The Controversy Of Jonah Gbemre Essay

Situated along the coast of the Gulf of Guinea is a region about the size of South Carolina that offers a land full of sweet, light crude oil, known as the Niger Delta (Delta). The Delta sits within the country of Nigeria in West Africa and is in a constant state of crisis, underpinned by a multitude of key issues. Those issues include severe poverty, soil and water contamination, high infant mortality rates, low life expectancy, depletion of natural resources, corruption, and armed militia groups. These issues have one thing in common: oil.

In April 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, polluting the Gulf of Mexico with 4.9 million barrels of oil (EPA, 2015). This disaster is known as the BP oil spill, and is regarded as one of the worst environmental catastrophes in American history. Although it is widely recognized for its impact on ocean ecosystems, marine animals, and public health, it is also a human rights issue. The extensive impacts of the spill include the violations of the human rights to a healthy environment, livelihood, and housing. Further, the oil spill disproportionately affected low-income communities of color that are systematically excluded from protection against environmental harm. This adds to its relevance to human rights because all rights are intended to be enjoyed equally regardless of race, color, income, or other status. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill demonstrates how the legal system often fails to defend vulnerable people and the inequalities associated with the damage and compensation of the disaster.

In the book of Jonah we see the vast amount of tension between both God and Jonah. He is one of the prophets who also believes in tolerance of non-Jews opposite to Ezra’s and Nehemiah’s stress of an unadulterated blood race of Jews under a restrictive Jewish God. Jonah is one of a vast line of important people in the bible who argues with God. As you see in past books of the bible everyone has stood their own against the Lord. Jonah though decides to try and run from God. The Lord called to Jonah and said “Arise, go to Ninevah, that great city, and cry against it,” but Jonah flees to Joppa, setting sail on a ship duty-bound for Tarshish, assuming he can evade the Lord. Jonah views the Lord as sort of a indigenous God of restrained power that his hand would not reach as

The African rulers who signed the Royal Niger Company’s standard form (D1) received monetary compensation for turning over their land. They may have recognized the futility of trying to resist the British government and decided to make the most of it by complying with the terms of the contract. Or they may not have truly understood what they were signing, given language barriers. When the company pledged not to disrupt the laws and customs of the country, the wording it then inserted –“consistently with the maintenance of order and good government” is able to be used as a warning that effectively gives the company the latitude to do whatever it wants. Almost anything could be defined as interfering with “the maintenance of order …” and so the British were bound to trample all over the native customs of the Niger River delta. Document nine gives us important information. Finally, Mojimba’s description of a battle he witnessed indicates that it pitted Africans against not only the British but also African mercenaries, so there were some Africans who chose to help Europeans suppress African resistance, getting paid as soldiers for hire. Mojimba’s words are filled with hatred, for good reason. But they’re being told 30 years after the battle, and so they may not be precisely accurate because the passage of time

Nigeria has become the fastest growing country in Africa, its coastal ports are the heart and soul of its economy. Since its creation by the British Empire, there has been a civil breakdown and conflict among its tribal leaders. However, their religious understanding between Islam and Christianity has kept them at peace amidst themselves throughout time. The last few years, the government has developed itself into a functioning federation, the people are able to notice how outside influence has improved their daily lives.

In 1956 oil was discovered in the Niger Delta, which is located in the southern region of Nigeria, near the Atlantic Ocean. The government nationalized and centralized the commodity, which lead to increased opportunities for corruption and patronage in the government. Militant groups actively destroy pipelines and set the oil on fire as a message to the government that they have access to the pipelines and will continue to sabotage them until a change is made to alleviate poverty and better the local populations. One Nigerian man is quoted saying, “what comes out of the ground, makes Big Men”.

The debate over environmental justice has stretched momentously in recent times. The result of these debates show growing challenges with regard to pending ecological problems that may require an effective management, judicial system, and ethical principle in response to this crisis. These debates have far more consequences when it involves human rights, equality, and ethical principles. For example, environmental and ethical principles should involve moral reasoning that concerns a particular environmental problem. This conclusion should be the basis of environmental justice and sustainable solutions and adequacy. This example demonstrates how Natural Gas Pipelines, pipeline safety, and natural gas fracturing safety concerns challenge us to follow these

The study started with general introductions of concepts, the Igbo people and Nigeria; and the significance of the study and study area. Furthermore, the discussion move from the trade relations between the Europeans and Africans along the Bight of Biafra which at about the 15th century to the arrival of the missionaries and the British colonial army/administration; colonialism started in full scale. The next sections focused on the outcome of the colonial experience of the Igbos, thus, the outcomes of the colonial policies were used as yardsticks to evaluate its consequences on the socio-political system of the Igbos. Thereafter, a discussion on the prolonged consequences of colonialism on democracy in Igbo land was

The District Commissioner’s perception of justice is Britain’s legal system. He genuinely believes that England’s system of government is the best system, and that it needs to be brought to other cultures. In his mind, “civilizing” tribal cultures in Nigeria is the right thing to do, and will eventually make the people happy. We see this viewpoint when he says “We have brought a peaceful administration to you and your people so that you may be happy. If any man ill-treats you we shall come to your rescue.” This quote also demonstrates that he views these people as needing to be saved. What he fails to understand is that the people of Umuofia were happier before the British came. The Commissioner could not comprehend how people could be happy in a culture with a different system of laws and customs than his own, because in his mind, Britain’s laws are clearly good, and Igbo laws are clearly something evil to be rescued from.

All these cases has helped to illustrate on the fact that those people who live in the rural areas in Ghana are more likely to fall victims of breaking the law because there is little or no awareness of what is stated in the constitution or by law due to ignorance. And by so doing, they end up spending all they have pursuing a case.

     Violation of Human Rights, destruction of the environment, and denial of freedom of speech and congregation are the ethical issues raised in this case. The Human Rights violations are many. The Nigerian special police force raped, tortured, and murdered hundreds who spoke out against the tyrannical government. All together they killed 2,000 Ogoni, razed 27 villages and displaced over 80,000 people who fled into the bush as refugees. The oil spills by the Shell Company, the lying of the pipeline across farmlands, and

Just like Achebe put it in his book The Trouble with Nigeria, “The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership. There is nothing basically wrong with the Nigerian character. There is nothing wrong with the Nigerian land or climate or water or air or anything else. The Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility, to the challenge of personal example which are the hallmarks of true leadership” (Achebe, The Trouble With Nigeria 1). The same can be said for most African

Most children in the Niger delta have little or no education, due to lack of funds from their parents who have lost their lands and have no jobs because of limited opportunities. The Niger delta government and the oil companies have refused to look into the situation; instead they favor their close relations neglecting the masses. Corruption in the Niger delta has led some youths in taking drastic measure in order to put food on their table. For example, Ikechukwu Efe an indigene of the Niger delta said that some of his friends created their own “oil refinery”, which is made up of crude oil in metal barrels with controlled heat from fire woods. This is a dangerous process in refining crude oil but the degree of poverty in the state left his friends with no choice. If only the government of the Niger delta have created jobs with the wealth of the state Ikechukwu’s friend would not have to put their lives in danger. Until corruption is put to an abrupt the people of the Niger delta will continue to live in poverty.

The oil conflict in Nigeria consists primarily of two parties the oil companies and the local interests. The conflict has turned deadly as individuals have protested through violence their frustration for what they believe to be

Niger Delta is Located in Southeast of Nigeria and has a history of being one of the most fertile land in Northern Nigeria. There is subsistence farming and fishing in this region that is mainly done by the natives of this place, and is inhibited by 3000 communities that have settled there for a long time doing farming as their major economic activities (Ikelegbe, 2013). The estimated population at the Niger Delta is 27 million people, of this population, 75% of the population relies upon agricultural activities for living. However, the water, air, forest and soil resources have been devastated because of the exploration of gas and oil resources. The key issue and problem associated with the oil recourse exploration is oil spills and gas flares.