Book Review: ‘Planet Palm’ reveals a world map stained by red oil
by Ashoka Mukpo on 31 May 2021
From the Niger Delta in the 1850s to modern-day Indonesia and Honduras, Planet Palm weaves a nuanced and gripping narrative out of the history of palm oil.
The book meticulously covers the colonial beginnings of the industrial palm oil trade and the fortunes made from its popularity in Europe and later, Asia.
As battles rage over the ecological and labor rights track record of the palm oil industry, Planet Palm is an excellent and readable overview of one of the biggest issues in environmentalism.
Honor and tribute to dead soldiers and sailors
Preparations have been completed by the living soldiers of America’s wars to honor their dead comrades who lie in the burial places of the dead, whether this be in the quiet hillside cemetery of Valley Brook in Breckenridge, the National Cemetery at Arlington on Potomac hill overlooking the capital of our beloved country, on the poppy fields of France, or even resting beneath the waters of the seas of the world.
For weeks past there have been burials of the dead of the great war every day in Arlington. The sound of taps is heard through the great forest trees and the valleys in honor of the dead. This year the surviving veterans of the Civil War, the Indians wars and the Spanish war will join with the members of the American Legion in doing honor to those who have answered their last roll call on earth.
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Nigeria must make its ‘forced marriage’ work, or it will break up
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By Olu Fasan
THE drumbeat of secession across Nigeria portends real danger ahead. Rather than being an empty blustering, it’s creating deep inter-ethnic resentment and entrenched centrifugal positions. This could pull Nigeria apart irretrievably, and eventually trigger its break-up.
Proverbs 22.3 says: “Wise men see danger ahead and avoid it, but fools keep going and get into trouble.” Sadly, the latter describes Nigeria’s leaders. They are quite blasé about the dangers to Nigeria’s unity, taking it for granted.
For instance, President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo often say that Nigeria’s unity is “non-negotiable”. Of course, by “unity”, they only mean Nigeria’s “corporate existence”, not its “internal cohesion”. But without internal cohesion, Nigeria would be too divided, too unstable, too fragile to remain a viable entity