The Blog

Much of my writing even though it is fictional is based on real time events. Much of the issues that face Africa along with regional declination and degradation are referenced throughout my book. Many hope that peace may be attained and much of the unrest that is associated with military conflict and famine needs to be addressed by the U.N. along with diverting attention away from thoughtless and fruitless campaigns. In order to move toward peace, people need to have hope. Hope is something that is clearly unseen but is as apparent as these words that are written. In order to provide hope to those that so diligently seek it, the powers that be need to find ways to broker power to the leaders and give them a bargaining chip to give something positive and powerful back to these dying nations. Again, I say, much of Portentum is based on actual events but applied to a ficional setting. I will address these components as the readers provide helpful feedback as they digest the words of my book. Below is an example of how these blogs will be published. This, in red, is a news story based on actual events. Below the story, in green, is a portion of my book that addresses the oil crises and its impact on the region that is part of my book.

Unrest in Nigeria's southern oil region the Niger Delta, the theatre of a spate of kidnappings in recent months, is set to continue through the elections scheduled for April, analysts and security experts say.

"I see violence in the delta staying at the current levels right through these elections", a Lagos-based risk consultant told AFP.

The people of the delta complain that while their region generates 95 percent of Nigeria's foreign currency earnings, they have little to show for this in terms of development or living standards.

A leading security contractor cited the country's "North-South sectarian divide between Muslims and Christians", the three biggest ethnic groups vying for power, the "dysfunctional democracy in place," the rampant corruption and the lack of self-determination for, among others, the country's 14 million Ijaw people.

"As long as that situation prevails there is going to be a degree of discontent in the Niger delta", he said.

The region's most prominent armed militant group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), earlier this week released one of the four hostages it was holding but made it very clear that it would hang onto the other three and vowed to intensify its campaign of violence destined to "drive oil companies out of the Niger Delta" and "halt production".

The Nigerian government, which has said it lost some 570 billion naira (around 4.4 billion dollars, 3.5 billion euros) in 2006 oil revenue because of disruptions to production in the Niger delta, appears to be at a loss as to what tactic to adopt next.

In August it promised to get tough on hostage-takers. Towards the end of the year the military launched its first "commando operation" to rescue a group of foreign hostages but killed one of them, a Briton, in the attempt. Since then the security forces have become increasingly tight-lipped about events in the Delta.

MEND on Friday said it would take as many hostages as it saw fit and that there was "nothing the Nigerian government can do".

There has been a sharp escalation in violence in the delta since the beginning of 2006 when MEND emerged. In 2006 alone, more than 60 foreigners, mostly oil workers, were kidnapped, and dozens of Nigerians were killed by militants and bandits.

"Because of the success that MEND has achieved what we have seen is a lot of bandwagon jumping, people doing copycat crime. There has been a massive increase in kidnap and ransom", the security contractor noted.

He said that "the army, because of a lack of manpower, a lack of equipment, a lack of leadership, a lack of intelligence, currently lacks the capacity to police the Niger delta. A lot of what they do is reactive and retaliatory".

"All the army can do is escalate violence", agreed the risk consultant.

Geographically the creeks and swamps of the delta are difficult to police, even for the most motivated force.

There is therefore a risk, observers say, that Nigeria's aggressive plans to boost capacity by 2010 might just result in creating more opportunities for violent crime.

The country aims to boost reserves to 40 billion barrels from some 35 billion currently and production to 4 million barrels per day, up from 2.7 million bpd currently when all facilities are operating at capacity.

It also wants to reduce flaring, the burning of waste gas, by harnessing the gas in question and to be refining some 50 per cent of its total crude production, against some 12 percent currently.

"If you're trying to build capacity on top of a situation of extreme unrest all you're doing is creating more armed opposition", the security contractor said.

Now that the most security conscious oil majors and their service providers have put in place rigorous security, industry sources say that both militants and mere criminals looking to make ransom money will increasingly target those companies whose security is lax.

With the April elections meant to usher in the country's first ever hand over from one civilian administration to another and with the Gulf of Guinea accounting for an ever-greater portion of US oil imports, Washington is following Nigeria closely.

US Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte, in his annual threat assessment earlier this month, singled out three African states, Somalia, Sudan and Nigeria, whose government, he said, "has been unable to stem rising lawlessness and insecurity in its oil-producing region".

Some of his compatriots, such as analyst J Peter Pham, go one step further and warn that the Niger Delta could become a potential breeding ground for Islamic militants.

Pham wrote late last year in the World Defense Review that unrest in the delta is largely attributable to "underdevelopment, environmental degradation and violence", but went on to warn against underestimating "the potential risk of al-Qaeda or other outside terrorist organisation exploiting these tensions to strike at one of our vulnerabilities, our dependence on the West African region to supply 15 percent of our hydrocarbon needs".

Dominique has been a guard at Dominion Oil for four months; he
had rigorous training and classes to educate him in cases of emergencies concerning the pumps, valves, pressure regulators and gauges among other safety components and plant attributes.

“Is there anyone else down here?” Dominique asks through his
radio that is mounted to his uniform’s shoulder. He stands in his place for ten seconds. It is a long ten seconds of turmoil as he feels a gnawing sensation in his soul.

“Static is coming through; could not hear you. Repeat yourself, Dominique.”

Dominique hears another noise coming from further down the corridor. “Can you hear me now?” Dominique asks with a trembling
in his voice.

“Yes, I can hear,” the voice on the radio replies.

“Is there supposed to be anyone else patrolling these corridors or
any technicians working in this area? Respond.”

Dominique has trouble holding his flashlight steadily in his hands to accurately flash it in any one direction. His cigarette is slowly burning to its butt’s end.

“Yes, there is a technician looking at one of the turbines close to the area that you are in; there seems to be a fluctuation on the meter readings leading to the main coil reactor. He has been there for only a few minutes. Check the status, as we are still reading fluctuations on the meter reading.”

“I read you. I will go to check on his status. In which workstation
is he located?” Dominique asks with a feeling of relief.

“Workstation 1A,” the voice replies.

“On my way,” Dominique replies.

Dominique throws the cigarette butt on the ground and puts the
remaining light out under the sole of his boot. He continues to walk
toward the workstation. Again, down the darkness of the corridor, he sees another glimmer of light that he had previously seen in the opposite direction. A thought enters his mind that something strange is going on. As he approaches the area that the workstation is in, he notices that there is none of the activity that he would expect if a technician were working. There is no light or any other flashlight other than his illuminating the door leading to the turbine holding area. He notices a tool bag and box with sensors and wires, tools used to fix such hardware that is needed to operate the turbine’s system.

He shouts out, “Technician, where are you?” He hears nothing but the humming and buzzing of the machinery. “Technician, do you hear me?” he yells again.

Through another passageway he notices the same flash he saw as he made his way down the corridor. He starts to go toward it with a curiosity as to what keeps providing this shimmering of light.

Again Dominique shouts, “Technician, are you down here?” His flashlight begins to seem like a vibration bouncing off the passage walls as his hand begins to shake once again. He stops for a moment to reach for his package of cigarettes. Sweat covers his hands. He nervously lights his cigarette.

“Any sign of the technician?” the man on the radio asks. Dominique is startled and drops his cigarette and lighter.

“No, all I have found are some tools next to the turbine’s system
carrier. There is no sign of the technician,” he replies bending down
to pick up his cigarette and lighter.

“He has to be there somewhere; we have tried to contact him, but
he is not responding. Let us know what you find. There seems to be something interfering with the comm. links, and we may be out of radio contact the further you go toward the power core. We will send additional help to locate the technician. There are still fluctuations that are affecting the oil output. Continue your search.”

Dominique feels a sense of calm knowing that other guards will be
joining him shortly. He remains in his place until the others arrive.
He continues to puff at his cigarette, still sweating, as the corridor is hot from all the running turbines and engines. There are boiler rooms located in the lower levels directly under the spot Dominique stands on. As Dominique takes a draw on his cigarette, his face is aglow from the burning ash. His expression is visible in the ash, as he shows a fear on his face. The glimmer of light is only a few feet in front of him. As he raises his flashlight to see what it is, the batteries go out, and his light fades. He thinks to himself that the light caught a glimpse of something that seems out of place or should not be there. It is completely dark now, as the only light is that of his cigarette that he has dropped on the floor from his panic.

He fiercely grapples for his belt pack which holds the extra battery
cell for his flashlight. Reaching behind him, he can hear the footsteps and voices of his fellow guards coming down the corridor from behind him. He relaxes as he feels calm from the sensation of company in these dark and dank halls and passages. Dominique slides the casing off the flashlight and removes the spent battery. A guttural sound is heard from behind the turbine staging area. Dominique’s eyes, if they could be seen through the dark, are wide and frantic at this point, as he has never heard such a sound in all his days. He desperately fumbles around to get the battery into the flashlight. His hands are trembling, and he is sweating profusely. He keeps looking back and forth, up and down, trying to obtain the slightest image through the darkness. Nothing can be seen, as all is pitch-black.

I will provide links to sites that I post these blogs to. I am currently working on other projects and will post as readers reply. I am encouraged about the future and hope that you are too.