The Stateless Nation Of O-Go-Knee

The country of Nigeria is located in West Africa, sharing land borders with Chad, Niger, Benin, and Cameroon. The country covers 923,768 square kilometers, making it the 32nd largest nation in the world. This is the most populous country in Africa with more than 160 million people living there. Nigeria has three major ethnic groups the Hausa-Fulani, the Igbo, and the Yoruba. These Three groups constitute about 70 percent of the population (Chigozie, 2016).

According to Shell Global (n.d.) one of the largest branches of Shell Company is Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) in Nigeria which has joint venture with Nigerian Government’s Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). The ratios are divided in a method of 55% to Nigerian Government, 30% to Shell Company, 10% to ELF Petroleum Nigeria Ltd and 5% to AGIP. The operation of SPDC in Nigeria has added $38 billion to the Nigerian Government in the past five years (2007-2011) together with the taxes and royalty payments. The Nigerian Government receives 95% of its profit from SPDC onshore oil and gas production in Niger Delta. In relation to Shell Company’s relation following are some key aspects.

I am Obierika, and I am a part of the Ibo tribe of Umuofia which is in Nigeria. I have been through a lot with my tribe and sometimes I do not fully agree with the actions my tribe completes. I am writing this to defend the Ibo culture against what the District Commissioner wrote about us in The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger. The District Commissioner is an authority figure to the white government in Nigeria who thinks he completely grasps the culture of the Ibo.

The most populous country in Africa with a population of more than 160 million people is Nigeria. Nigeria is home to more than 300 tribes, one of the largest tribes being the Igbo tribe. In the novel Things Fall Apart the igbo culture partly consists of the practice of Polygyny and father-son inheritance. The Igbo tribe are still considered to be harmonious to land through festivals and are famous for their culture around Yams.

This religion takes up about 42.8% of the nation’s total population. Other religions throughout the country include Catholic, Muslim, Vodoun, and Protestant. Most adherents of the Yoruba religious group are located in the south, whereas the other African Religion beliefs are found more in the north and southeast.

Thousands of years ago there was a tribe filled with people known as the Ibo, now known as the Igbo. The Igbo were one of the first tribes to really be able to thrive and have order in their villages. Igboland is now one of the most populated countries in Nigeria. Though Igboland is now one of the most populated countries, it has managed to keep its historical charm. Igboland is now a very well thriving country, but it is still facing many hardships regarding their political system.

Nigeria is a very big country with very diverse culture. There are 36 states in Nigeria,

This shows the turmoil and negativity upon the Ibo people and they have only yet heard about them and the abolition of Abame which led to Okonkwo’s change in sense of identity and the Western ideas shaping the meaning as a

Jonah Gbemre instituted a lawsuit on behalf of himself and the Iwhereken Community in Delta State, in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria against Shell Petroleum Development Company Nigeria Ltd, NNPC and the Attorney General of the Federation . Alleging violations of both constitutional provisions and those of the African Charter under the fundamental rights enforcement procedure in the Nigerian constitution, the Plaintiffs claimed that sections 33(1) and 34(1) of the constitution, their right to life and the dignity of the human person and articles 4, 16 and 24 of the African Charter had been violated by the oil exploration and production activities of Shell, which led to incessant gas flaring . In addition, the plaintiffs alleged that the continuous gas flaring by the MNCs had led to the pollution of the environment, exposing the community to the risk of premature death, respiratory illnesses, asthma and cancer . Their crop production was alleged to have been ruined by pollution thereby adversely affecting their food security . Furthermore, many of the natives were said to have died with many more were suffering from various illnesses causing the Plaintiffs to complain that the community had been left in a state of gross underdevelopment . One of the many grounds on which the defendants hinged their case, according to Amao, was that the quoted articles of the African Charter , under the Nigerian fundamental rights enforcement procedure, do not create enforceable rights . Due

Indeed, opportunities for statehood have come the way of the Palestinians but they turned them down for being unsatisfactory. They include The 1937 Peel Commission proposal of a Palestinian state (on 95 percent of territory of what is Israel today the West bank and Gaza).The partition plan of 1947, the division of the land into a Jewish and Arab State as stated in UN Resolution 181.

They don’t have a government but they do have a tradition that is working. This tradition is that a group of men who decide the rules for their clan and their decision is final. The men have come up with traditions that work with most of the Ibo people. For example, when a tribe’s member kills a different tribe member the tribe whose member committed the killing must sacrifice a young boy and a virgin as compensation. This young boy who goes by the name of Ikemefuna is given to Okonkwo’s family. Nwoye, Okonkwo’s son, grows a great friendship with him and become close. However, the tradition is that the sacrifice must be made at some point. Eventually, the tribe kills Ikemefuna, Nwoye's closest friend. Obviously, Nwoye now sees that the tribes traditions are not all right, so he wants change. Another one of the traditions that the men form is the throwing away of twins. Nwoye comes across an incident of this wrongdoing and, “A vague chill had descended on him and his head had

Without the ability to rule themselves, the white men completely changed the structure of the Igbos government. The Igbos judicial system was thrown out and replaced with one ruled by the white men. In the Igbos old court system, when there was a dispute to be settled, you would take it to the egwugwu and it would be discussed publicly. Whereas in the European court system set up in Umuofia, is ruled by one man. The white man’s judicial system is also much less fair. When Okonkwo accidentally killed the young boy, he was only banished by the elders to a sister clan. When Aneto committed a similar crime under the European court system, “Aneto was taken to Umuru and hanged” (Achebe 177). Aneto may have murdered a man, but under Igbo customs if he flees to another land, then he is to be spared. Even though Aneto did these things the white men did not pay any attention to Igbo customs and took the matter into their own hands. The extent to which the political infrastructure of the Igbo was damaged, was so great that the tribe ended up having to conform to European ways in order to survive.

     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

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.

Niger Delta is one of the top ten largest deltas in the world, to the south of this delta is the Atlantic Ocean and to the north is the famous River Niger. The Niger Delta region in Nigeria is blessed with the natural resource of crude oil. Crude oil was discovered in this region since 1958, this made the Nigerian government to divert their attention from agriculture to oil production due to the excessive wealth they made from this new sector. At that time, many indigenes of the region called the discovery of crude oil in the Niger Delta ‘Black gold’, but with the passage of time, many of them have been proven wrong. This is because the discovery of crude oil has brought more damages to them than benefits. The country Nigeria, is currently ranked as one of the largest crude oil producers in the world. Which makes her inevitable prone to oil spillage and huge investment proposals/projects from large oil TNC’s (Shell, Exon Mobile, and Addax petroleum). Oil spillage due to the exploration and exploitation is the major cause of environmental degradation and pollution in the Niger Delta. However, this does not reduce the importance of other environmental issues like the indiscriminate waste disposal.