Simon

Thanks for this although I fear we lose the needles in the haystack of information! I pray that there will be wise souls who will refer us to pertinent interesting papers...

I found one of the Bishop of Conventry's remarks interesting:

"Much is made of the religious conflict in Nigeria. [However, investigators have found that] religion is often used as a pretext to provide a simplistic hook on which to hang complex ethnic, social and economic problems. The difficulty, of course, is that if the hook is used frequently enough, it becomes the problem."

However, Lord Lea of Crondall (who spoke just before the Bishop) was still more interesting. There was much to reflect on in his expert discussion of Nigeria's disastrous condition. But this was my favorite passage:

"I want to make the point that President Obasanjo has to become much more involved in the political economy of the delta region than he has been hitherto. The share made by the delta states, the pollution states, to national revenues is due to rise from 13 per cent to 18 per cent. It is important that we do not get into a situation where the Americans, who take half the oil, declare the Niger delta to be part of the war on terror. We do not want some crazy assistant in the White House defining it as being part of that war. However, that could be the direction in which things go."