Podcasts about Niger Delta

Charles and Jon talk with Rachel Ashegbofe Ikemeh, founder of the SW/Niger Delta Conservation Project. Rachel, a Nigerian conservationist and visionary, has built a team of almost 100 people working at the grassroots community level to save the wildlife of the Niger Delta. The delta, densely populated and home to oil and gas reserves, is one of the most degraded environments on the planet. It contains over half of the swamp forest in West and Central Africa and is the world's largest mangrove forest. But 95% of that forest has been lost in the past 15 years.Rachel describes her career and how she stumbled into conservation work despite the many obstacles she faced from a society where young women are expected to get married and have children and definitely not become biologists!She talks about some of the delta's many special mammals including critically endangered primates like the the Niger Delta Red Colobus that Rachel's team is bringing back from the brink of extinction with the help of local communities.And Rachel talks about some of the very many dangers she has faced working in this difficult area. She has run the gauntlet of everything from death threats to drowning and also had a very close encounter with an angry Elephant.For more information visit www.mammalwatching.com/podcastNotes: You can follow Rachel's team on Instagram here. And here is a short video, narrated by Sir David Attenborough, celebrating Rachel as a winner of the 2020 Whitley Awards for her work with Chimpanzees. This is the opinion piece Rachel wrote on the Western media's role in the decline of West Africa's Wildlife.Jon's Texas report is here.Cover art: Rachel at work. Dr Charles Foley is a mammalwatcher and biologist who, together with his wife Lara, spent 30 years studying elephants in Tanzania. They now run the Tanzania Conservation Research Program at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.Jon Hall set up mammalwatching.com in 2005. Genetically Welsh, spiritually Australian, currently in New York City. He has looked for mammals in over 110 countries.

Welcome to the new month and the latest episode of African Geopardy! This time, we focus on a pressing issue at the intersection of resource governance, organised crime, and security: Gold and Terrorism Financing in the Sahel.Our guest, Dr Oluwole Ojewale, Regional Organised Crime Observatory Coordinator – Central Africa, unpacks how illegal gold mining has become a crucial financial lifeline for terrorist networks in the Sahel. As gold increasingly replaces cash in illicit transactions, its unregulated trade fuels instability, undermining state authority and prolonging violent conflicts. We also examine why the Kimberley Process and similar schemes designed to curb conflict minerals have failed to prevent illicit gold from funding armed groups.Beyond the security dimension, we discuss the broader implications of criminalising artisanal mining, drawing comparisons with petroleum refining in the Niger Delta and gold mining in Ghana. Blanket crackdowns have often pushed vulnerable communities further into informality, exacerbating both economic hardships and security threats. Dr Ojewale challenges this approach, advocating for a more integrated response that considers formalising artisanal mining where local livelihoods depend on it while strengthening governance to cut off illicit financial flows.I am grateful to Dr. Ojewale for sharing his expertise, and I invite you to listen and join the conversation!

One of the most polluted places in the world is located at the heart of the Niger Delta where decades of oil exploitation have ravaged the native flora. Fringing the delta of the Niger River, local mangrove forests are essential to biodiversity and the survival of local communities. In Nigeria, scientists, activists and lawyers are joining forces to protect and restore this ecosystem. Judith Rueff and Moïse Gomis immersed themselves in the daily lives of these men and women who refuse to give in to the catastrophe. A production by Factstory, Arte G.E.I.E. and FRANCE 24. 

Elections for African Union chair; former Ghana finance minister declared a fugitive, people of the Niger Delta vs oil giant Shell. Kiri Rupiah, Communities Editor at The Continent, shares details of these stories with Lester Kiewit.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 2006, Nigerian-British sculptor, Sokari Douglas-Camp, was commissioned by human and environment rights organization, Platform, to create a work of art in honour of the memory of Ken Saro-Wiwa. Douglas-Camp created a life-sized replica of a Nigerian steel bus, called ‘Battle Bus: Living Memorial for Ken Saro-Wiwa'. It was an artistic symbol of movement and change. In 2015, 20 years after the execution of the Ogoni Nine, Platform planned to commemorate the Ogoni Nine execution and wanted Douglas-Camp's Battle Bus to feature at the event held in Bori, Saro-Wiwa's hometown. But when the battle bus arrived at the Lagos Seaport that year, it was impounded by the port authorities.It is now 2025*, nearly 30 years since the executions happened. Presidents have come and gone; Niger-Delta resistance has, arguably, become more violent and more commercially motivated; public memory of the Ogoni Nine has atrophied, and the battle bus, an artistic work crafted to honour the memory of the Ogoni Nine, is still under arrest by the Nigerian authorities. What is it about Saro-Wiwa that continues to aggravate and possibly even terrify the Nigerian ruling establishment? How have the Ogoni people been able to come to terms with the execution of the Ogoni Nine, and deal with the unresolved environmental crisis caused by oil exploration till this day? What does the crisis in Ogoni and the Niger Delta more broadly tell us about what it means to be Nigerian?In this episode, our final of the season, Wale Lawal finds some answers. Learn more at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠republic.com.ng/podcasts/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.*Note: this podcast was produced in 2024; as such, when Wale says ‘next year', he is referring to 2025.

On Daybreak Africa: The U.N. children's fund is accusing armed men, likely on both sides of the conflict in eastern DRC, of raping scores of children over the past weeks as rebels expand their footprint and push government forces out. Plus, a new report says the emergence of cheap artificial intelligence tools is leading to a wave of biometric fraud in Africa. Protests take place as a landmark case against Nigerian oil giant Shell for oil spills in the Niger Delta gets underway in London. World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urges the U.S. to consider resuming funding for lifesaving aid. US Democratic lawmakers say the Trump administration's freeze on U.S. foreign assistance might permanently damage America's security and standing abroad. A global Artificial Intelligence race heats up after a conference in Paris. For these and more, tune in to Daybreak Africa!

A Nigerian analyst says the landmark court case in London against oil giant Shell and its Nigerian subsidiary for decades of alleged oil spills in the Niger Delta is an attempt by the affected communities to seek justice. Shell, however, says most spills were caused by illegal third-party interference, such as pipeline sabotage and theft, which is rife in the region. Patrick Nwinyokpugi, a lecturer at the Rivers State University, told me that Shell needs to do a better job of responding to oil spills affecting the Niger Delts

This year it will be 30 years since Nigerian author and environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa was executed by the Nigerian military government for leading protests against environmental pollution caused by oil exploration. He remains an icon of resistance against environmental degradation beyond Nigeria. The campaigns he led saw the exploration of crude oil stopped in Ogoniland, in the country's Niger Delta region, after it became clear oil spills had extensively polluted rivers and farmland, destroying the livelihoods of farmers and fishers. A report published by the United Nations Environmental Programme in 2011 said cleaning pollution in Ogoniland could take up to 30 years. Yet president Bola Tinubu recently announced that his government would begin negotiations to resume oil production in Ogoniland. This sparked protests from environmental rights groups who warned that the region was yet to heal from the damage wrought by decades of oil exploration. In today's Africa Daily, Alan Kasujja has been speaking to lawyer and leading environmental activist Celestine Akpobari and Niger-Delta-based journalist Ndume Green. Producer: Peter Musembi

Send us a textGet ready to be inspired! In this episode of the Self-Reflection Podcast, host Lira Ndifon sits down with the talented Afro-Trap artist Big  Klef  for a candid and insightful conversation that goes beyond the music.We delve deep into Big  Klef's inspiring journey, tracing his roots from the vibrant Niger Delta region of Nigeria to his current home in the Bay Area. Klef shares his personal journey, navigating cultural shifts, overcoming self-doubt, and embracing his unique voice as an artist. He candidly discusses the profound impact of experiencing the American education system, highlighting the stark contrast to his upbringing in Nigeria and how this ignited a passion for social change within him.The conversation delves deep into the essence of Klef's music, exploring how his Nigerian heritage and personal experiences have profoundly shaped his distinctive Afro-Trap sound. He emphasizes the importance of authenticity in his artistry, expressing that his music reflects his true self, encompassing his joys, sorrows, and reflections on the world around him.Klef offers valuable insights for aspiring artists, emphasizing the importance of self-belief and overcoming self-doubt. He candidly discusses the challenges of navigating the music industry, including the pressure to conform and the constant pursuit of creative excellence. He highlights the crucial role of a strong support system, emphasizing the importance of nurturing genuine human connections and surrounding yourself with people who believe in you.This episode is more than just an interview; it's a conversation that will inspire you to embrace your own unique voice, pursue your passions with authenticity, and use your platform to make a positive impact on the world.Don't forget to like, follow, and subscribe to the Self-Reflection Podcast on all your favorite platforms – Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and more!Support the show

On 19 January 1994, General Abacha, who had been Nigeria's head of state for just two months, sent a federal ministerial committee to Ogoniland to meet with Ken Saro-Wiwa in Saro-Wiwa's hometown of Bori. The primary mission of the committee was to investigate the oil crisis in the Niger Delta region and make a report on how to solve the crisis. The committee consisted of Alex Ibru, the federal minister of internal affairs; Chief Donald Etiebet, the minister of petroleum resources; Melford Okilo, the minister of tourism and commerce; and Lieutenant Colonel Dauda Musa Komo, the military governor of Rivers State.  Ibru, the publisher of The Guardian, one of Nigeria's most influential newspapers at that time, was a close friend of Saro-Wiwa. Due to his friendship with Saro-Wiwa, The Guardian had given MOSOP a lot of positive coverage and publicity in the news. Saro-Wiwa imagined that with Ibru on the tour, the Ogoni cause would get the seriousness of their struggle conveyed to the country, and to Abacha. However, Lieutenant Colonel Komo who acted as the official escort and guide of the Committee, saw the tour as an opportunity to impress Abacha and show his superiors in Abuja that he had Saro-Wiwa and the Ogonis under his control. With such differing goals between Saro-Wiwa and Lieutenant Komo, what kind of collision was about to happen? In this episode, Wale Lawal finds some answers. Learn more at ⁠⁠⁠⁠republic.com.ng/podcasts/⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Nigeria approves Shell's watershed exit from oil-rich Niger Delta-but activists are not pleased.Tanzania's Samia Suluhu Hassan receives an early nomination for being the ruling party's presidential candidate.And why are some African countries moving towards banning wigs in court?Presenter: Audrey Brown Producers: Bella Hassan and Sunita Nahar in London, Charles Gitonga in Nairobi and Blessing Aderogba in Lagos Senior Producer: Paul Bakibinga Technical Producer: Francesca Dunne Editors: Andre Lombard and Alice Muthengi

The Ogonis are a prominent ethnic group in the Niger Delta. And in the 1950s, the oil wealth found in Ogoniland promised a future of prosperity. It meant that the small agriculture and fishery community could be potentially transformed into an industrial hub. But this dream soon became a nightmare as the government and the oil companies had other plans. The Ogonis never saw the promised prosperity.  Instead, the Ogonis began to live in a dystopian reality with oil spillages and acute damages to properties, land, rivers and swamps that had once been used for farming and fishing. Many Ogonis lost their livelihoods and became dissatisfied with the continued degradation of their environment and their lives.  In January 1993, things came to a head when a peaceful protest by the Ogonis led by Saro-Wiwa's Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) against Shell was met with violence from the Nigerian government. But what exactly happened? How did the Ogonis' peaceful protest turn into a nightmare that many in Ogoniland today are still shuddering from? How did the Ogonis' hopes become weaponized against them? In this episode, Wale Lawal finds some answers. Learn more at ⁠⁠⁠republic.com.ng/podcasts/⁠⁠⁠. The Republic is currently on an editorial break and show notes will be available on our website by 31 January 2025.

 In this episode, we sit down with Ed Kashi, acclaimed photojournalist and filmmaker, to explore his remarkable career and the power of visual storytelling. From his beginnings as a first-generation American with Iraqi heritage to capturing global conflicts and social issues, Ed shares personal anecdotes about what drives his passion for documenting human experiences. He opens up about the emotional and ethical challenges of photojournalism, the role of empathy in his work, and his mission to showcase untold, positive stories from around the world. Tune in for an inspiring conversation about the intersection of art, activism, and humanity in photography. TOPICS WE COVEREDEd Kashi's Background and Inspiration (00:03 - 02:41):Kashi shared his personal journey, being a first-generation American with roots in Baghdad, Iraq, and how he discovered photography after initially aspiring to be a writer during college at Syracuse University.Narrative-Driven Photography (07:42 - 09:25):Kashi explained his passion for storytelling through photography, particularly how capturing real-life moments physically immerses him in people's lives, helping him build a deeper connection with their narratives.Challenges in Photojournalism (16:43 - 30:46):He highlighted the emotional, geopolitical, and personal challenges faced while working on long-term projects, such as in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta, and discussed the impact of oil wealth on local communities.Empathy and Humanity in Photography (34:59 - 37:42):Kashi emphasized how staying empathetic and humane is crucial in his work, attributing this to his upbringing, family support, and therapy, which help him navigate the hardships he witnesses.Promoting Positive Narratives (52:09 - 1:21:20):Kashi expressed a desire to highlight the dignity, beauty, and positive aspects of cultures, particularly in Muslim countries, while also critiquing media's tendency to focus on negative stories, advocating for more balanced representation.FOLLOW ED:InstagramwebsitenewsletterFOLLOW ME

African history is not yet mainstream and we're on a mission to change this. The Republic is a miniseries covering key events and figures in African history. Our second season focuses on the life and legacy of Ken Saro-Wiwa, a writer and one of nine non-violent Ogoni activists the General Sani Abacha military government brutally executed in 1995. The Ogoni are an ethnic group situated in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. For years, they have suffered pollution and environmental degradation stemming from crude oil extraction on their land. Saro-Wiwa's protests against oil companies such as Shell, including his leadership of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), frustrated the Abacha government, which relied heavily on oil exports. On 10 November 1995, after controversial court trials, the Abacha regime sentenced Saro-Wiwa along with eight other Ogoni activists to death by hanging. The eight were: Saturday Dobee, Nordu Eawo, Daniel Gbooko, Paul Levera, Felix Nuate, Baribor Bera, Barinem Kiobel, and John Kpuine. Their brutal arrest and murder marked a pivotal moment not only in Nigeria's history but also in the history of global environmentalism. Nearly 30 years since the Ogoni 9 execution, host Wale Lawal traces the life and legacy of Saro-Wiwa, and the implications of the Ogoni 9 execution. You'll travel to the Niger Delta and hear about life in Nigeria under Abacha's regime, the political rise of Ken Saro-Wiwa, the troubled history of oil in the Niger Delta, the arrest and trial of the Ogoni 9, and how Abacha's execution of the Ogoni 9 continues to shape the politics of Nigeria's oil wealth and what it means to be Nigerian today. Learn more about The Republic at ⁠republic.com.ng/podcasts

Hello and welcome to episode 104 of Webflail.I'm your host, Jack, your failure connoisseur, and today my guest is Manuel Ogomigo.He's an impressive dude5 months ago, he quit his stable UX job to dive into the wild world of freelancing and building products in public.After 4 years, he quit.And he launched Flowdrive.In his own words, crickets.But now, things are moving.Did you know he has built 8 other products before this?!He's a Webflow and memberstack expert and he's got a smile as big as the Niger Delta.Has it always been easy for Manuel? Or has it been a real struggle with some massive failures along the way? You be the judge.The failures that we'll discuss are:While working in design, not doing enough research results in failed product and layoff :)Not doing marketing enoughAlmost destroying flowdrive, clearing all assets with a silly mistakeBRAND BOOK (FREE CLONEABLE)Incredible resource from 473 Agency:https://webflow.com/made-in-webflow/website/brandiv-473  WEBFLAIL FREEBIES10 Step Process To Land Your First Webflow Clients: The Ultimate Guide:https://www.webflail.com/resources/10-step-process-to-land-your-first-webflow-clients-the-ultimate-guideLINKS FOR MANUEL‍

Dr. David Donovan brings an update on the precious work of New Foundations, a medical mission to the Niger Delta. Following the update, David brings a word from Scripture to the hearts of God's people.

1 Corinthians 13 Dr. David Donovan brings an update on the precious work of New Foundations, a medical mission to the Niger Delta. Following the update, David brings a word from Scripture to the hearts of God's people.

On Daybreak Africa: Calls grow for justice and accountability as Sudan marks one year of conflict. Plus, striking Kenyan doctors reject another government ultimatum to end a month-long strike for better pay. A US-based Professor of Applied Economics calls for the disbandment of Zimbabwe's Reserve Bank. Malawi halts Soybean exports amid a drop in yields. A judge in Liberia jails a local chief for allegedly forcing three young women undergo female genital mutilation. Environmentalists call on Shell Oil to clean up vast polluted areas in Nigeria's Niger Delta. For this and more tune to Daybreak Africa

Niger severs ties with US Army over 'condescending attitude'+++Gunmen kidnap at least 87 in Nigeria's Kaduna state+++Sixteen Nigerian soldiers killed in community clashes in Delta state

On Daybreak Africa: There are calls for bilateral talks amid fears that tensions between DRC and Rwanda could engulf the region. Plus, advocacy groups call on the Dutch oil giant Shell to halt its plans to divest assets from Nigeria's Niger Delta region unless proper cleanup and decommissioning of its infrastructure is complete. Liberian President Joseph Boakai is criticized for nominating individuals to tenured positions that are already occupied by officials from the previous administration. For this and more tune to Daybreak Africa!

In this ClimateGenn episode I am speaking with Nigerian Climate Activist Dickson Goodness about the ongoing struggle to pressure the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, to clean up it's colossal toxic mess left behind after nearly seven decades of oil extraction in the Niger Delta. Beyond carbon emission, the damage done has destroyed ecosystems, decimated biodiversity, ruined livelihoods and caused misery and suffering for communities living in the region. PREORDER COPOUT - https://amzn.to/3SflYzg A reminder that you can preorder my book COPOUT about the UN process that has now been taken over by the extractive fossil fuel industry. A broad coalition of the most polluting nations on Earth say they want to reduce emissions while massively expanding fossil fuel production. This contradiction or outright hypocrisy underpins the very core of the human struggle for survival this century and will be discussed across future episodes in the coming weeks. Please do stay tuned. Thank you to all subscribers and supporters. Please do join via Patron or Youtube to support the channel, getting episodes early, plus extra content. Do also comment, share and engage in whatever way possible. Thanks.

In this rather cultic episode, we handle the Powerwalking Club's discovery of an obscure group of proto-Scandifuturists from the Niger Delta, which led to the establishment of a bona fide research institute to investigate it further. From its humble beginnings as a harmless student fraternity, to a dreaded international crime syndicate dabbling in blood oaths, juju, prostitution and drug trafficking, we do our best to figure out what the hell the Supreme Vikings Confraternity is as we wade through their intricate lingo and mythos. Who is this "prince Odin" and why does he have eight legs? What's an Iceland? What's their relationship to the (Nigerian) Klansmen? What does it mean to be rugged? Is there a continuity betwen this viking cult and the indigenous traditions of the Igbo people? What position do these people hold in the Scandifuture? Perhaps they should be invited to serve as the Brute Norse equivalent to the Varangian guard? Find out for yourself in this episode, and don't forget to support Brute Norse at https://linktr.ee/brutenorse

Good afternoon, I'm _____ with today's episode of EZ News. Tai-Ex opening The Tai-Ex opened marginally lower this morning from yesterday's close, at 17,341 on turnover of 3.1-billion N-T. The Tai-Ex followed most other regional markets and lost ground on Tuesday - falling by 199-points - as investors lacked cues from Wall Street overnight due to U-S markets being closed on Monday. CDC Releases Medigen COVID-19 Vaccine Contract The Centers for Disease Control has released the contract used to purchase Medigen Vaccine Biologics' coronavirus vaccine. According to C-D-C Director General Zhuang Ren-xiang, the 58-page document was made public after Medigen's board of directors passed a resolution authorizing (授權) the government to release it. Zhuang says the contract had been reviewed by the Control Yuan, the National Audit Office, and the Legislature prior to its being made public and no evidence of illegal behavior was found. The contract was signed in May of 2021, and the government purchased 5-million doses of the Medigen vaccine, of which 200,000 were donations for the government's help in funding the vaccine's development. Former Professor Jailed for Fake Bridge Inspection Reports And, The Hsinchu District Court has sentenced a former university professor to six-months in prison for falsifying (偽造) documents relating to the safety inspection and assessment of three road bridges in Hsinchu County. Chen Ming-cheng owned an engineering consulting firm based in Taoyuan. Chen was found guilty of instructing a student employee to file fake reports indicating that the Tai-He, the Hou-Hu and the Rui-Guang bridges in Xin-Feng Township had all been inspected. The student employee was sentenced to 4 months imprisonment, suspended for two years. Both verdicts can be appealed. French president sets out new policies in marathon news conference The French president has set out new policies ranging from liberal market reforms to an overhaul (檢修) of parental leave. Emmanuel Macron made the announcements in a marathon news conference on Tuesday. Ross Cullen reports from Paris. Shell to Sell Business in Niger Delta Shell has reached an agreement with a consortium of companies to sell its onshore business in Nigeria's Niger Delta in a deal worth $2.4 billion. It is the latest move by the London-based energy major to limit its presence in the challenging Niger Delta environment, where it has faced decadeslong local pushbacks to its oil exploration. Activists want Shell to address environmental damage, such as compensation (賠償) for affected communities, as a condition for the government's approval of the deal. Shell says the deal is designed to preserve its commitments, including remediation where spills occurred in the past. Kenya Begins Rhino Relocation Program Kenya has embarked on its biggest rhino relocation project and has begun the difficult work of tracking, darting and moving 21 of the critically endangered beasts to a new home. A previous attempt at moving rhinos in the East African nation in 2018 was a disaster as all 11 of the animals died. The rhinos are being relocated to a conservancy because they need more space to roam and, hopefully, to breed. Rhinos are generally solitary (獨自的) animals and are at their happiest in large territories. There are just 6,487 wild rhinos left in the world, according to rhino conservation charity Save The Rhino, all of them in Africa. Kenyan authorities say they have relocated more than 150 rhinos in the last decade. That was the I.C.R.T. news, Check in again tomorrow for our simplified version of the news, uploaded every day in the afternoon. Enjoy the rest of your day, I'm _____. －－－－以下訊息由 SoundOn 動態廣告贊助商提供－－－－ 新鮮事、新奇事、新故事《一銀陪你聊“新”事》 第一銀行打造公股銀行首創ESG Podcast頻道上線啦 由知名主持人阿Ken與多位名人來賓進行對談 邀請您一起落實永續發展 讓永續未來不再只是想像 各大收聽平台搜尋：ㄧ銀陪你聊新事 https://bit.ly/3vBtNYj -- 龍年HIGH起來！新光三越《龍舞卡利HIGH》獨享7%回饋

Rebroadcast: this episode was originally released in September 2021.If you're living in the Niger Delta in Nigeria, your best bet at a high-paying career is probably ‘artisanal refining' — or, in plain language, stealing oil from pipelines.The resulting oil spills damage the environment and cause severe health problems, but the Nigerian government has continually failed in their attempts to stop this theft.They send in the army, and the army gets corrupted. They send in enforcement agencies, and the enforcement agencies get corrupted. What's happening here?According to Mushtaq Khan, economics professor at SOAS University of London, this is a classic example of ‘networked corruption'. Everyone in the community is benefiting from the criminal enterprise — so much so that the locals would prefer civil war to following the law. It pays vastly better than other local jobs, hotels and restaurants have formed around it, and houses are even powered by the electricity generated from the oil.Links to learn more, summary, and full transcript.In today's episode, Mushtaq elaborates on the models he uses to understand these problems and make predictions he can test in the real world.Some of the most important factors shaping the fate of nations are their structures of power: who is powerful, how they are organized, which interest groups can pull in favours with the government, and the constant push and pull between the country's rulers and its ruled. While traditional economic theory has relatively little to say about these topics, institutional economists like Mushtaq have a lot to say, and participate in lively debates about which of their competing ideas best explain the world around us.The issues at stake are nothing less than why some countries are rich and others are poor, why some countries are mostly law abiding while others are not, and why some government programmes improve public welfare while others just enrich the well connected.Mushtaq's specialties are anti-corruption and industrial policy, where he believes mainstream theory and practice are largely misguided. To root out fraud, aid agencies try to impose institutions and laws that work in countries like the U.K. today. Everyone nods their heads and appears to go along, but years later they find nothing has changed, or worse — the new anti-corruption laws are mostly just used to persecute anyone who challenges the country's rulers.As Mushtaq explains, to people who specialise in understanding why corruption is ubiquitous in some countries but not others, this is entirely predictable. Western agencies imagine a situation where most people are law abiding, but a handful of selfish fat cats are engaging in large-scale graft. In fact in the countries they're trying to change everyone is breaking some rule or other, or participating in so-called ‘corruption', because it's the only way to get things done and always has been.Mushtaq's rule of thumb is that when the locals most concerned with a specific issue are invested in preserving a status quo they're participating in, they almost always win out.To actually reduce corruption, countries like his native Bangladesh have to follow the same gradual path the U.K. once did: find organizations that benefit from rule-abiding behaviour and are selfishly motivated to promote it, and help them police their peers.Trying to impose a new way of doing things from the top down wasn't how Europe modernised, and it won't work elsewhere either.In cases like oil theft in Nigeria, where no one wants to follow the rules, Mushtaq says corruption may be impossible to solve directly. Instead you have to play a long game, bringing in other employment opportunities, improving health services, and deploying alternative forms of energy — in the hope that one day this will give people a viable alternative to corruption.In this extensive interview Rob and Mushtaq cover this and much more, including:How does one test theories like this?Why are companies in some poor countries so much less productive than their peers in rich countries?Have rich countries just legalized the corruption in their societies?What are the big live debates in institutional economics?Should poor countries protect their industries from foreign competition?Where has industrial policy worked, and why?How can listeners use these theories to predict which policies will work in their own countries?Producer: Keiran HarrisAudio mastering: Ben CordellTranscriptions: Sofia Davis-Fogel

Today we speak to writer and researcher James Barnett about the ongoing conflicts in the Niger Delta. We speak about the underground oil industry, milita turf wars, and cult domination in the region. - Extra: www.patreon.com/popularfront - Info: www.popularfront.co - Merch: www.popularfront.shop - News: www.instagram.com/popular.front - Jake www.twitter.com/jake_hanrahan

In 1956 commercial quantities of oil were discovered in the Nigerian village Oloibiri. It marked the start of a huge oil industry for Nigeria but came at a cost for villages in the Niger Delta. Chief Sunday Inengite was 19-years-old when prospectors first came to his village in search of crude oil. In 2018 he spoke to Alex Last about the impact of the discovery. (Photo: An oil worker at an oil well in Nigeria. Credit: Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

From our pals over at Inherited, in today's episode, Mo Isu looks at one of the reasons climate activists all over the world are protesting: they're already facing the impacts of climate change. Here, Isu traces the cycle of loss and rebuilding in the rural Niger Delta region of Nigeria as the country weathers extreme seasonal flooding. After meeting a flood survivor in his hometown of Lagos, Mo travels twelve hours to Lokoja – the town where Nigeria's largest rivers converge – to explore how directly impacted flood survivors endure the region's relentless cycle of damage and repair. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The politics of disaster series continues with a dive into the devastating environmental and human rights abuses perpetrated by the Royal Dutch Shell oil company in the Niger Delta region. For decades, the local communities have suffered from massive oil spills, gas flaring, and deforestation, leading to loss of livelihoods, contaminated water, and severe health impacts.Despite ongoing legal battles and international pressure, Shell continues to avoid accountability, highlighting the need for a global response to corporate environmental negligence.Remember to leave 5-stars and share with a friend!

Welcome to our exploration of African philosophy, a rich and diverse field that has shaped the worldviews of countless cultures across the continent. We'll discuss the concept of freedom, the experience of wholeness, and the various philosophical methods used to explore these ideas. We'll also explore the philosophical traditions of Ancient Egypt, West Africa, Central Africa, and the Niger Delta region, as well as the shared moral ideas that exist across many African cultures. source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_philosophy

How do we measure and truly grasp the sweeping social and environmental effects of an oil-based economy?  Focusing on the special economic zones resulting from China's trading partnership with Nigeria, Enclaves of Exception: Special Economic Zones and Extractive Practices in Nigeria (Indiana UP, 2022) offers a new approach to exploring the relationship between oil and technologies of extraction and their interrelatedness to local livelihoods and environmental practices. In this groundbreaking work, Omolade Adunbi argues that even though the exploitation of oil resources is dominated by big corporations, it establishes opportunities for many former Nigerian insurgents and their local communities to contest the ownership of such resources in the oil-rich Niger Delta and to extract oil themselves and sell it. Based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork, Enclaves of Exception makes clear that, although both the free trade zones and the now booming local artisanal refineries share the goals of profit-making and are enthusiastically supported by those benefiting from them economically, they have yielded dramatically the same environmental outcome for communities around them that included pollution with precarious effects on the health of the populations in the regions, and displacement of population from their livelihood practices. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Jeremiah 10:1-6 Dr. David Donovan and his wife Shirley head up a medical mission to the Niger Delta called New Foundations. In this teaching, David shares from the Word of God on a hugely important topic - The Greatness of God.

How do we measure and truly grasp the sweeping social and environmental effects of an oil-based economy?  Focusing on the special economic zones resulting from China's trading partnership with Nigeria, Enclaves of Exception: Special Economic Zones and Extractive Practices in Nigeria (Indiana UP, 2022) offers a new approach to exploring the relationship between oil and technologies of extraction and their interrelatedness to local livelihoods and environmental practices. In this groundbreaking work, Omolade Adunbi argues that even though the exploitation of oil resources is dominated by big corporations, it establishes opportunities for many former Nigerian insurgents and their local communities to contest the ownership of such resources in the oil-rich Niger Delta and to extract oil themselves and sell it. Based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork, Enclaves of Exception makes clear that, although both the free trade zones and the now booming local artisanal refineries share the goals of profit-making and are enthusiastically supported by those benefiting from them economically, they have yielded dramatically the same environmental outcome for communities around them that included pollution with precarious effects on the health of the populations in the regions, and displacement of population from their livelihood practices. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/african-studies

How do we measure and truly grasp the sweeping social and environmental effects of an oil-based economy?  Focusing on the special economic zones resulting from China's trading partnership with Nigeria, Enclaves of Exception: Special Economic Zones and Extractive Practices in Nigeria (Indiana UP, 2022) offers a new approach to exploring the relationship between oil and technologies of extraction and their interrelatedness to local livelihoods and environmental practices. In this groundbreaking work, Omolade Adunbi argues that even though the exploitation of oil resources is dominated by big corporations, it establishes opportunities for many former Nigerian insurgents and their local communities to contest the ownership of such resources in the oil-rich Niger Delta and to extract oil themselves and sell it. Based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork, Enclaves of Exception makes clear that, although both the free trade zones and the now booming local artisanal refineries share the goals of profit-making and are enthusiastically supported by those benefiting from them economically, they have yielded dramatically the same environmental outcome for communities around them that included pollution with precarious effects on the health of the populations in the regions, and displacement of population from their livelihood practices. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/environmental-studies

How do we measure and truly grasp the sweeping social and environmental effects of an oil-based economy?  Focusing on the special economic zones resulting from China's trading partnership with Nigeria, Enclaves of Exception: Special Economic Zones and Extractive Practices in Nigeria (Indiana UP, 2022) offers a new approach to exploring the relationship between oil and technologies of extraction and their interrelatedness to local livelihoods and environmental practices. In this groundbreaking work, Omolade Adunbi argues that even though the exploitation of oil resources is dominated by big corporations, it establishes opportunities for many former Nigerian insurgents and their local communities to contest the ownership of such resources in the oil-rich Niger Delta and to extract oil themselves and sell it. Based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork, Enclaves of Exception makes clear that, although both the free trade zones and the now booming local artisanal refineries share the goals of profit-making and are enthusiastically supported by those benefiting from them economically, they have yielded dramatically the same environmental outcome for communities around them that included pollution with precarious effects on the health of the populations in the regions, and displacement of population from their livelihood practices. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/anthropology

Nigeria's state-owned oil company says an oil tanker carrying 800,000 litres of stolen crude has been intercepted offshore while heading to Cameroon. Oil theft from pipelines and wells in the Niger Delta is a major problem for the Nigerian economy, robbing it of much needed revenue. The oil company said that the Nigerian registered tanker had been operating in what it called stealth mode for the last 12 years.

Nigeria's state-owned oil company says an oil tanker carrying 800,000 litres of stolen crude has been intercepted offshore while heading to Cameroon. Oil theft from pipelines and wells in the Niger Delta is a major problem for the Nigerian economy, robbing it of much needed revenue. The oil company said that the Nigerian registered tanker had been operating in what it called stealth mode for the last 12 years.

"I think the entirety of the work we do, we are navigating a lot of embedded preconceived notions or traditions or culture. And especially in Africa, none of that is easy to navigate. You can't do without stepping on somebody's toes or upsetting the system that was in place. For example, at one of the sites where we created a conservation area, we worked there for seven years before the establishment of that conservation area. It shouldn't take that long or it wouldn't take that long normally, probably a year or two years because you've learned everything you need to know. But in those seven years, we got to really understand how the people think, what their histories are and their experiences, and then considering all that, I think is one of the most important things in navigating traditions and cultures and also respecting those people's beliefs."Rachel Ashegbofeh Ikemeh is a Whitley Award-winning conservationist and Founder/Director at the Southwest Niger Delta Forest Project, a grassroots-focused conservation initiative that has been dedicated to the protection of fragile wildlife populations and habitat across her project sites in Africa's most populous nation. Rachel won the award in 2020 for her work on chimpanzee populations in Nigeria and is aiming to secure 20% of chimpanzee habitat in Southwest Nigeria. She is also the winner of the National Geographic Society Buffet Awards for Conservaton Leadership in Africa, a Tusk Conservation Awards Finalist.She works to protect some of the most highly threatened forest habitats and primate populations in southern Nigeria. For example, Rachel's determined efforts has helped to bring back a species from the brink of extinction – the rare and critically endangered Niger Delta red colobus monkey, also, considered one of 25 most endangered primates in the world. She has helped to establish two protected areas and have also taken on the management of these PAs to restore habitats in these very highly threatened ecosystems which are also areas of high-security risks in the country.Rachel is the Co-Vice Chair for the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group African Section and Member of the International Primatological Society (IPS) education committee. Through her strategic positions in these networks, Rachel has been committed to championing the need to increase conservation leadership amongst Africans as she co-founded the African Primatological society in 2017. She's trained the 55 persons that make up her team from local institutions and local communities. https://swnigerdeltaforestproject.org.ngwww.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.org IG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

Rachel Ashegbofeh Ikemeh is a Whitley Award-winning conservationist and Founder/Director at the Southwest Niger Delta Forest Project, a grassroots-focused conservation initiative that has been dedicated to the protection of fragile wildlife populations and habitat across her project sites in Africa's most populous nation. Rachel won the award in 2020 for her work on chimpanzee populations in Nigeria and is aiming to secure 20% of chimpanzee habitat in Southwest Nigeria. She is also the winner of the National Geographic Society Buffet Awards for Conservaton Leadership in Africa, a Tusk Conservation Awards Finalist.She works to protect some of the most highly threatened forest habitats and primate populations in southern Nigeria. For example, Rachel's determined efforts has helped to bring back a species from the brink of extinction – the rare and critically endangered Niger Delta red colobus monkey, also, considered one of 25 most endangered primates in the world. She has helped to establish two protected areas and have also taken on the management of these PAs to restore habitats in these very highly threatened ecosystems which are also areas of high-security risks in the country.Rachel is the Co-Vice Chair for the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group African Section and Member of the International Primatological Society (IPS) education committee. Through her strategic positions in these networks, Rachel has been committed to championing the need to increase conservation leadership amongst Africans as she co-founded the African Primatological society in 2017. She's trained the 55 persons that make up her team from local institutions and local communities. "I think the entirety of the work we do, we are navigating a lot of embedded preconceived notions or traditions or culture. And especially in Africa, none of that is easy to navigate. You can't do without stepping on somebody's toes or upsetting the system that was in place. For example, at one of the sites where we created a conservation area, we worked there for seven years before the establishment of that conservation area. It shouldn't take that long or it wouldn't take that long normally, probably a year or two years because you've learned everything you need to know. But in those seven years, we got to really understand how the people think, what their histories are and their experiences, and then considering all that, I think is one of the most important things in navigating traditions and cultures and also respecting those people's beliefs."https://swnigerdeltaforestproject.org.ngwww.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.org IG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

"There's no question, we are in a state of conservation emergency. And we have a real situation on our hands and it's so fragile that if we take a step back, we could say goodbye to two types of chimpanzee species and the forest is also on the brink of disappearing forever. And when I started as a conservation researcher, there was kidnapping and insecurity throughout the Nile Delta region, and it was immersed in a lot of oil politics and civil conflicts. Kidnapping and insecurity ran throughout that region. Let's not forget that Nigeria is Africa's most populous nation now. We are over 200 million people in the country, and it's a growing population of young people who are looking for means of livelihood and on the lookout to find space to live. So parts of the forest within one year would suddenly become a new village."Rachel Ashegbofeh Ikemeh is a Whitley Award-winning conservationist and Founder/Director at the Southwest Niger Delta Forest Project, a grassroots-focused conservation initiative that has been dedicated to the protection of fragile wildlife populations and habitat across her project sites in Africa's most populous nation. Rachel won the award in 2020 for her work on chimpanzee populations in Nigeria and is aiming to secure 20% of chimpanzee habitat in Southwest Nigeria. She is also the winner of the National Geographic Society Buffet Awards for Conservaton Leadership in Africa, a Tusk Conservation Awards Finalist.She works to protect some of the most highly threatened forest habitats and primate populations in southern Nigeria. For example, Rachel's determined efforts has helped to bring back a species from the brink of extinction – the rare and critically endangered Niger Delta red colobus monkey, also, considered one of 25 most endangered primates in the world. She has helped to establish two protected areas and have also taken on the management of these PAs to restore habitats in these very highly threatened ecosystems which are also areas of high-security risks in the country.Rachel is the Co-Vice Chair for the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group African Section and Member of the International Primatological Society (IPS) education committee. Through her strategic positions in these networks, Rachel has been committed to championing the need to increase conservation leadership amongst Africans as she co-founded the African Primatological society in 2017. She's trained the 55 persons that make up her team from local institutions and local communities. https://swnigerdeltaforestproject.org.ngwww.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.org IG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

Rachel Ashegbofeh Ikemeh is a Whitley Award-winning conservationist and Founder/Director at the Southwest Niger Delta Forest Project, a grassroots-focused conservation initiative that has been dedicated to the protection of fragile wildlife populations and habitat across her project sites in Africa's most populous nation. Rachel won the award in 2020 for her work on chimpanzee populations in Nigeria and is aiming to secure 20% of chimpanzee habitat in Southwest Nigeria. She is also the winner of the National Geographic Society Buffet Awards for Conservaton Leadership in Africa, a Tusk Conservation Awards Finalist.She works to protect some of the most highly threatened forest habitats and primate populations in southern Nigeria. For example, Rachel's determined efforts has helped to bring back a species from the brink of extinction – the rare and critically endangered Niger Delta red colobus monkey, also, considered one of 25 most endangered primates in the world. She has helped to establish two protected areas and have also taken on the management of these PAs to restore habitats in these very highly threatened ecosystems which are also areas of high-security risks in the country.Rachel is the Co-Vice Chair for the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group African Section and Member of the International Primatological Society (IPS) education committee. Through her strategic positions in these networks, Rachel has been committed to championing the need to increase conservation leadership amongst Africans as she co-founded the African Primatological society in 2017. She's trained the 55 persons that make up her team from local institutions and local communities. "There's no question, we are in a state of conservation emergency. And we have a real situation on our hands and it's so fragile that if we take a step back, we could say goodbye to two types of chimpanzee species and the forest is also on the brink of disappearing forever. And when I started as a conservation researcher, there was kidnapping and insecurity throughout the Nile Delta region, and it was immersed in a lot of oil politics and civil conflicts. Kidnapping and insecurity ran throughout that region. Let's not forget that Nigeria is Africa's most populous nation now. We are over 200 million people in the country, and it's a growing population of young people who are looking for means of livelihood and on the lookout to find space to live. So parts of the forest within one year would suddenly become a new village."https://swnigerdeltaforestproject.org.ngwww.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.org IG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

Rachel Ashegbofeh Ikemeh is a Whitley Award-winning conservationist and Founder/Director at the Southwest Niger Delta Forest Project, a grassroots-focused conservation initiative that has been dedicated to the protection of fragile wildlife populations and habitat across her project sites in Africa's most populous nation. Rachel won the award in 2020 for her work on chimpanzee populations in Nigeria and is aiming to secure 20% of chimpanzee habitat in Southwest Nigeria. She is also the winner of the National Geographic Society Buffet Awards for Conservaton Leadership in Africa, a Tusk Conservation Awards Finalist.She works to protect some of the most highly threatened forest habitats and primate populations in southern Nigeria. For example, Rachel's determined efforts has helped to bring back a species from the brink of extinction – the rare and critically endangered Niger Delta red colobus monkey, also, considered one of 25 most endangered primates in the world. She has helped to establish two protected areas and have also taken on the management of these PAs to restore habitats in these very highly threatened ecosystems which are also areas of high-security risks in the country.Rachel is the Co-Vice Chair for the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group African Section and Member of the International Primatological Society (IPS) education committee. Through her strategic positions in these networks, Rachel has been committed to championing the need to increase conservation leadership amongst Africans as she co-founded the African Primatological society in 2017. She's trained the 55 persons that make up her team from local institutions and local communities. "There's no question, we are in a state of conservation emergency. And we have a real situation on our hands and it's so fragile that if we take a step back, we could say goodbye to two types of chimpanzee species and the forest is also on the brink of disappearing forever. And when I started as a conservation researcher, there was kidnapping and insecurity throughout the Nile Delta region, and it was immersed in a lot of oil politics and civil conflicts. Kidnapping and insecurity ran throughout that region. Let's not forget that Nigeria is Africa's most populous nation now. We are over 200 million people in the country, and it's a growing population of young people who are looking for means of livelihood and on the lookout to find space to live. So parts of the forest within one year would suddenly become a new village."https://swnigerdeltaforestproject.org.ngwww.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.org IG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

"There's no question, we are in a state of conservation emergency. And we have a real situation on our hands and it's so fragile that if we take a step back, we could say goodbye to two types of chimpanzee species and the forest is also on the brink of disappearing forever. And when I started as a conservation researcher, there was kidnapping and insecurity throughout the Nile Delta region, and it was immersed in a lot of oil politics and civil conflicts. Kidnapping and insecurity ran throughout that region. Let's not forget that Nigeria is Africa's most populous nation now. We are over 200 million people in the country, and it's a growing population of young people who are looking for means of livelihood and on the lookout to find space to live. So parts of the forest within one year would suddenly become a new village."Rachel Ashegbofeh Ikemeh is a Whitley Award-winning conservationist and Founder/Director at the Southwest Niger Delta Forest Project, a grassroots-focused conservation initiative that has been dedicated to the protection of fragile wildlife populations and habitat across her project sites in Africa's most populous nation. Rachel won the award in 2020 for her work on chimpanzee populations in Nigeria and is aiming to secure 20% of chimpanzee habitat in Southwest Nigeria. She is also the winner of the National Geographic Society Buffet Awards for Conservaton Leadership in Africa, a Tusk Conservation Awards Finalist.She works to protect some of the most highly threatened forest habitats and primate populations in southern Nigeria. For example, Rachel's determined efforts has helped to bring back a species from the brink of extinction – the rare and critically endangered Niger Delta red colobus monkey, also, considered one of 25 most endangered primates in the world. She has helped to establish two protected areas and have also taken on the management of these PAs to restore habitats in these very highly threatened ecosystems which are also areas of high-security risks in the country.Rachel is the Co-Vice Chair for the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group African Section and Member of the International Primatological Society (IPS) education committee. Through her strategic positions in these networks, Rachel has been committed to championing the need to increase conservation leadership amongst Africans as she co-founded the African Primatological society in 2017. She's trained the 55 persons that make up her team from local institutions and local communities. https://swnigerdeltaforestproject.org.ngwww.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.org IG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

Rachel Ashegbofeh Ikemeh is a Whitley Award-winning conservationist and Founder/Director at the Southwest Niger Delta Forest Project, a grassroots-focused conservation initiative that has been dedicated to the protection of fragile wildlife populations and habitat across her project sites in Africa's most populous nation. Rachel won the award in 2020 for her work on chimpanzee populations in Nigeria and is aiming to secure 20% of chimpanzee habitat in Southwest Nigeria. She is also the winner of the National Geographic Society Buffet Awards for Conservaton Leadership in Africa, a Tusk Conservation Awards Finalist.She works to protect some of the most highly threatened forest habitats and primate populations in southern Nigeria. For example, Rachel's determined efforts has helped to bring back a species from the brink of extinction – the rare and critically endangered Niger Delta red colobus monkey, also, considered one of 25 most endangered primates in the world. She has helped to establish two protected areas and have also taken on the management of these PAs to restore habitats in these very highly threatened ecosystems which are also areas of high-security risks in the country.Rachel is the Co-Vice Chair for the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group African Section and Member of the International Primatological Society (IPS) education committee. Through her strategic positions in these networks, Rachel has been committed to championing the need to increase conservation leadership amongst Africans as she co-founded the African Primatological society in 2017. She's trained the 55 persons that make up her team from local institutions and local communities. "So the whole community has known this guy as the most prolific hunter, and today he is preaching conservation of wildlife, Telling everyone "I loved animals. Animals are the best. They are wonderful ." So it's easier for the community to change their mindset about eating bush meat or about hunting or about destroying the forest wildlife if they're part of the process. You can't do it outside of them. You actively have to make sure they're participating in the entire process, that's where we've seen the best results. That's when we've seen the most progress. And I've also heard of people coming up with very technical step-by-step details of how things ought to go and leaving the people out and leaving indigenous communities out of that same process. And feel like it would be so difficult to sustain that system of doing diverse conservation."https://swnigerdeltaforestproject.org.ngwww.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.org IG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

"So the whole community has known this guy as the most prolific hunter, and today he is preaching conservation of wildlife, Telling everyone "I loved animals. Animals are the best. They are wonderful ." So it's easier for the community to change their mindset about eating bush meat or about hunting or about destroying the forest wildlife if they're part of the process. You can't do it outside of them. You actively have to make sure they're participating in the entire process, that's where we've seen the best results. That's when we've seen the most progress. And I've also heard of people coming up with very technical step-by-step details of how things ought to go and leaving the people out and leaving indigenous communities out of that same process. And feel like it would be so difficult to sustain that system of doing diverse conservation."Rachel Ashegbofeh Ikemeh is a Whitley Award-winning conservationist and Founder/Director at the Southwest Niger Delta Forest Project, a grassroots-focused conservation initiative that has been dedicated to the protection of fragile wildlife populations and habitat across her project sites in Africa's most populous nation. Rachel won the award in 2020 for her work on chimpanzee populations in Nigeria and is aiming to secure 20% of chimpanzee habitat in Southwest Nigeria. She is also the winner of the National Geographic Society Buffet Awards for Conservaton Leadership in Africa, a Tusk Conservation Awards Finalist.She works to protect some of the most highly threatened forest habitats and primate populations in southern Nigeria. For example, Rachel's determined efforts has helped to bring back a species from the brink of extinction – the rare and critically endangered Niger Delta red colobus monkey, also, considered one of 25 most endangered primates in the world. She has helped to establish two protected areas and have also taken on the management of these PAs to restore habitats in these very highly threatened ecosystems which are also areas of high-security risks in the country.Rachel is the Co-Vice Chair for the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group African Section and Member of the International Primatological Society (IPS) education committee. Through her strategic positions in these networks, Rachel has been committed to championing the need to increase conservation leadership amongst Africans as she co-founded the African Primatological society in 2017. She's trained the 55 persons that make up her team from local institutions and local communities. https://swnigerdeltaforestproject.org.ngwww.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.org IG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

Rachel Ashegbofeh Ikemeh is a Whitley Award-winning conservationist and Founder/Director at the Southwest Niger Delta Forest Project, a grassroots-focused conservation initiative that has been dedicated to the protection of fragile wildlife populations and habitat across her project sites in Africa's most populous nation. Rachel won the award in 2020 for her work on chimpanzee populations in Nigeria and is aiming to secure 20% of chimpanzee habitat in Southwest Nigeria. She is also the winner of the National Geographic Society Buffet Awards for Conservaton Leadership in Africa, a Tusk Conservation Awards Finalist.She works to protect some of the most highly threatened forest habitats and primate populations in southern Nigeria. For example, Rachel's determined efforts has helped to bring back a species from the brink of extinction – the rare and critically endangered Niger Delta red colobus monkey, also, considered one of 25 most endangered primates in the world. She has helped to establish two protected areas and have also taken on the management of these PAs to restore habitats in these very highly threatened ecosystems which are also areas of high-security risks in the country.Rachel is the Co-Vice Chair for the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group African Section and Member of the International Primatological Society (IPS) education committee. Through her strategic positions in these networks, Rachel has been committed to championing the need to increase conservation leadership amongst Africans as she co-founded the African Primatological society in 2017. She's trained the 55 persons that make up her team from local institutions and local communities. "One of my teammates was asking a young boy "What would you like to be when you grow up?" And he pointed at me and said, "That's what I want to be." When I started as a female doing conservation and going to these communities, at that time I was disrespected and really looked down on for being out there doing what I was doing. Like it's either "You're not married. You don't have children. What are you doing in the middle of the forest looking for monkeys?" So to have a young man look up to a woman as a role model, especially in an African society, it's an experience that will live with me forever because I realize that not only are we bringing species back from the brink of extinction, but we are changing the way society thinks. And it makes me glad that I've been persistent. We saw that in real life how a community can be transformed to the point that an entire community has become conservation champions. So knowing that people can turn 180 and really become the protectors of the same species they tried to wipe out."https://swnigerdeltaforestproject.org.ngwww.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.org IG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

"One of my teammates was asking a young boy "What would you like to be when you grow up?" And he pointed at me and said, "That's what I want to be." When I started as a female doing conservation and going to these communities, at that time I was disrespected and really looked down on for being out there doing what I was doing. Like it's either "You're not married. You don't have children. What are you doing in the middle of the forest looking for monkeys?" So to have a young man look up to a woman as a role model, especially in an African society, it's an experience that will live with me forever because I realize that not only are we bringing species back from the brink of extinction, but we are changing the way society thinks. And it makes me glad that I've been persistent. We saw that in real life how a community can be transformed to the point that an entire community has become conservation champions. So knowing that people can turn 180 and really become the protectors of the same species they tried to wipe out."Rachel Ashegbofeh Ikemeh is a Whitley Award-winning conservationist and Founder/Director at the Southwest Niger Delta Forest Project, a grassroots-focused conservation initiative that has been dedicated to the protection of fragile wildlife populations and habitat across her project sites in Africa's most populous nation. Rachel won the award in 2020 for her work on chimpanzee populations in Nigeria and is aiming to secure 20% of chimpanzee habitat in Southwest Nigeria. She is also the winner of the National Geographic Society Buffet Awards for Conservaton Leadership in Africa, a Tusk Conservation Awards Finalist.She works to protect some of the most highly threatened forest habitats and primate populations in southern Nigeria. For example, Rachel's determined efforts has helped to bring back a species from the brink of extinction – the rare and critically endangered Niger Delta red colobus monkey, also, considered one of 25 most endangered primates in the world. She has helped to establish two protected areas and have also taken on the management of these PAs to restore habitats in these very highly threatened ecosystems which are also areas of high-security risks in the country.Rachel is the Co-Vice Chair for the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group African Section and Member of the International Primatological Society (IPS) education committee. Through her strategic positions in these networks, Rachel has been committed to championing the need to increase conservation leadership amongst Africans as she co-founded the African Primatological society in 2017. She's trained the 55 persons that make up her team from local institutions and local communities. https://swnigerdeltaforestproject.org.ngwww.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.org IG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

"There's no question, we are in a state of conservation emergency. And we have a real situation on our hands and it's so fragile that if we take a step back, we could say goodbye to two types of chimpanzee species and the forest is also on the brink of disappearing forever. And when I started as a conservation researcher, there was kidnapping and insecurity throughout the Nile Delta region, and it was immersed in a lot of oil politics and civil conflicts. Kidnapping and insecurity ran throughout that region. Let's not forget that Nigeria is Africa's most populous nation now. We are over 200 million people in the country, and it's a growing population of young people who are looking for means of livelihood and on the lookout to find space to live. So parts of the forest within one year would suddenly become a new village."Rachel Ashegbofeh Ikemeh is a Whitley Award-winning conservationist and Founder/Director at the Southwest Niger Delta Forest Project, a grassroots-focused conservation initiative that has been dedicated to the protection of fragile wildlife populations and habitat across her project sites in Africa's most populous nation. Rachel won the award in 2020 for her work on chimpanzee populations in Nigeria and is aiming to secure 20% of chimpanzee habitat in Southwest Nigeria. She is also the winner of the National Geographic Society Buffet Awards for Conservaton Leadership in Africa, a Tusk Conservation Awards Finalist.She works to protect some of the most highly threatened forest habitats and primate populations in southern Nigeria. For example, Rachel's determined efforts has helped to bring back a species from the brink of extinction – the rare and critically endangered Niger Delta red colobus monkey, also, considered one of 25 most endangered primates in the world. She has helped to establish two protected areas and have also taken on the management of these PAs to restore habitats in these very highly threatened ecosystems which are also areas of high-security risks in the country.Rachel is the Co-Vice Chair for the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group African Section and Member of the International Primatological Society (IPS) education committee. Through her strategic positions in these networks, Rachel has been committed to championing the need to increase conservation leadership amongst Africans as she co-founded the African Primatological society in 2017. She's trained the 55 persons that make up her team from local institutions and local communities. https://swnigerdeltaforestproject.org.ngwww.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.org IG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

"So it's easier for the community to change their mindset about eating bush meat or about hunting or about destroying the forest wildlife if they're part of the process. You can't do it outside of them. You actively have to make sure they're participating in the entire process, that's where we've seen the best results. That's when we've seen the most progress. And I've also heard of people coming up with very technical step-by-step details of how things ought to go and leaving the people out and leaving indigenous communities out of that same process. And feel like it would be so difficult to sustain that system of doing diverse conservation.One of my teammates was asking a young boy "What would you like to be when you grow up?" And he pointed at me and said, "That's what I want to be." When I started as a female doing conservation and going to these communities, at that time I was disrespected and really looked down on for being out there doing what I was doing. Like it's either "You're not married. You don't have children. What are you doing in the middle of the forest looking for monkeys?" So to have a young man look up to a woman as a role model, especially in an African society, it's an experience that will live with me forever because I realize that not only are we bringing species back from the brink of extinction, but we are changing the way society thinks. And it makes me glad that I've been persistent. We saw that in real life how a community can be transformed to the point that an entire community has become conservation champions. So knowing that people can turn 180 and really become the protectors of the same species they tried to wipe out."Rachel Ashegbofeh Ikemeh is a Whitley Award-winning conservationist and Founder/Director at the Southwest Niger Delta Forest Project, a grassroots-focused conservation initiative that has been dedicated to the protection of fragile wildlife populations and habitat across her project sites in Africa's most populous nation. Rachel won the award in 2020 for her work on chimpanzee populations in Nigeria and is aiming to secure 20% of chimpanzee habitat in Southwest Nigeria. She is also the winner of the National Geographic Society Buffet Awards for Conservaton Leadership in Africa, a Tusk Conservation Awards Finalist.She works to protect some of the most highly threatened forest habitats and primate populations in southern Nigeria. For example, Rachel's determined efforts has helped to bring back a species from the brink of extinction – the rare and critically endangered Niger Delta red colobus monkey, also, considered one of 25 most endangered primates in the world. She has helped to establish two protected areas and have also taken on the management of these PAs to restore habitats in these very highly threatened ecosystems which are also areas of high-security risks in the country.Rachel is the Co-Vice Chair for the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group African Section and Member of the International Primatological Society (IPS) education committee. Through her strategic positions in these networks, Rachel has been committed to championing the need to increase conservation leadership amongst Africans as she co-founded the African Primatological society in 2017. She's trained the 55 persons that make up her team from local institutions and local communities. https://swnigerdeltaforestproject.org.ngwww.creativeprocess.info www.oneplanetpodcast.org IG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

The UK Treasury and Bank of England are designing a “digital pound”, Google revealed plans on Monday to launch a chatbot to rival OpenAI's popular ChatGPT, more than 11,000 residents of Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta have filed a claim for compensation against Shell, and a ruling by a US court will make companies think twice about using bankruptcy schemes such as the Texas two-step to handle lawsuits. Mentioned in this podcast:UK to design ‘digital pound' that could fend off a future private tech rivalGoogle reveals plans for chatbot ‘Bard' as AI tech race heats upTalc ruling a blow to the ‘Texas two-step' bankruptcy jigShell hit with damages claim by 11,000 Nigerians in UK High CourtBehind the Money episode about the Texas Two-StepThe FT News Briefing is produced by Fiona Symon, Sonja Hutson and Marc Filippino. The show's editor is Jess Smith. Additional help by Peter Barber, Michael Lello, David da Silva and Gavin Kallmann. Topher Forhecz is the FT's executive producer. The FT's global head of audio is Cheryl Brumley. The show's theme song is by Metaphor Music.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Clearing up pollution can be a messy and expensive task, but around the world people are harnessing the power of plants to do the job for them. We hear how water hyacinths are going from hated weed to providing communities with a greener water filtration solution; how plants in the Niger Delta are helping rejuvenate land drenched in oil and devastated by fire and ask whether plants could be the future to more environmentally friendly mining. Presenter: Myra Anubi Reporter: Georgina Rannard Reporter/producer: Lizzy McNeill Producer: Zoe Gelber Series producer: Tom Colls Sound mix: Hal Haines Editor: Penny Murphy Email: peoplefixingtheworld@bbc.co.uk Image: A water hyacinth (Getty Images)