NLNG and HIV/AIDS in Bonny Island

Somewhere at the edge of the Atlantic Ocean facing the Bight of Biafra sits the island of Bonny. This serene Niger Delta community has several historical and economic symbolisms for the Nigerian nation. It was the melting point of economic activities right from the 16th century. It serves as Christianity’s first port of call in West Africa. It is also home to so many illustrious sons and daughters of Nigeria. This significant constituent of the larger Ijaw ethnic nationality has her local dialect, Ibani spoken across her various communities. With a thriving traditional system and robust cultural heritage it stands out as one of the foremost local communities in Nigeria. Her traditional institution is headed by Edward William-Dappa Pepple who serves as natural ruler and Amanyanabo-in-Council and ably assisted by a Council of Chiefs headed by Reginald Abbey-Hart who is also chief and head of Captain Hart major house. Her political leadership currently rests on the shoulders of Nelson Ben Irimagha who bears the traditional title of Amasenibo.
The community is subdivided into two main segments – the mainland and the hinterland. The mainland is comprised of the Township, Sandfield, Iwoama, Orosikiri, Aganya, Ayambo, Akiama, Workers Camp, Finima and some outlying fishing settlements lying along the Bonny River’s coastline. The hinterland includes the villages that serve as home to indigenes of Bonny kingdom.
The social serenity of this community has pervaded for a long period down history lane until the advent of the NLNG here. The coming of the LNG Project to the island brought with it several social transformations which have created major concerns to watchers of events in the community. This $20bn World Bank project jointly owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and oil and gas multinationals operating in Nigeria was established with the aim of mopping up Nigeria’s gas reserves spread out across several oil wells in the southern part of the country. Sequel to a final investment decision (FID) by her owners in the year 1995, a consortium of engineering firms (TSKJ) was awarded a turnkey engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract to build the plant, gas transmission system (GTS) and the residential area (RA). Construction commenced in 1996 with a two train base project and by fall of 1999 she was ready to export her first cargo on October 9, 1999. So far the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd has 6 trains on ground and kicking and has contributed so much to the alteration of events on the island. The coming of the NLNG has been both a blessing and a curse. A blessing as it has so far provided, in the last ten years, ongoing means of livelihood for many individuals. It has also availed many tremendous opportunities for training, skills acquisition and acquaintance with international best practices in the construction sector and gas industry. It has also brought some development to the community which has served some positive purposes for the community. These development initiatives include social amenities such as roads, bridges, classroom blocks, boreholes, electricity, etc.
But it can be said that the coming of the project has been more of a curse than a blessing given the negative implications it has caused in the community. The siting of the project on the island has occasioned an influx of people into the community. This has been due to the streaming in of several engineering and construction companies that have been instrumental to the development of the project. With the attendant employment generation and the disposable income made available, a certain twang has been associated with the lifestyle of inhabitants. Purchasing power has been enhanced and as such it became possible for men to go after women and women to run after men. Thus sexual activity between men and women began to be on the rise and soon everyone who cared could have any girl or guy he or she desires. Pleasure-mongers were soon having a field day as more and more places of recreation and pleasure hunting began to spring up around the island from the Mongolo of those days to Bomcarls to the bush bars. Cable Road, Workers Camp and Monkey village became hot spots for illicit sexual escapades. There was money, real money, tax-free to spend. Caution was thrown to the wind and men and women cared less what happened after. What was important was getting laid. Then the HIV/AIDS monster came calling!
Soon the stories were no longer unwanted pregnancies and unwed mothers, it was that someone over there had contacted HIV and someone over here has died of AIDS. Before long the statistics were no longer looking very funny in the eyes of medical practitioners on the island. Sero-prevalence studies on the island were revealing a fast-paced spread of HIV and cases of full-blown AIDS were being witnessed all over from the General Hospital to the Health Center to the NLNG RA Hospital. The more tests were run the more sero-positive cases were popping up. It was no longer business as usual!
But outside the walls of the medical facilities life was going on as usual. Sexual activity was still going on as if nothing was happening. The appetite of individuals for illicit sexual relations was increasingly becoming insatiable. A traversing of the island at night would reveal the high rate of sexual promiscuity thriving on the island. On a visit to Workers Camp junction where you have a beehive of prostitutes, you find a lot of young men hanging around waiting for their turn to go have “a good time.” Why this high level of careless abandon to the issues involved with HIV/AIDS?
The reasons are myriad. But suffice to say that many of these men who come to work in the island leave their spouses behind at home or in the city and as such expose themselves to the temptation of flirting with readily available sex hawkers on the island. Others regard it as once-in-lifetime adventure to lay as many girls as possible before one vacates the human context. Still some believe you have to have whatever you can afford and since there was readily available and expendable disposable income, nothing stops guys from having the best out of life. Many of the women on the island are of the view that there was nothing wrong in having as many men as possible as long as the cash was flowing. A lady needs money for a lot of reasons. She needs to feed herself, clothe herself, make her hair, live comfortably, and even send some money home for the upkeep of the family. times are hard and thus a girl does not have to suffer in the midst of plenty when all that was needed was just her back on any bed or floor or wherever the prospective customer deems fit. That sense of shame that is characteristic of every woman has been thrown to the wind. For both men and women the coming of the condom remains a huge blessing to their runs as they would wish to call it. If one condom proves to be incapable of doing the job, you could fit in as many as three, four or five and life goes on. But can we say all of this is true in all respects?
I dare say this lack of caution is not just dangerous but very saddening. This is borne out of the conviction that issues related to sex do not just border on the economic context but also on the moral aspects. Sex is not a business venture to be attempted by anyone who was interested. But a sacred activity that should exist exclusively within the marriage context. Also, looking at it from the medical perspective, it is very precarious dabbling into sexual activity with just anyone. The interaction of blood or body fluids renders the participants vulnerable to infection of dangerous viruses and bacteria where the medical status of the individuals is not apparent to each other.
Several sexually-transmitted infections have been on the loose even before the advent of HIV. Syphilis, gonorrhea, genital herpes, vaginismus, Chlamydia, hepatitis B, genital warts, trichomoniasis and a host of other terrible life altering infections are spreading at an alarming rate. HIV/AIDS is the most murderous of them all as it targets the human immune system for destruction consequently rendering its victim susceptible to any and every infection. So far some 60 million people have been infected with HIV and about 20 million have died of AIDS. In year 2005 alone 5 million new infections and 3 million AIDS-related deaths occurred. It is a well known fact that very few options exist for the infected in Africa and Nigeria in particular. The vast majority of HIV victims have no access to adequate treatment and this is not funny. And women in particular have to watch it as available statistics indicate a high prevalence of HIV infection among females. On a particular day, five girls were tested for HIV in a certain medical laboratory in Bonny and of the five, four tested positive. At another time, ten individuals were tested and eight of them were tested positive. Six of the eight were young women between the ages of 18 and 25. The facts speak for themselves. Our doubting Thomases can take a stroll to the clinics, hospitals and medical labs to ascertain the facts before sticking ignorantly to their reservations.
AIDS is taking its toll on the African continent and no one should be left in doubt as to its horrendous consequences. False notions about HIV/AIDS are unraveling as time runs by. Something must kill a man does not mean anyone should be killed by HIV/AIDS. Sex with virgins or underage girls does not cure AIDS. Sacrifices, rituals, fetishes and other religious practices do not cure AIDS. Condoms are not 100% safe and AIDS no dey show for face. Girls and guys in Bonny island and everywhere else should exercise some restraint as regards their sexual escapades lest HIV/AIDS be their undoing.