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Special Reports from SDN and others working in Nigeria

Select one of our Special Reports for more insight into the situation in the Niger Delta.

SDN's summary of UNEP report - Fri, 12 Aug 2011

A report by UNEP on Ogoni has found that the extent of damage is far greater than has previously been acknowledged. Meanwhile Shell's admission of responsibility in a British court for two large oil spills, also in Ogoni (Bodo), underscores the damage and liabilities that have been lying dormant in the region for years.

UNEP Ogoniland Oil Assessment Reveals Extent of Environmental Contamination and Threats to Human Health - Fri, 5 Aug 2011

The environmental restoration of Ogoniland could prove to be the world's most wide-ranging and long term oil clean-up exercise ever undertaken if contaminated drinking water, land, creeks and important ecosystems such as mangroves are to be brought back to full, productive health

A major new independent scientific assessment, carried out by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), shows that pollution from over 50 years of oil operations in the region has penetrated further and deeper than many may have supposed.

USIP special report on Conflict in the Niger Delta - Tue, 2 Aug 2011

This report, sponsored by the Centers of Innovation at the US Institute of Peace (USIP), draws on the experiences of the author and Stakeholder Democracy Network (SDN) over the past four years in the Niger Delta.

Freedom of Information Act 2011 - Tue, 31 May 2011

(Abuja, May 31, 2011) - The signing by Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan of a Freedom of Information (FoI) law is a victory for democracy, transparency, justice and development, the Right to Know initiative, Media Rights Agenda and Open Society Foundations said today.

Chatham House Programme Paper – Elections - Thu, 31 Mar 2011

This weekend marks the beginning of a politically-charged month in Nigeria – voting will take place for presidential, gubernatorial and legislative elections. Chatham House’s latest Programme Paper - Key Issues in Nigeria’s 2011 Elections – outlines the challenges that need to be surmounted if these elections are to be declared fair and credible.

AP: Oil firms showcase giving ahead of Nigeria poll, but many blame them for environmental damage - Sun, 27 Mar 2011

PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria — Posters show smiling students posing after receiving university scholarships. New roads appear on formerly potholed mud tracts. Millions of dollars are promised to improve the lives of the desperate poor.

The Nation: Violence hits Ekiti, Oyo, Delta, Niger, others - Fri, 25 Mar 2011

Security remained the issue yesterday – eight days to the first of the three-leg elections - as pre-election violence continued unabated.

BBC: Nigeria election - Jonathan rivals pull out of TV debate - Fri, 25 Mar 2011

Nigeria's three main opposition candidates have pulled out of election debates with President Goodluck Jonathan, accusing him of "arrogance".

Bloomberg: Nigeria army names suspect in oil explosion - Thu, 17 Mar 2011

Lt. Col. Timothy Antigha told The Associated Press Thursday that a man known as Cmdr. Gen. Plasma is likely responsible for Tuesday's attack on an oil facility in Bayelsa state. Antigha said Plasma recently threatened to disrupt the oil company's operation.

Business and human rights in Anglophone Africa - Wed, 9 Feb 2011

On February 10 2011, the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre launched its first regional briefing, ‘Business and human rights in Anglophone Africa.’ This briefing tracks the human rights impacts of businesses, collating reports from a breadth of sources and identifying trends that were prominent over the past year. By highlighting the tracked human rights impacts, the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre endeavours to serve as a voice for the concerns of civil society.

CEHRD Human Rights Narrative Report: Oct-Jan - Mon, 7 Feb 2011

The months of October, November and December, 2010 were full of reportable incidents like other months. The incidents of those months spilled over to January, 2011 and will continue, as this reports shows...

Delta State Election re-run analysis by Patrick Naagbanton - Fri, 7 Jan 2011

Human Rights and Development (CEHRD) in collaboration with the Stakeholders Democracy Network (SDN) release a pre-election assessment report which analyzed the pre-election situation in Delta State.

NNPC and Nigeria's Oil Patronage Ecosystem - Mon, 6 Dec 2010

From the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University:

Our study of NNPC sheds light on how corruption, bureaucracy, and non-market pricing regimes for oil sales reinforce each other – a lesson that is applicable well beyond Nigeria’s borders. Bureaucracy facilitates patronage and corruption by multiplying the number of transactions that are required to accomplish anything, with each transaction creating an approver who can extract personal gain.

TCP report: Granting Niger Deltans a 'stake' in oil to reduce conflict - Thu, 14 Oct 2010

In September 2009, Nigeria’s then-President Umaru Yar’adua announced that communities in the oil-rich Niger Delta would receive a 10 percent “equity” share in selected national oil assets. Now one year later Dr. Emmanuel Egbogah, a Presidential Adviser, has offered a revised plan forcing oil companies operating in the delta to pay “dividends” to communities “impacted” by their operations. Each year these communities would get around a half-billion dollars total, which they could either withdraw in cash or spend on local development projects. The plan is likely to be included in Nigeria’s controversial Petroleum Industry Bill for passage.

>> Download the full report

UN Report on Conflict Prevention and Revenue-sharing - Thu, 7 Oct 2010

This policy paper is a product of the Global Compact Policy Dialogue on "The role of the Private Sector in Zones of Conflict" . It analyzes the essential factors for creating functional revenue-sharing regimes to contain socio-economic tensions that promote conflict.

Njemanze demolitions: Social and economic effects - Mon, 12 Jul 2010

The Njemanze waterfront community located in Port Harcourt city was demolished on the 28th August 2009 during the rainy reason, having serious consequences for the thousands who lived and worked there.

Sweetcrude: Vanguard's monthly review of the Nigerian Energy Industry - Mon, 12 Jul 2010

Sweet Crude is the Nigerian newspaper the Vanguard's monthly review of the Nigerian energy industry.

Comprehensive Niger Delta Environmental Survey released - Thu, 8 Jul 2010

The second phase of the Niger Delta Environmental Survey has been completed offering a detailed examination of the complex socio-economic-environmental situation in the Niger Delta.

Revenue Watch: Nigeria Considers creating new Sovereign Wealth Fund to promote sustainavble development - Thu, 8 Jul 2010

To promote sustainable economic development, the government of Nigeria is considering the creation of a Sovereign Wealth Fund, a savings tool that could protect against the volatility of the country's main revenue source: oil. But, according to new analysis by the Revenue Watch Institute (RWI), Nigeria risks repeating patterns of weak economic governance and volatile spending unless its new Fund features certain safeguards.

UN Committee on the Rights of the Child concluding observations - Thu, 17 Jun 2010

The Committee is very concerned at reports on the environmental degradation and widespread pollution in the Niger Delta as a result of the oil industry operating in the area, and its impact on the health and standard of living of children. The Committee also notes with concern information that the population in the Niger Delta suffers from respiratory problems, such as asthma and bronchitis, as a result of toxins released from gas flaring.

Official reports, declarations, constitutions and Legislation relating to the Niger Delta - Wed, 14 Apr 2010

From The Transnational Crisis Project website:

All the major militant declarations of 1990 - 2000, the principal laws that contribute positively or negatively to the conflict economy in the Delta, and a series of independent and governmental reports addressing the Delta, from the Willink Report of 1958 to the Niger Delta Technical Committee report of 2008.

Fuelling Discord: Oil and Conflict in Three Niger Delta Communities - Fri, 19 Feb 2010

This report examined the evolution of three cases (Ogoni, Rumuekpe and Ikarama) to explain the remote and immediate causes of communal crises in oil bearing communities in the Niger Delta area.

CEHRD Human Rights Scorecard 2009 - Sun, 7 Feb 2010

Our goal is to serve as a bridge between the rural communities of Nigeria and their rights by empowering them through education and assistance. To this end we produce a yearly 'Sorecard' that paintakingly highlights human rights and environmental abuses in the Niger Delta.

Citizens Report on State and Local Government Budgets in the Niger Delta - Mon, 18 Jan 2010

This new report by the Niger Delta Citizens and Budget Platform (NDCBP) contains findings of analyses and monitoring of the annual budgets of the governments of Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers States in 2009.

Port Harcourt Waterfront Urban Regeneration - Scoping Study - Thu, 7 Jan 2010

The study outlines a long term, sustainable, urban plan-based solution to the current conflict of interest involving the Rivers State Government and residents of the Port Harcourt Waterfront communities whose neighbourhoods are under threat of demolition.

killing at will - unlawful killings by the police in nigeria - Tue, 15 Dec 2009

Amnesty International exposed the shocking level of unlawful police killings in Nigeria, in a new report released today.

Nigeria’s Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative: Just a Glorious Audit? - Thu, 10 Dec 2009

This paper analyses Nigeria's implementation of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) process, a global initiative that seeks to promote transparency in company payments and government revenues from oil, gas and mining.

>> Download the full report from the Chatham House website

Report of The Technical Committee on the Niger Delta - Wed, 7 Oct 2009

This Report presents a novel blueprint to solving an age-old problem. It is the Committee's view, as evidenced by conflicts in some other parts of the world, that there is need for actions that are quick, sincere and sustained which will stem the escalation of conflict and enable other programmes to become rooted.

Alternatives to demolitions - Abonnema Wharf Community - Fri, 4 Sep 2009

This blueprint is for proposed alternative to waterfront demolition and presented by Abonnema Wharf Community House Owners Association consequent to the state government’s plan to demolish all waterfronts in Port Harcourt for development. The proposal is prepared based on contemporary national and global policies and legislations and represents the popular opinion of the entire residents of Abonnema Wharf.

>> Read the full report by the Abonnema Wharf Community House Owners Association here

Demolition of Njemanze Waterfront - Factsheet from SDN Partners SERAC - Fri, 4 Sep 2009

SDN's parters the Social and Economic Rights Action Center (SERAC) report on the Demolition of Njemanze Waterfront on August 28, 2009 in Port Harcourt.

>> Read the SERAC Report here

Thirst for African Oil: Asian National Oil Companies in Nigeria and Angola - Wed, 2 Sep 2009

The report provides a comparative study of the impact of Asian companies on the two leading oil producing countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria and Angola.

The report shows that Asian companies that gained a foothold in the Nigerian oil sector in return for their commitments to invest in downstream and infrastructure projects failed to understand the political context of the time.

UN Habitat: Evictions and Demolitions in Port Harcourt - Tue, 1 Sep 2009

Over the past months, the UN-HABITAT Headquarters in Nairobi, the Habitat Programme Support Office (HAPSO) in Abuja, Nigeria, and the Advisory Group on Forced Evictions to the Executive Director of UN-HABITAT (AGFE), have received information from a range of different sources, including from several of UN-HABITAT’s NGO partners, on ongoing and planned demolition of housing and commercially-used structures in Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

Amnesty International: Petroleum, pollution and poverty in the Niger Delta - Fri, 3 Jul 2009

This report is based on fieldwork carried out in the Niger Delta in March and April 2008, as well as desk research and follow-up research from London between May 2008 and May 2009 by a multi-disciplinary research team, including experts in the oil industry and environment.

Feature: Up in Smoke - Nigeria's continued reliance on gas flaring - Thu, 9 Apr 2009

Stakeholder Democracy Network Niger Delta Discussion Series

Before Christmas 2008, SDN commissioned longstanding gas journalist Chris Cragg to review the data and some of the debates around gas flaring in Nigeria using his experience of reporting on the industry to try and bring some fresh perspectives.

Minority Rights Echoes at Nigeria's United Nations Review - Mon, 16 Mar 2009

Several member and observer states of the United Nations Human Rights Council during today's Review of Nigeria raised concerns about the growing depreciation in the protection of the rights of minorities and indigenous issues in the country.

Niger Delta's Civil Society Organisations recommendations on the human rights situation in Nigeria - Mon, 16 Mar 2009

In June 2008, the Federal Republic of Nigeria was elected chair of the United Nations Human Rights Council, it chaired the African Regional Preparatory Meeting on the Durban Review Process in August 2008, and hosted the last session of the 44th session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights.

US State Department: 2008 Human Rights Report for Nigeria - Wed, 4 Mar 2009

Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor

Watch: BBC Newsnight talks to Niger Delta gangs - Fri, 9 Jan 2009

The BBC Newsnight team talks to armed militias in the creeks of the Niger Delta.

Shell Chief Exec gets a grilling from Monbiot - Tue, 6 Jan 2009

In the latest of his groundbreaking encounters George Monbiot challenges Jeroen van de Veer, chief executive of oil and gas giant Shell, on ethics, greenwash advertising, renewable energy investments and gas-flaring in Nigeria.

Ending Dependence: Hard Choices for Oil-Exporting States - Tue, 1 Jul 2008

Based on a major study of twelve hydrocarbon-exporting countries, this report shows that the oil boom does not guarantee economic sustainability for oil exporting countries, most of which face hard policy choices over domestic consumption, development spending and rates of economic growth.