Sunday, December 29, 2019

Essay on Oil Conflict in Nigeria - 1259 Words

Oil Conflict in Nigeria Introduction This paper will discuss the Oil conflict that is occurring in Nigeria. Discussed will be the types of power that the two feuding parties are using and whether their strategies have been effective as well as the influence they have had on the conflict. The contrasting cultural differences and similarities will be discussed as well. The conflict in Nigeria has turned deadly and a successful communication environment must be developed in order to restore peace to the region. 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†¦show more content†¦Having associations with the government definitely gives them a legal and formal authority advantage. The locals have implored a personal power approach in engaging the oil conflict. The locals do not have the structural resources that the oil companies do so t hey have to rely on habitual, moral, nuisance, and personal characteristics when applying power to the conflict. Many individuals have protested in a nonviolent manner however there are many who have taken a violent hostile approach with their power. Militant groups and locals have been using a nuisance approach by participating in sabotage to oil pipelines causing significant spills in an attempt to take control of the conflict. According to Omeje (2005) â€Å"Oil companies with considerable onshore operations like Shell, ChevronTexaco and Ajip have repeatedly attributed many of the cases of spills surrounding their oil facilities to criminal sabotage by locals aiming to receive compensation money.† The most extreme use of power has been through the use of deadly violence. Locals have been paying militant groups to attack oil companies, government officials, and anyone they believe to be opposing them. This demonstration of power has brought worldwide attention to the conflict with negative response. The use of power that the oil companies have engaged in has been very effective. By using their associations with government officials and legal resources the oil companies have been able to control the land thatShow MoreRelatedThe Niger Delta And The Oil Companies1576 Words   |  7 PagesThe Niger Delta is a region of Nigeria that is very rich in crude oil and gas. Crude oil and gas make up 70% of the country s revenue and 95% of it s export earnings (Ezekoli, 5608). Those percentages are incredibly high and represents large amounts of money that can be found in the region. However, the people of the Niger Delta never see the wealth that comes from their natural resources. The wealth instead goes to the oil companies set up in the area as well as the pockets of a few elite governmentRead MoreRole and Influence of Religion on Conflicts1208 Words   |  5 Pagesthe role and influence of religion on conflicts. Rabkin states that religion is not a primary source of conflicts and violent strife. According to him, most often than not, religion is used only to legitimize, but not motivate conflicts. However, Jonathan Fox states that religion is one of the motivators of terrorism. The impact of religion on conflicts is also increasing over the years. Similarly in Nigeria, religion was not the central source of conflicts at the time of colonization or evenRead MoreEthnic Conflicts in Nigeria629 Words   |  3 Pagesworse by staging coups and making a mockery of democracy in Nigeria. The military era was marked by corruption, ineptitude and confusion. 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A few oil-rich nations thatRead MoreThe Discovery Of Oil And Its Effects On The World With Energy1506 Words   |  7 PagesIn 1958, oil was first discovered in Nigeria. The discovery has led to the transition from agriculture-based economy to that of oil economy. One would believe that a country that produces a numerous amount of oil used to support the world with energy would have improved domestic infrastructures and economic development. Unfortunately, this is not the case in Nigeria. Nigeria has suffered since the discovery of oil and is still suffering till this day. Not only has it created conflicts between otherRead MoreThe Petroleum Revenue And Economic Growth Essay1610 Words   |  7 Pages The Petroleum Revenue and Economic Growth in Nigeria. 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Saturday, December 21, 2019

Annotated Bibliography On Mammalian Species - 807 Words

MAMMALIAN SPECIES Litocranius walleri (Artiodactyla: Bovidae) ALLYSSA K. THOMAS Department of Biology, University of Michigan-Flint, Flint, MI 48502, USA; allyssat@umflint.edu (AKT) Abstract: Litocranius walleri (Brooke, 1879) is a rare, slender antelope commonly known as the gerenuk. A sexually dimorphic, even-toe ungulate identified by its extremely long neck and thin legs in proportion to the body, and is the only member of the genus Litocranius. It has been found in geographic locations including: Djibouti, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and into southern Somalia. Considered diurnal, and resides in habitats areas of woody vegetation. L.walleri are browsers; feeding on foliage, leaves, fruits, and flowers. It is considered to be nearly threatened due to hunting and habitat degradation caused by livestock grazing and cutting of trees. Key words: gerenuk, antelope, endangered, giraffe gazelle SYNONYMIES: Litocranius walleri Brooke, 1878: 929, pl. 56. Type locality mainland of Africa, north of the Island of Zanzibar. CONTEXT AND CONTENT: Order Artiodactyla, Family Bovidae, Subfamily Antilopinae, Tribe Antilopini, genus Litocranius. Two subspecies of Litocranius walleri are recognized (Grubb, P. 2002; Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M., eds. (2005): L.w. walleri Brooke, 1878: 929. Type locality northeastern Tanzania through Kenya to Galcaio (Somalia) L.w. sclateri Neumann, 1988. Type locality northwestern Somalia (Berbera District)

Friday, December 13, 2019

“Chronicle of a Death Foretold” by Gabriel Garcia Free Essays

â€Å"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife† (Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen) This essay will look at Gabriel Garcia’s Chronicle of a Death Foretold and Mariama Ba’s So Long a letter in relation to the topic ‘Social and Economic Status as a bane of women Empowerment’. Gabriel Garcia and Mariama Ba in their works have depicted women’s eagerness for social and economic status to empower themselves. Women were shown to have gone as far as destroying their children’s happiness for their own desires and satisfactions. We will write a custom essay sample on â€Å"Chronicle of a Death Foretold† by Gabriel Garcia or any similar topic only for you Order Now For example a number of them have used their daughters by marrying them off to men in possession of a good fortune, regardless of what their daughters felt about the men. The women in the forefront who were in the lookout for social and economic status to empower themselves were Pura Vicario from Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Binetou’s and Ramatoulaye’s mothers and Aunty Nabou, from So Long a Letter. However there are a number of women which were portrayed differently, namely, Ramatoulaye and Aissatou in So Long a Letter, and Alberta Simonds in Chronicle of a Death Foretold. Women especially from especially lower class used their daughters as a mean of gaining social and economic status by marrying them off to wealthy men. Their views on their daughters’ marriage entailed their own self-centeredness only. Pura Vicario for example in Chronicle of a Death Foretold forced her daughter, Angela Vicario, into marriage with San Bayardo, a very wealthy man; because she believed it would pull her out of poverty towards a more respectable upper class distinction. Angela was not only forced by her mother but also her sisters and when Angela told them that she does not love Bayardo, her mother silenced her by telling her that love can be learned too. â€Å"†¦her parents and her older sisters with their husbands, gathered together in the parlor, imposed on her the obligation to marry a man whom she had barely seen.† (Marquez 34) The twins stayed out of it saying that it looked to them like woman problems. That proves that it were the women in the family who were really concerned about Angela’s marriage with Bayardo so that they could be empowered through gaining socio-economic status. However, their dreams of escaping from lower class and gaining socio-economic status came to an ultimate end when Bayardo returned her daughter after he found out that she was not a virgin. Pura saw her daughter’s marriage with Bayardo as a golden chance to see herself better off socially and economically, which Pura lamented as they had missed it, all because of Angela who had premarital sex. Similarly, Binetou’s mother in So Long a Letter also took advantage of her daughter Binetou. She quickly withdrew her daughter from studies to marry her off to Modou. In Modou she saw his wealth and believed that her daughter’s marriage with Modou could empower her and uplift her socio-economic status. So, she also wanted to escape poverty and have socio-economic status as Daba, Ramatoulaye’s daughter, described her â€Å"†¦her mother is a woman who wants so much to escape from mediocrity†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Ba, 36) She was satisfied by Modou’s wealth, he promised her a villa, monthly allowance, jewels and a future trip to Mecca. But she made it seem like as if she was worried for the welfare of her daughter and her happiness but her frantic thoughts and tense nerves surrounded herself. She reasoned that it was best if her daughter married a man who could guarantee her a good life. However, it was apparent that she did not really care about her daughter as she did not take into consideration how her daughter felt about Modou and she did not care about her daughter’s education either. She saw her welfare in wealth and financial stability, a man twice the age of her daughter or a man with already twelve children did not matter to Binetou’s mother. So, it was evident that Binetou’s mother’s intentions were not for her daughter’s good but rather for her own desire to empower herself by gaining socio-economic status. Ramatoulaye’s mother also seemed to desire social and economic status. She also in a way preferred her daughter Ramatoulaye to choose wealth over love. She did not like her daughter’s choice of Modou amid knowing that they both loved each other; she wanted her to marry Dauda Dieng because of his higher socio-economic status as opposed to Modou, since he was a doctor. Similarly, Aunty Nabou wanted her son Mawdo to marry someone from the same caste to upkeep the family’s status. She totally regretted his marriage to a goldsmith’s daughter Aissatou. Aunty Nabou saw her son, a man of higher caste marrying a blacksmith daughter, as a humiliation to her and a stain to her generation. Therefore, she decided to bring her brother, Farba Diouf’s daughter Young Nabou to marry her with her son. She educated Nabou before forcing Mawdo to marry her telling him that she will die of shame in the society if he did not accept, so Mawdo accepted. She did so because she wanted to preserve her socio-economic status which she felt was under threat when her son chose to marry outside and someone from a lower caste. So, Aunty Nabou to preserve her social class disregarded her son’s happiness which laid in Aissatou because he truly loved her and she loved him. However, Aunty Nabou did not see this, she only saw her as a goldsmith’s daug hter and hence she saw her socio-economic status as of more importance than her son’s happiness. The only people who stood out differently were Ramatoulaye and Aissatou in So Long a Letter and Albarta Simonds in Chronicle of a Death Foretold. They were the only characters who knew the importance of love in marriage and had put love prior to wealth or socio-economic status. They knew that marriage should consist of love, financial stability, and happiness, rather than just financial stability or socio-economic status. Ramatoulaye despite being proposed to by a millionaire Dauda, she went on to marry Modou whom she loved as she said â€Å"†¦ I preferred the man in the eternal khaki suit.† (Ba, 16) So she married considered love as of more importance than wealth. She refused Dauda even after Modou’s death. She too could have opted to marry Dauda and escaped mediocrity and financial burden. Also, she could have enjoyed a higher socio-economic status than before by marrying Dauda, but she did not do so because she did not love him and she knew that this act of her would destroy another woman’s life; the woman who was already married to Dauda. Ramatoulaye, herself was cheated by her husband and therefore knew how it feels, so she did not want to Dauda’s current wife to go through the same as she was. Aissatou was also one of the few who knew the importance of love and happiness in marriage and had put love prior to wealth and socio-economic status. She divorced her husband Mawdo and went away when he took a second wife, Young Nabou, which shows that she did not want to share her husband and could not bear to see her husband with another woman in her house. That showed the importance of, love, financial stability, and happiness as a whole in marriage to Aissatou rather than financial stability or socio-economic status alone. Alberta Simonds, Bayardo’s mother is the only woman who is seen to be completely different. Alberta did not resist her son’s marriage to Angela who was not only someone from outside their generation but also someone from a lower caste. So, unlike Aunty Nabou in Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Alberta did not see her son’s marriage to Angela as a humiliation or threat to their social and economic status. Perhaps she was aware of son Bayardo’s love for Angela and therefore she saw her as the right girl for him. In conclusion, it can be clearly seen social and economic status as a bane of women empowerment. Women sought of empowering themselves through social and economic status by marrying of their daughters to a man with good fortune. Their views on marriage of their daughters entailed their own self-centeredness as they were mainly concerned about their own selfish struggle and fears of financial stability and a secured future. Love was never a factor for the mothers in the marriage of their daughters; they did not care how their daughters’ felt about the man. Mariama Ba and Gabriel Garcia show that those women strongly believed that a person’s worthiness is not determined by personality or love but by wealth. The only importance they saw was financial stability and socio-economic status, unlike a few other characters that were aware of the importance of love, financial stability, and happiness as a whole. How to cite â€Å"Chronicle of a Death Foretold† by Gabriel Garcia, Papers