.
In the last year, 72 foreigners, among them four Germans, and 56 Nigerians were kidnapped. Just three months into this year, already 57 foreigners and 10 Nigerians have been held by kidnappers, while at least 15 people have been killed.
The fundamental problem of the delta is often highlighted and deplored. The region that provides for the wealth of the country has a population that endures bitter poverty. Most villagers live without electricity, clean drinkin water and enough schools, hospitals or infrastructure.
Outsiders are strongly advised not to travel overland or by boat along the many waterways throughout the delta because of the security situation.
Traditional jobs in agriculture and fishing have become scarce due to pollution from the oil industry. People become ill of contaminated water.
The latest crisis began with the emergence of rebels calling themselves the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) in early 2006. Over three weeks, armed and travelling on speedboats, they kidnapped nine foreigners and destroyed an oil and gas line and a Shell terminal.
Jomo Gbomo, who claims to be a spokesman for MEND, detailed his group's demands: 1.5 billion dollars from Shell as compensation for environmental damage, the release of an imprisoned rebel leader and the withdrawal of foriegn oil firms from the Niger Delta.
MEND remains faceless. No one knows exactly what it stands for and who the mysterious 'Jomo' is, but the group has achieved much. Shell had to downscale its Niger Delta operation by half and implement cost-cutting measures. The crisis in the delta has added to the rise in the world oil price.
'Our resouces have been stolen for the last 50 years. We finally want to take control of the wealth of our country,' Jomo wrote.
Nigeria is Africa's largest oil producer and the fifth largest supplier of oil to the United States. Before the crisis, the country produced 2.4 million barrels a day and has the capacity to produce up to 4 millon barrels a day by 2010, a source of pride for the government. Nigerian oil is sought after since it is relatively effortless to produce and has a low sulphur content, making it easy to refine.
In December MEND threatened to shoot three Italians being held by rebels. Oil firm Agrip swiftly denied claims that it had offered a high ransom. MEND has indicated that it wants a political solution to the crisis in the delta.
'We shall kill the hostages to make it clear that we are not young and dumb and chasing after large sums of money. When you visit the delta, you'll understand how easy it is here for a person to become an animal,' Jomo wrote.
A growing number of copycat groups have taken foreigners for ransom as the crime appears to become 'big business'.
The INTEL camp in Port Harcourt is a tiny artificial world of simple bungalows that dot a 'village road', a pool, a tennis court and an Italian restaurant. In the open-air bar under a high straw roof, African beauties with silky wigs rest their heads on the broad shoulders of white foreigners. Besides prostitutes, no one is allowed entry without an electronic security pass.
Oil industry worker Juergen Hoffmann (not his real name), leaves the area like everyone else - with an armed escort. He sits in a car with tinted windows sandwiched between two police cars with flashing blue, white and red lights. The sirens sound like those in a ganster film. When other traffic venture too close, the convoy moves to the opposite lane, a bodyguard with a machine gun leaning casually from the window.
'The oil spoiled people here. Kidnapped whites bring money and once ransom is paid, new desires are awakened,' he says.
The entrance to the headquarters of oil giant Shell in Port Harcourt is guarded like the Green Zone in Baghdad. Dozens of armed security guards meticulously scrutinise those who want to enter. Taxi's are aggressively ordered to turn around at a distance of 100 metres from the gate.
'We completely stopped production in the western Niger Delta, but we do not plan to withdraw,' a high-ranking representative of Shell says, adding that the relocation of production off the oil rig on the coast is also not an alternative.
This, even though oil production is significantly more expensive and the fact that rebels have attacked offshore installations.
He admits that Shell has made mistakes but that: 'In the future we have to ensure less environmental damage and aid for the inhabitants of the region.' He speaks of power supply, drinking water and roads.
There is no doubt that oil firms have so far exploited the Niger Delta without consideration for its inhabitants. The various 'projects' they've undertaken for the benefit of the people, have made very little difference. The roads built by oil firms lead primarly to their own production plants.
Environmental groups point out that the Nigerian government is partly to blame. It takes 95 per cent of the revenue from oil and gas - half of which flows to federal states and some 13 per cent to the Niger Delta where governors have received six billion dollars in the last year and of which virtually nothing has trickled to the population.
'Corruption is the real problem in Niger Delta,' says Nnamdi Obasi of the International Crisis Group. Although the region has received more money than in previous years, most 'has disappeared into the pockest of corrupt' officials, he explains.
Examples of absurd expenditure abound - showy villas, private jets, trips abroad and extravagant receptions for football teams.
'Nobody is held accountable,' says Obasi.
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