My heart is beating?

Many times she sang those words, wrapping up the pain and endurance of Niger Deltans, for years she shook the wall of indifference around her, and finally, we were moved.

On 1st October, NNEKA was awarded this years’ MOBO (Music of Black Origin) prize for best African Artist. NNEKA is an artist of rare achievement, whose outspoken views about the exploitation of the oil-rich Niger Delta burns deep into her lyrics. Her music has lifted the Niger Delta struggle into powerful songs,  charging the airwaves of the BBC and the UK Top 40 with her politics.

Her story begins far away from the media spotlight in the oil-city of Warri, in the Niger Delta. A few years after she arrived on the European music scene she is now clocking up +1.5 million hits on her new music video, ‘Heartbeat’. NNEKA’s success has heightened her awareness of the development denied to her people in the Delta, in spite of the oil wealth extracted from the region.

A long-time supporter of the Niger Delta cause, and a headline artist at remember saro-wiwa events, NNEKA takes every opportunity to remind the West of the heavy cost of Nigerian oil, heaping criticism on the destructive impact of companies like Shell, Chevron and the Nigerian government.

As the BBC reports:

The singer says her influences include Nigeria’s iconic Afro-beat performer Fela Kuti as well more contemporary acts like a US rapper Mos Def.

She also cites Nigeria writer and human rights activist Ken Saro-Wiwa as an inspiration. Mr Saro-Wiwa was executed by the Sani Abacha government in 1995 for his efforts to campaign against corruption in the oil-rich Niger Delta.

“Stand up against; corruption, against injustice, against bribery and hypocrisy…….RAISE UR VOICES,” she says on her MySpace page.

The government estimates as many as 20,000 militants could participate in the programme… Under the plan, the screening of gunmen and collecting of weapons will begin on Aug. 6 at 15 amnesty camps located in Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers and other southern states in the Niger Delta. [President] Yar’Adua was expected to ask state governments in the Niger Delta, oil companies and international organisations to share the costs of the amnesty programme. It was not clear how much money was needed.

The cracks have already begun to show, and the unclarity of the government’s message was met with consternation by the Ijaw Elders and Leaders Forum. The Nigerian news service, NEXT, reported that:

Ijaw leaders have queried the offer of amnesty to Niger Delta militants, pointing attention to section 175 (1) (a) of the 1999 Constitution. According to them: “there has been no conviction against any of the alleged militants to warrant the granting of amnesty.”… The forum noted that that seven months after the submission of the report of the Technical Committee on Niger Delta, the Federal Government had taken no concrete step to implement any of its recommendations.

Despite the fact that the Nigerian army still occupies the region, militants have retaliated by blowing up pipelines and oil infrastructure belonging to Shell, Chevron, Agip and Exxon, a move which helped push the world oil price up to $69. Come 6th August, the government may be less optimistic that insurgents from the main militant group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) will be getting in line to handover their weapons.

Urgent action is needed from all sides to halt the killing of innocent civilians. The conflict is exacerbated by the joint failure of multinational oil companies and the government to respect the rights of local communities, many of whom suffer the daily impacts of gas flaring and oil spills on their land and health. A better way to fight the cycle of violent conflict is to address people’s long-standing grievances: invest urgently in local development and povery alleviation, compensate communities for violations of their rights and enforce protection of the environment.