Slippery Slope Arguments – Food for Thought


By Uthman Akinbola
[15/04/13]
 
Suppose allowing an Action A (which is not objectionable) leads to an Action Z, which is objectionable, then one can argue that Action A should not be allowed, since it leads down the slope to the objectionable Action Z. This is the ‘Slippery Slope Argument (SSA)’.

SSAs are characterised by the fact that – we are less than perfect in making second-order distinctions between the good (unobjectionable) act and the bad (objectionable) act.

In other words, any slippery slope argument presupposes that:
We may not be able to make distinctions or abide by the distinction made between the unobjectionable and the objectionable.

The statement above is what David Enoch called the slippery slope argument’s Essential Premise.
            Action A is good in itself, while Z is bad (objectionable);
            But A may lead to Z, thus A should not be allowed –
            The Essential Premise is implied.

David Enoch further stressed that the essential premise is not just presupposed by an SSA alone, it is also a causal agent in the slippery slope process, and this means that when the causal story of a slippery slope situation is told the essential premise will be a part of that story.

He thereafter constructed an SSA against the use of SSAs.

Observations
(i)        David Enoch’s result implies that everybody would always be able to make distinctions between the unobjectionable and the objectionable, and abide by such distinctions. This is not true, as human beings are not endowed with the same strength of mind.
(ii)           (The result of) his treatise negates SSAs, the tool (SSA) he used is also negated.

Petroleum, the Nigerian Environment and the Petroleum Industry Bill


By Uthman Akinbola
[15/04/13]
The petroleum industry is the backbone of the Nigerian economy, accounting for over 90% of Nigeria’s total foreign exchange revenue. Nigeria is about the seventh largest producer in the world and the largest in Africa. Current daily production of crude oil in Nigeria is over 2 million barrels. However, there is an environmental cost of this economic gain to the Nigerian state. There is always an environmental cost of oil and gas exploration to any oil producing nation!

The world has seen several environmental sustenance efforts driven by the United Nations (through UNEP). From the environmental protection focus of 1972 Stockholm Protocol to the ‘Sustainable Development’ drive of the 1987 Brundtland Report. It was then that sustainable development was said to be about intergenerational equity. We also had. the Rio Earth Conference i.e. ECO-92 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, where debates centred around “Environment and Development” (having Man as the focus of the issue). There was also the Kyoto Protocol of 1997, where reductions of pollutant emissions were proposed.

Just last year (2012) the Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan attended the summit marking the 20 years of the Rio Earth Conference in Brazil. The focus was still sustainable environmental development.

However, Nigeria has not gained optimally from these efforts and also from the economic benefits derivable from petroleum. (The Gulf states are examples of economies that have gained immensely from the exploration of oil.)

Despite the overwhelming dependence on petroleum for man’s energy needs (and thus the massive exploitation of the oil resourse), over the last couple of decades world’s total reserves have actually gone up rather than down, as revealed in a paper in December, 2012 by Amama Mbabazi, the Ugandan Prime Minister. Also, we have read from several other reports that more oil and gas discoveries have been made on the African continent. This accounts for the increased presence of international economic and political power brokers in our own Gulf of Guinea, and hence offshore Nigeria.      

The August 2011 UNEP Environmental assessment report on Ogoni land (in Rivers State Nigeria – one of the OPAs) states:

Oil exploration and production projects may have impacts on the natural environment long before any oil is actually produced. These are complex, multi-faceted projects, with many different phases, including: land survey, land clearance for seismic lines, establishment of seismic and drilling camps, site preparation, infrastracture construction, drilling for oil (even when the effort is unsuccessful) and development of transportation infrastructure. Once a facility begins operating, others issues have to be dealt with, such as spills caused during oil production and the disposal of water (often salty and known as ‘produced water’) and flaring of gas (‘produced gas’) generated alongside the oil. All of these activities and their effects leave an environmental footprint.

Normally, the dillema of an oil producing state is ‘the exploration and production of oil for economic gains without upsetting the environment’. However, the situation of Nigeria is that this economic benefit ordinarily derivable from oil is frittered away, and no serious effort to protect the environment has been made. So the Nigerian state has no substantial economic gain to show for the environmental devastation from oil exploration. A case of double jeopardy. This is the first issue the Nigerian people must address.

The second issue is the roll-back of the already done damage to the environment. How do we institutionalise the restoration and regenration of the OPAs? How do we achieve the roll-back of the over four-decade long degradation that the OPAs air and water media, land and ecological biodiversity have witnessed? This is a challenge that we must confront.

Three main sources of hydrocarbon pollution in the oil producing areas are – oil spills; gas flares; and effluent and waste discharges. The major causes of the spill incidences include pipelines and flow lines leakage/blowouts, blowouts from well-heads and spills from flowstations. It also includes sabotage of oil facilities. Oil production involves the burning of hydrocarbon gases. The flaring of natural or associated gas is done as a by-product of the drilling of crude oil. Gas flares has negative impact on the local ecology and climate. One of the impacts, aside the raising of surrounding temperature, is light pollution, which subjects the living organism around the vicinity of the flare to 24-hour daylight. This destabilises diurnality and night-time patterns in animals.

The OPAs have experienced many major oil spills since production began in 1958 thereabouts. For instance.. The Niger Delta experienced two major oil spills, the Funiwa oil well blowout in 1980 and the Jones Creek oil spillage in 1998 that resulted in the greatest mangrove forest devastation ever recorded worldwide as stated in United Nations Development Program’s (UNDP) report on Nigeria in 2006.

The World Bank (2005) estimated that Nigeria flares about 75 per cent of the gas it produces due to the lack of a local market and infrastructure. This is an evidence of unsustainable production.

Another important issue is that about human development.

Generally, the communities from which oil is drilled often see the oil companies as vampires exploiting their resources, usually, to the point of exhaustion with little or no benefit to the people.

Addressing oil security and illegal bunkering is also important, for this erodes the revenue acruable to the FG. It also causes a lot of environmental damage. I donot believe that appealing to the international community to help us fight illegal oil bunkering will necessarily solve the problem.

There is no doubt that the oil and gas sector is very crucial in the industrial advances made by man and its importance is aptly described by Amama Mbabazi, the Prime minister of Uganda when he opined that: ‘Oil is a strategic resource that contributes to economic oportunity and energy security for the global market. Oil plays a dominant role in meeting the world’s energy needs, and this situation is expected to continue for decades to come. Even with the investments countries are making in renewable energy, energy efficiency and other measures to support a low-carbon economy, the International Energy Agency’s World Energy Outlook for 2009 still expects world oil demand to grow by one percent per year until 2030.’

He also asserted that ‘oil and gas are absolutely necessary to the world’s industrial economies. Together, they supply two-thirds of the world’s energy consumption. They also form the building blocks of over 30,000 different chemicals.’ This is why we have to take the oil industry with all seriousness and take maximum advantage of it for a robust national development.

Nonetheless, we must be mindful of the environmental impact of petroleum exploration, and strive to undo the mistake of the past, while embarking on measures to protect the environment against future degradation.

Way Forward
The Niger Delta Regional Master Plan is one important solution. The NDDC serving as Niger Delta Policy Council should address the Niger Delta policy issues and work to implement and ensure the success of the initiatives in 25, or so, areas covered in the Master Plan. Thus, many stakeholders must work together to achieve meaningful change. All levels of government and the NDDC, the oil companies, the organized private sector, civil society organizations and development agencies should form partnerships around the Master Plan for sustainable development and the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Environmental Assessment report on Ogoni land (August 2011) has recommended some solutions, and some of these are applicable to the entire oil producing areas.

It is pertinent that Nigerian government study the UNEP report and work to adapt the recommendations therein to the entire OPAs.

Some of the recommendations include:

Due to the wide extent of contamination in Ogoni land and nearby areas, and the varying degrees of degradation, there will not be one single clean-up technique appropriate for the entire area. A combination of approaches will therefore need to be considered, ranging from active intervention for cleaning the top soil and replanting mangrove to passive monitoring of natural regeneration. Practical action at the regulatory, operational and monitoring levels is also proposed.

Comprehensive review of existing Nigerian legislation on contaminated site clean-up considering recent international developments in regulation and incorporating community consultation to determine remediation closure levels, so that decisions on new legislation are seen as both transparent and inclusive.

A Centre of Excellence for Environmental Restoration should be established in Ogoni land to promote learning in other areas impacted by oil contamination, in the Niger Delta and elsewhere in the world. Offering a range of activities and services, the Centre could run training courses in environmental monitoring and restoration and ultimately become a model for environmental restoration, attracting international attention.

Another important solution is that the Federal Government should institutionalize a form of the Community Action for a Renewed Environment (CARE) programme operated in the United States. It is a competitive grant programme that offers an innovative way for a community to organize and take action to reduce toxic pollution in its local environment, such that the kind of relationship and arrangements that allow some supposed elders and leaders, and few privileged youths, benefit from special treatment at the expense of the majority in the Niger Delta would be obliterated. The ‘rugged’ individualism along and within ethnic lines in existence at present does not augur well for environmental sustenance. Through that programme any community within the Niger Delta creates a partnership that implements solutions to reduce releases of toxic pollutants and minimize people's exposure to them. This programme may even be adapted for the whole of Nigeria through the Federal Ministry of Environment. In any case, it helps communities tread the path to a renewed environment.

The Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) may be a good step in the right direction. Thus, it should be seriously and sincerely addressed. National interest should override personal, regional and all other considerations. I believe that the focus or rallying point should be the maintenance of environmental fairness and justice for all. This the national assembly must take cognisance of in their deliberations towards achieving national development.

The issue of concentrating power or control of oil resource and licenses in the president’s hand through the minister of petroleum resources must be looked into. This is the same approach the Ugandan Oil Exploration Bill has taken and which is not good for the interest of the entire nation. We are aware of the self-styled dictator Museveni had turned himself into in Uganda, so one was not surprised that he pushed for such in the country’s oil bill. Is that the way we want to go?

It is better for a state to have such powers vested on government agencies and institutions rather than individual office holders, since agencies perform statutory functions often outside the direct supervision of the executive arm of government. This prevents subjecting the control of an important national resource like oil to the whims and caprices of one man or woman.

Nigeria: Blackberry Z10 Debuts in Nigeria

ALLAFRICA.COM
VANGUARD [08/03/13]

BlackBerry has launched the new Z10 smart phone which is the smartphone company's fastest and most advanced mobile smart device yet powered by BlackBerry® 10 in Nigeria.


The Z10 based on the the re-designed, re-engineered, and re-invented BlackBerry 10 platform, offers to give customers a powerful and unique mobile computing experience.


Waldi Wepener, Regional Director for West, East and Central Africa said: "We are excited to build on our success as the leading smartphone provider in Nigeria, with the launch of the new BlackBerry Z10 smartphone. BlackBerry 10 is not only providing a whole new experience for our Nigerian customers, but also more choice alongside our existing BlackBerry 7 devices.

Liberia: Best Contract Ever - Block 13 Nets U.S.$50 Million Upfront, NOCAL Seeks Approval

ALLAFRICA.COM
THE ANALYST [08/03/13]

Oil and gas discovery in Liberia bumped into premature hullabaloo with particular attention clamoring over the manner and form that suspected wells of the coveted natural resource were negotiated and handed over to potential investors. The leadership of the National Oil Company overseeing the budding oil sector took cue from the discontent and has since begun to right previous wrongs with deliberately reformed policies. The turnaround is paying off, not only in the fact that the noise over oil and contracts is receding, but also in the consummation of revenue-bolstering and people-centered agreements that NOCAL and oil barons are reaching. Block 13 which had been in the center of controversy and nearly presumed to have been a giveaway has now turned out to be a product of the most lucrative contract ever, with a colossal sum of upfront US$50m signature fees along with other goodies announced. The Analyst reports 


The National Oil Company is seeking the approval of Oil Block 13 contract by President Sirleaf and its subsequent rectification by the National Legislature. At a MICAT press briefing yesterday, NOCAL Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Randolph McClain, disclosed that renegotiated Block 13 based on various financial provisions of the contract, US$50m is to be received by Government immediately upon ratification and printing into handbills. Components of the amount include $21.25m, which is one of the highest Liberia oil block signature bonus yet.


The amount of $21.25m is also the largest ever upfront payouts to a non-producing country in the world, Dr. McClain boasted, adding: Up until now, it may interest you to know that  the largest signature bonus Liberia has received for a single offshore oil block is US$3.33m.

Nigeria: The North Does Not Control Nigeria's Oil Blocks

ALLAFRICA.COM
PREMIUM TIMES [07/03/13]

Opinion

Senator Ita Enang's spirited claim at the National Assembly Wednesday to the effect that 83% of the country's oil block is in the hands of northerners appears to be inspired from assertions contained in an old article by a newspaper commentator, Mr. Ross Alabo-George whose famous essay was titled Poverty And Deprivation: Why The North Is Poor.

In the excerpted refutation below, Toyin Akinosho, a petroleum geologist with over two decades of work at Chevron and now publisher of the well-regarded Africa Oil and Gas Report, argues angrily that such lines of thought canvassed by the likes of Senator Ita Solomon Enang and indeed Mr. Ross Alabo-George are merely hysterical, and tendentious, designed to mislead the public. Mr. Akinosho characterizes the arguments as crappy and crummy. It is excerpted from the African Oil+Gas Report for the value it brings to the current debate about Nigerians oil resources and the National Question.

Alabo-George's article plays up so well the sentiments that a good number of Nigerians, especially middle class types excluded from the spoils of the petroleum subsidy, and allied deliverables, nurse about the kind of leadership we have suffered since independence.

Nigeria: Ciroma - FG Not Serious About Oil Search in North

ALLAFRICA.COM
DAILY TRUST [08/03/13]

Damaturu — Elder statesman and former minister of finance Malam Adamu Ciroma has observed that five years ago nobody would have believed that Yobe State will be faced with grievous calamity occasioned by the Boko Haram crisis.

Speaking at a town hall meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan in Damaturu yesterday, Ciroma attributed the problem to the neglect of agriculture, health, education as well as the lackluster attitude of the Federal Government towards oil exploration in the Chad Basin.

Speaking later in a BBC Hausa interview, Ciroma insisted that granting amnesty to Boko Haram sect will help end the violence in the North.

Nigeria: Oil Blocs Revelation - Northern Senators Caged as PIB Sails Through

ALLAFRICA.COM
VANGUARD [07/03/13]

Abuja — AFTER three days of intense debates and contributions on the controversial Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, northern Senators were Thursday caged by their Southern colleagues and the bill unanimously scaled the second reading.


The resolution by the Senators to pass the bill was contrary to fears from some quarters especially with the initial stiff opposition from the lawmakers from the North that it will not see the light of the day.


The passage also came barely twenty four hours after the Chairman, Senate Committee on Rules and Business, Senator Ita Enang, PDP, Akwa Ibom North/East called on President Goodluck Jonathan to revoke and re-allocate oil blocs where he raised alarm that the Northerners control 83 percent of oil blocs in the country, leaving a negligible 27 percent for the South where the oil comes from.

Kenya: Hassan Exonerates IEBC From Malpractice

ALLAFRICA.COM
THE STAR [07/03/13]

Photo: Capital FM
The IEBC chairman, Issack Hassan has defended the commission 
against malpractice allegations by CORD Coalition 
(file photo).  [SOURCE: http://allafrica.com]
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission chairman Isaack Hassan has sought to clear the commission from allegations of malpractice in the ongoing vote tallying process.


Hassan has said that there have been no cases of counted votes being more than registered votes as had been earlier claimed by the Cord coalition's deputy presidential candidate, Kalonzo Musyoka.


Hassan instead said that the tallied votes are a reflection of how Kenyans cast their votes in the Monday elections. "The results we are releasing are the true verified results that are validated by all involved officers," he said.

Closing arguments begin in NY 'cannibal cop' case

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Google Maps grasses up man cheating on fiance

ANORAK (UK) [07/03/13]

THE internet has done wonders for people’s sex lives, enabling them to flirt more confidently and meet other people without having to brave a bar filled with stouty burps first. However, with every silver lining is a dirty great raincloud, as one Russian lothario soon discovered.


While browsing Google Maps, a Russian lady found that her other-half was having it away with someone else. Marina Voinova, from Perm (where everyone looks like the Liverpool FC squad in the early ’80s), was looking for an address online and, when switching to the Street View feature, she saw an image of her fiance cuddling up to another woman.

No sex please, we're Balinese

THE WEST AUSTRALIAN
AFP [08/03/13]

No sex please, we re Balinese
Picture: Reuters file  [SOURCE: http://au.news.yahoo.com]
Officials on the Indonesian island of Bali are considering putting up "no sex" signs at Hindu temples after an Estonian couple were caught in the act.

Police took the pair in for questioning after they were found by youth leaders who had gone to check up on repairs at the temple in the village of Saraseda.

"They said they really did not know that sex at temples was prohibited in Bali, so we just let them go and left it up to the village heads to decide how to handle the case," said Gianyar district police chief Hadi Purnomo on Friday.

New York mother arraigned for hiring strippers for teen's party

REUTERS [07/03/13]
By Caurie Putnam

(Reuters) - An upstate New York woman pleaded not guilty on Thursday to five counts of child endangerment after other parents complained that she hired female strippers for her son's 16th birthday party.

Judy Viger, 33, of Gansevoort, New York, denied the charges of endangering the welfare of a child at her arraignment in the Town of Moreau Court, according to a court spokesperson. If convicted, she would face up to one year in jail.

Viger was arrested after parents of five teenage partygoers saw Facebook pictures of the scantily clad dancers performing intimate routines at the bash last November 3 at Spare Time Bowling Center in South Glens Falls, New York, about 50 miles north of Albany.

Augmented reality car windscreens to display phone calls and GPS information

THE TELEGRAPH (UK) [09/03/13]

Technology firm Harman is previewing its interative car windscreens at the Geneva motor show, which it claims will 'transform the car into a mobile office - safely'.

Harman's head up display system (HUD) shows the driver things like speed and distance to the car in front, incoming phone calls with the picture of the caller, weather conditions, arrows for navigation, directions and warnings of looming collisions. 

This is a large amount of information being delivered into the driver's line of sight but Hans Roth, Harman's Director Technology Marketing, believes the information is delivered seamlessly enough that it won't be distracting nor dangerous. 

Nigerian Senate vows to limit Jonathan, Alison-Madueke’s powers in petroleum law

PREMIUM TIMES [07/03/13]

[SOURCE: http://premiumtimesng.com]
Senators said the PIB currently allocates too much power to the President and the Minister of Petroleum.

A Senate, polarized by the controversies of a new oil law, closed ranks Thursday to give the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, a second reading, but made it clear it will curb the “unprecedented” powers given the president and the petroleum minister, before giving the legislation final approval.

Chavez death brings uncertainty, hope to oil patch

NEW YORK POST
From ASSOCIATED PRESS [06/03/13]

Supporters of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez 
cry outside the military hospital where Chavez, 58, 
died Tuesday in Caracas.
HOUSTON — Venezuela's oil production is poised to reverse a dramatic decline that has seen exports fall by nearly half during Hugo Chavez's time as president.

Following Chavez's death Tuesday, Venezuela, which is a member of OPEC and sits on the world's second-largest oil reserves, faces near-term political uncertainty that could bring further turmoil to its oil industry. And even under the best circumstances it would take years to increase production and exports, analysts say. But any new government would have a powerful economic incentive to make that a top priority.

Exports fell from 3 million barrels per day in 2000 to 1.7 million barrels per day in 2011. Chavez relied heavily on the country's oil income to fund social programs, but reinvested relatively little of it to exploit new oil fields and replace depleted ones.