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The map at left shows the location of Imo and
neighboring states. This area has been named the Eastern
Heartland. Nigeria is widely known as the "Heart of
Africa." Below is a small outline map of Africa,
showing the location of Nigeria.
One Earth with all her children smiling!
Nigeria today is Africa's biggest producer
of petroleum. The enormous potential for wealth has
produced exploitation from outside and conflict within.
The oil industry has brought environmental, economic and
cultural devastation. Some 2 million barrels of oil a day
are extracted in the Niger Delta. Much of the natural gas
extracted in oil wells in the Delta is immediately burned, or
flared, into the air at a rate of approximately 2.5 billion
cubic feet per day. This is equivalent to 40% of African
natural gas consumption, and forms the single largest source of
greenhouse gas emissions on the planet. The
environmental degradation associated with the lack of
distribution of oil wealth have been the source and key
aggravating factors of numerous environmental movements and
inter-ethnic conflicts in the region, including guerilla
activity by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger
Delta.
The efforts of Children-of-the-Earth-Nigeria are presently centered around Imo, a state located in
the southeast region of Nigeria. Princess Ukaga is
coordinating other peace activists with the intention of
creating branches of Children of the Earth throughout Nigeria.
CO-WORKERS and OFFICIALS
Ulumma lke,
Deputy Co-ordinator, is a second year student of law at the
university of Calabar who emphasizes the need for discourse.
“Without communication there can be no unity.
...The goal of a democratic future that is responsive to
the people must be to create common communication areas.”
Madonna Aunsime “would like to realize visions that would
provide the younger generation with a meaningful future.”
She believes that “respecting people’s needs
for protection and attending to the development of their
personality are preconditions for the long term safeguarding of
peace in our world.”
Chidozie Lawrence sees the necessity for a spiritual approach to
correct the imbalances created by the “gross mentality
born of the illusion of separation. ln believing all is
separate from the source of life and all else, it is natural
for the mind to think that there is never enough. And where
there is this belief, the tendency is to back from giving and
to do everything possible to take in order to fill up ones own
pocket....We can not put a religion upon the rivers nor can we
patent our planet’s design. Life is already its own
unbreakable, un-possessable law.”
Doris Osuji believes
the “greatest quality of being human is love. This is the
source and essence of every being, and in this no one is
greater or lesser.”
With the help of anonymous funding, this
pump makes water more available for families and their
children.
The Niger Delta extends over about 70,000
square kilometres and makes up 7.5% of Nigeria’s land
mass. Some 20 million people of more than 40 ethnic groups,
speaking some 250 dialects live in the Delta. Originally, their
livelihoods were primarily based on fishing and farming.
The high population density created intensified pressure
on the land, leading to increasing rural poverty. Low
crop yield and loss of land to erosion have combined to induce
people to migrate in search of other jobs. Now life in
the Niger Delta has been drastically changed by development of
oil resources.
IN THE NEWS
Nigeria launches a national action plan
for orphans and vulnerable children
ABUJA, 17 May 2007- A
five-year national plan of action for orphans and vulnerable
children (OVC) was launched today by the President of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, in Abuja.
At the same ceremony, the President also presented the
new national gender policy and gender statistical digest. The
OVC national plan provides a clear framework for policy makers,
programme planners and implementers at all levels for designing
and carrying out interventions to mitigate the impact of
orphanhood and other causes of vulnerability on children.
The main goal of the plan is that by 2010,
mechanisms for the protection, care and support for orphans and
vulnerable children are in place and that provision of basic
services is facilitated within a supportive environment. Basic
services include education, health and nutrition, protection
and social care.
Princess has a great ally in Imoh Colins, also working for a better future for the people
of Nigeria. Like Princess, Colins is a founding member of
the World Spirit Youth Council. He is the founder and director
of “PROTECT OUR FUTURE.”
On March 29, 2007, in Port Harcourt,
“PROTECT OUR FUTURE” launched the PEACE AND CIVIC
EDUCATION PROJECT for which Colins is the executive director.
The primary component at the launching was a teacher
training workshop intended to give teachers the skills to
enable a democratic, rather than military approach, to
educational process. Additional components will be
student training workshops, formation of Peace Clubs and the
creation of a Manual on Peace Building and Peer Mediation in
schools. The project is based on the premise that if
students / youths who form a significant majority of
Nigeria’s population, know their rights and cultivate a
culture of democracy and skills for living peacefully
(including the ability to elect their leaders themselves), they
will be a powerful voice in sustaining democratic values and a
CULTURE OF PEACE. It is an invaluable way to create a
better future. (MORE)
Children’s PEACE CENTER
Children-of-the-Earth-Nigeria
PEACEBUILDERS
Link to OTHER CHAPTERS:
Children-of-the-Earth-Acholiland
(Uganda)
