Peter,

             Your letter was very much justified. But I wish it were unnecessary, which it would have been
             had the Nigerian government put the Niger Delta issue on the front burner. I feel that this issue
             should have been given the utmost priority it deserves. While regretting my delay in recognizing
             the atrocities being committed against the people of the Niger Delta, I am forever sickened by
             the failure of the goverment to strive diligently to resolve the issue in the short-term while
             working out a more permanent solution.

             I am aware that there is a Niger Delta bill pending which our hopeless legislators have not yet
             passed, but I believe that the President must have some executive power to issue some
             emergency funding to arrest the decaying environment in the Niger Delta. I was very shocked
             about 2 or 3 months ago when I read and saw a vivid account in the New York times of the
             absolute environmental devastation in the Niger Delta. That a government would collude and
             permit foreign oil companies to get away with this devastation on its people is sinful. The
             Nigerian government must disburse funds to immediately clean up the Niger Delta environment.
             It must tax the oil companies and institute envoronmental policies to protect the Niger Delta
             environment. It should disburse funds to families living in these areas to help them survive in the
             short-term.

             Somehow, I feel that Nigerians themselves are not sufficiently aware of the calamities that the
             Niger Delta people have suffered and continue to suffer. We should strive to educate Nigerians
             more about these atrocities. That the Niger Delta people's means of livelihood, their water and
             their lands, have been so terribly devastated is very painful indeed. The Nigerian government
             must act responsibly and right now, immediately, to provide at least a short-term solution to this
             problem while working out a permanent solution!

             Regards,

             - Taiwo