AUTHOR'S BIO

Ike Okonta

Ike Okonta is a Fellow in the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford. He is co-author of Where Vultures Feast: Shell, Human Rights and Oil.

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Nigeria’s Resurgent Oil Diplomacy

Ike Okonta Series: Into Africa

2008-01-18

Russia is not alone in seeing oil as a means to transform its global standing. Nowadays, the mantra of President Umar Yar’Adua, who took power in June 2007, following controversial elections, is to transform the country into one of the world’s 20 largest economies by 2020. Yar’Adua and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are struggling to stamp their authority on an unwieldy and restive country of 140 million people, and the government views rapid growth as a means to achieving that aim.... read

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Nigeria’s Lost Chance

Ike Okonta Series: Into Africa

2007-04-25

Nigeria's first attempt since independence in 1960 to transfer power from one civilian government to another has just ended – farcically. Once again, democracy, challenged by deep social divisions and President Olusegun Obasanjo’s quest to maintain power, is at a knife’s edge.... read

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Obasanjo’s Troubling End-Game

Ike Okonta Series: Into Africa

2006-07-07

In Nigeria today, the key question nowadays is not whether President Olusegun Obasanjo will quit after his second (and final) term expires next year, but who will succeed him. Given Nigeria’s history of sit-tight military dictatorships, that is real progress. Unfortunately, it is not necessarily the president’s doing.... read

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The Ghost of Biafra

Ike Okonta Series: Into Africa

2005-01-26

When Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo made his surprise announcement on 13 January to begin a nationwide dialogue to discuss constitutional reform, he was bowing to the inevitable. The clamor by disaffected politicians and human rights activists for such a conference had reached a crescendo.... read

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Shell's Corrupt Shell Game in Nigeria

Ike Okonta Series: Into Africa

2004-04-02

Under fire from shareholders, and facing investigations in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands for misrepresenting its oil reserves, Royal Dutch/Shell is trying to shift the blame to Nigeria.... read

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Nigeria's Battle of the Generals

Ike Okonta Series: Into Africa

2003-04-08

Nigeria has never held successful civilian-run elections. The last one, which returned President Shehu Shagari and his National Party of Nigeria to power in 1983, was marked by widespread violence and vote-rigging. Three months later, the Army staged a coup--Nigeria's fifth since independence in 1960. ... read

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Pulling Nigeria Back from the Brink

Ike Okonta Series: Into Africa

2002-09-26

Once again, Nigeria seems at the brink of disintegration, this time with the threat by parliament to impeach President Olesegun Obasanjo. But Nigeria has always been remarkable for producing surprising outcomes. Time and again, Africa "experts" issue dire warnings about the country's impending implosion, and time and again, Nigeria holds together, however precariously. ... read

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