Make a Donation to the Phoenix Project Niger Delta

Our crowd funding campaign is over but you can still make a donation to the campaign to raise funds for the Phoenix Project, Niger Delta.

9 Way's that you can help.

9 Way's that you can help.

1. A donation at any level - no matter how modest - shows that you agree and want to help do something about this problem.
2. Like us on Facebook: facebook.com/NigerDeltaPhoenix
3. Follow us on Twitter: @Save_NigerDelta
4. Join the Phoenix Project Blog: http://nigerdeltaphoenix.blogspot.com
5. Follow us on Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/nigerdeltaphoenix

6. Volunteer. If you have a special skill and are willing to volunteer in some capacity, email us at NigerDeltaPhoenix@gmail.com

7. If you have ideas about how to strengthen our efforts, email us and give us your feedback! NigerDeltaPhoenix@gmail.com

8. If you have research needs that may synchronize with what PPND is doing, let us know and we can talk about partnerships to conduct your research!

9. Suggest other social networks for us to engage. NigerDeltaPhoenix@gmail.com

News Release: Phoenix Project Aims at Cleanup and Job Creation in Niger Delta

The Phoenix Project - Niger Delta

Creating Sustainable Enterprise Recovery and Empowerment Zones in the Niger Delta 

A Market-driven Sustainable Cleanup Solution

News release

For Immediate Release

June 3, 2014

For More information: Wayne King 603-515-6001

Phoenix Project Aims at Cleanup and Job Creation in Niger Delta

Creating Multiple Positive Outcomes from Spill Cleanup

You’ve probably seen the photos of the devastation in the Niger Delta. They were likely a sidebar story to coverage of the Gulf Oil Spill. As cleanup commenced here in the US within days of the accident, an equal amount of oil was being spilled in West Africa’s most fertile valley and richest fisheries and little was being done by anyone. Further, on an annual basis the Delta has experienced spills equivalent to two Gulf spills every single year.

Oil Companies find the inconspicuous nature of drilling and harvesting oil in Africa an attractive alternative to doing so in the West where consumers are more organized and unforgiving. Many of the local Nigerian politicians find that oil money makes a very tempting and large target for illicit proclivities. Add to all this a spill cleanup funding mechanism that suffers from a complete lack of transparency, further tempting even aspiring “honest” politicians and distancing oil companies from the assumption of responsibility and you have a recipe for an amoeba-like environmental catastrophe - growing and spreading as it devastates the economic and social fabric of the region. 

Enter Project Phoenix, the conceptual brainchild of former NH Senator Wayne King of with the help of his Nigerian counterpart Osita Aniemeka. King began going to Nigeria in 1997, shortly after an unsuccessful run for Governor, Leading a team of social entrepreneurs on behalf of the Ford Foundation, King’s team, which included Santa Barbara-based Philip “Kip” Bates of the University of California, Santa Barbara who was the technology guru of the Team. Rounding out the team was the late Dr. Chidi Nwachukwu a native born Nigerian and US Citizen and CEO of Sameday Express and a unique startup called UConnet that was one of the nation’s very first companies to use the Internet for telephone services, now referred to as “Internet Telephony”. Since 1997 the team has continued to return to West Africa for Ford Foundation, USAID and the World Bank among others. Dr. Nwachukwu died from Leukemia in 2000, when the idea for doing something about oil spills in the Niger Delta was little more than a glimmer in the eyes of the trio, and the team has dedicated this pilot project in his honor.

The Phoenix Project officially has been in the works for more than four years when King got the idea that it might be possible to build an “Enterprise Community” around the oil spill cleanup process where the cleanup and associated funds - if they could be accessed - would drive the development of both cleanup jobs as well as jobs related to the bi-products of the cleanup, specifically electricity, biochar, and biofuels. The more the team began to explore and research the components they envisioned the mmore they came to realize that there may be a way to make the effort sustainable, replicable and taken as a whole - carbon-negative. The Kyoto accords, that took effect in 2005, also spurred the idea that there might also be an opportunity for Carbon Credit trading based on the Carbon-Negative

In most circumstances today the end results of an oil spill cleanup are hidden from the public, quite possibly because the companies want the problem and its accompanying bad publicity to simply go away. “This means” said King, “that the opportunities to generate revenues from the cleanup of the oil and the treatment of the oil contaminated absorbents - like booms - go unnoticed and and untapped. Our pilot project recovers and recycles as much of the oil as we can, using a patented cellulose absorbent from MOP Environmental Solutions for the cleanup on both land and water (MOPenvironmental.com) then using the remaining biomass (the cellulose after oil removal) to generate electricity with a small, mobile, pyrolysis power plant manufactured by EcoReps of Adelaide Australia (www.Ecoreps.com.au). In addition to the electricity, the plant will also produce biochar a highly acclaimed soil amendment that has properties that make it both a fertilizer, a water storage element and a carbon sink - capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and sequestering it for decades and perhaps centuries, releasing it only when called on for plant growth.” 

In addition to the jobs and opportunities created by the obvious products and processes The Phoenix Project - Niger Delta expects to seek out additional research and entrepreneurial opportunities that coincide with, and take advantage of, synergies that arise within the process. For example, research on biochar is at its very early stages and the use of it for bioremediation of oil spills is postulated but not thoroughly researched. Osita Aniemeka, Director of Nigerian operations, believes that the emphasis on research is consistent with Nigeria’s new emphasis on its agricultural sector and provides opportunities for the Phoenix Project to create jobs and ventures that empower women and young people who are particularly vulnerable to the economic woes brought on by these devastating and continuing oil spills.

Depending upon their ability to access oil spill cleanup funds and the extent of those funds, the Phoenix Project team believes that they can generate sufficient revenues to allow them to fund all or part of the cost of designating and cleaning up the next zone.

“We see this pilot project as our opportunity to develop an Open Source solution to the challenge of oil spills. Once we have tested the various aspects of the Pilot we will make the model available broadly to others who are seeking a solution to oil spills that creates a “Phoenix Effect” within an area devastated by a spill.” said Aniemeka.

The Phoenix Project is seeding the project with a crowd funding campaign on Indiegogo to raise the funds needed to bring together the communities, the experts and officials from both the government and the oil industry in the Niger Delta. They will also be carefully choosing the first site taking into account the long term needs of the community after the Enterprise and Empowerment Zone is turned over to a local governing body. “With a little luck”, King says, “we can move on to the next zone with most of the funds needed for the next cleanup, leaving a 1 megawatt electricity plant in the control of a local governing body to continue to provide badly needed and reliable electricity to the businesses and homes of the community.”  

The total cost of the pilot will be in the range of 12 million dollars but the companies participating as partners in the venture have all agreed to discount their costs in order to create the model. The net cost is likely to be closer to 8 million dollars, most of that for the capital equipment like the mobile power plant. “Once we have the model down right,” King continued “the net cost of each succeeding Zone should be somewhere in the range of $2 million dollars per zone, before calculating in revenues from most of the bi-products. While only the real thing will allow us to be sure, we are confident that after Zone one the process should be self sustaining - as long as there are funds available for the cleanup.” and in the Nigerian environment . . . that seems to be the biggest question mark.  

To learn more about the Phoenix Project you can visit the Project Phoenix Blog at nigerdeltaphoenix.blogspot.com

Carbon Credit Trading

Very useful piece in the NY Times about Carbon Credit Trading. The Phoenix Project will be using Carbon Credit Trading as a revenue stream based on the production, distribution and use of biochar which has been shown to be one of the most effective mechanisms for sequestering carbon on the planet.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/30/science/a-price-tag-on-carbon-as-a-climate-rescue-plan.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0

Heroes Wanted - Save the Niger Delta

We're looking for heroic souls to help right a wrong in the Niger Delta. Oil bound largely for US and European markets continues to poison one of the richest agricultural regions and fisheries. Will you help?

Understanding the Problem

Fareed Zakaria

Seeing A Solution

Oil Spill Cleanup and Poverty Alleviation

The Phoenix Project - Niger Delta envisions creating Enterprise Recovery and Empowerment Zones in the Niger Delta”

Cleaning up Oil Spills in the Niger Delta and building a sustainable enterprise community around the cleanup process.

This blog proposes a pilot project aimed at Creating Sustainable Enterprise Recovery and Empowerment Zones in the Niger Delta Employing a carbon negative, scale-able, cost effective and sustainable oil cleanup and reclamation process to enable the development of Sustainable Cleanup Zones that drive the development of indigenous entrepreneurial ventures created around the opportunities generated by the cleanup, and the profitable by-products of pyrolysis and electricity generation.  Additionally, research, capacity building and empowerment opportunities will be created; funded by the profit streams and catalyzed by the energy and creativity of the partner organizations and other local individuals, businesses and organizations.

We believe that this venture will not only yield enough revenues for the next cleanup but also generate a small profit over and above the cost of financing the next spill.

Creating Sustainable Enterprise Recovery and Empowerment Zones in the Niger Delta

Overview

Creating Sustainable Enterprise Recovery and Empowerment Zones in the Niger Delta 

A Market-driven Sustainable Cleanup Solution

Carbon-Negative, scaleable, and sustainable oil cleanup model and reclamation process enabling the development of Sustainable Enterprise Recovery & Empowerment Zones 

Phoenix: a legendary bird which according to one account lived 500 years, burned itself to ashes on a pyre, and rose alive from the ashes to live again; also :  A symbol of regeneration, renaissance, recovery, revival or rebirth; also: a person or thing likened to the Phoenix.

Executive Summary

The Phoenix is an ancient symbol for rebirth and renaissance. The Thunderbird Project intends to create an Enterprise Recovery and Empowerment Zone in the Niger Delta. This is a pilot project proposed by The Electronic Community Project,  The Institute for Communications and Development Assistance; and The Women’s Empowerment Network of Nigeria; in cooperation with MOP Environmental Solutions, Inc., Texas Aquatic Harvesters, Indian Country Environmental Associates, Vincent Corp  and local NGOs and communities in the Niger Delta. It is a concept that has been in the making for more than four years as members of our team have developed and researched the various components of the project and developed the capabilities.

In short, we will clean up oil spills and use the cleanup technologies to drive economic opportunity, local entrepreneurial activity, research and poverty alleviation within the Zone. Once we have restored the agricultural vitality of the Zone we will move on to the next identified area replicating the concept and making it available to others through Open Source distribution of the technologies.

Enterprise Recovery and Empowerment Zones will:

•  Create reliable electricity for the communities and businesses within the zone using a CARBON NEGATIVE technology for generating electricity in a region without reliable electricity. The results will be more reliable electricity, jobs and both research and entrepreneurial opportunities. The electricity can be used for the growth of indigenous businesses or sold into the grid to fund other important activities.
•  Use a Carbon Negative Green Technology that will sequester more carbon than it produces. Other than steam and a minimal amount of Co2, there is NO effluent or emissions from our closed carbon negative system. There are NO noxious emissions.
•  Produce, for market, BioChar, a soil amendment that enhances agricultural productivity and plant growth by up to 400%. Biochar may also have bio-remediation capabilities and we will conduct research around this.
•  Clean up Oil Spills that have plagued the Niger Delta;
•  Qualify for and sell through a qualified broker, carbon credits under the Kyoto protocols. (***Note We are trying to determine whether this project will qualify***)
•  Create a Zone of Enterprise and Empowerment where multiple streams of economic activity, training and research provide home grown benefits to indigenous people.
• Create alliances with local and regional NGOs like the Women's Empowerment Network to provide training and entrepreneurial activities around the various profit centers generated by the activities of the ERE-Zone.

We intend to do what Oil Companies and the government have failed to do. Clean up the oil that has been spilled in the Zone, restore the agricultural vigor of the Zone and provide meaningful employment opportunities to local people.

We intend to encourage/compel the oil companies to act, to participate in the funding of future ERE-Zones by showing them that there is a way to cleanup oil spills that can benefit the community and demonstrate their goodwill and willingness to accept responsibility, AND LOWER THEIR COSTS.

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Dedicated to Dr. Chidi Nwachukwu, colleague and friend, mentor, loving husband, proud father and proud Nigerian. A native of Nigeria, and a citizen of the US and Nigeria who's vision for his beloved homeland lives on even after he lost his fierce battle with leukemia. To this day we can hear his voice saying
"CORRECT . . . Never Give Up!"

Philip "Kip" Bates - Phoenix Project Technology Guru

Philip “Kip” Bates III

Tech Guru

Chidi Nwachukwu, Dr. Adhiambo Odaga and Kip Bates (right)

Kip Bates has been a part of the Electronic Community Team of Social Entrepreneurs since 1997 when they made their first foray into West Africa on behalf of the Ford Foundation. 

Kip is currently Associate Director, Security & Special Initiatives at the University of California, Santa Barbara where he has myriad positions for over twenty years. He started in the micro-computer business in the early eighties when he used his Commodore 8032 to prepare sponsorship packages to present to beer companies for his International Hang Gliding competitions held on the beaches of Santa Barbara. Realizing there was more opportunity in micro-computing than hang gliding he started  his own company, “Hope Avenue Computer Services”, in later years he played a primary role of the creation of “The Brown Book” computer technology’s equivalent to automobile’s Blue Book. In the mid-nineties he co-founded INNterREST (ItR) which was an inaugural content provider for the Microsoft Network. ItR assisted all types of food, travel, and lodging related organizations in setting up, and managing their own unique, branded online home-pages. The service allowed hospitality organizations to have real-time communication with millions of consumers, and business partners alike. During a trade show in Chicago in 1996 ItR was the first company that publicly demonstrated the ability to book airline tickets on-line. An inquisitive Nathan Myrvold stopped by the booth for a demonstration and later expanded the concept. 

Kip has been the primary force in helping to link more than 150 NGOs throughout West Africa together in an “Electronic Community” to share ideas and professional development, from which the entrepreneurial group draws its name. 

Bates and King were close friends in college and had stayed in touch while living on opposite coasts of the US. During a 1997 visit on Martha’s Vineyard the two began discussing the West Africa project and King let on that he had just lost his technical person after he had read the State Department warnings about Nigeria and decided that it was a bit too scary for him. Being made of tougher stuff, of course, Kip Bates immediately volunteered for the job. 

The warnings, however, were prescient as during that first trip the entire Team was arrested and held at gunpoint by the military forces of dictator Sanni Abacha in an undisclosed area of Lagos, a city of more than 18 million people. The team was questioned for about 5 hours and finally released.  Abacha died mysteriously a few days later, while the team was in the air to Dakar Senegal,  where they confirmed his death. Kip was quick to remind our escorts in Senegal that all of this was mere coincidence! Despite the encounter with the Nigerian military, Kip Bates has continued to be a vital member of the team. 

Gemstone Finery and Beaded Frippery from Loba

Gemstone Finery and Beaded Frippery made with sustainable products from West Africa and other green sources by Loba, especially for the Phoenix Project!

These are samples of Loba's work. If you qualify for one of our perks made by Loba we will provide you with a selection of pieces from which to choose. These are one of a kind work from an outstanding artist. 

MOP Maximum Oil Pickup

MOP Environmental Solutions is providing both products and intellectual property to the Phoenix Project. MOP's 201 and 301 absorbents are by far the most effective absorbents for cleaning up oil. They are made from 100% recycled materials and - even better - they are made from products that have no other known recycling stream - making them a special kind of recycled material.

MOP 201 on Water



MOP 301 on Land





MOP RESCUE

MOP also has a patent pending for a unique process that removes oil from soil ON SITE, called RESCUE ( Rapid-Environmental-Soil-Cleanup-Equipment) . The traditional method for doing this requires that oil soaked soil be dug up and moved to a special plant that treats the soil, the contaminated soil is then replaced with clean soil. As you might imagine, this is a very expensive process and generally won't work in an area like the Delta where spills often occur in an area with plants and trees. The Phoenix Project will be working with an experienced company to create a prototype from which MOP can develop a final version of its oil harvesting equipment.






Removing Oil from MOP
Vincent Corporation




Texas Aquatic Harvesters
Texas Aquatic Harvesters makes harvesters that can double as a sorbent harvester and for use in weed control efforts such as Water Hyacinth.

Project Phoenix - Niger Delta Team

Senator Wayne D. King

Senator (Ret.) Wayne D. King is a businessman, social entrepreneur and former politician. In the course of his life he has been a mountain guide, a teacher, a State Representative and Senator in NH, The Democratic Nominee for Governor of NH (1994), a publisher (Heart of New Hampshire Magazine); President of Moosewood Communications, and VP, elevated to CEO of MOP Environmental Solutions, Inc., a public company in the environmental remediation business. He also convened a small group of Social Entrepreneurs calling themselves the Electronic Community Project. Since 1997 when they first went to Nigeria for the Ford Foundation they have been working in West Africa with NGOs and businesses to enhance their connectivity, communications and to empower communities and people.

King is also a noted photographer and artist with work in galleries across the US. More

Dr. Osita Aniemeka

Dr. Osita Aniemeka is a social entrepreneur bringing all of his skills to bear on the social and economic development of West Africa. A Fulltime member of the Faculty (Communication) and Director, Center for Learning at the IBB University, Lapai-NIGERIA. With a PhD in Communication and Entrepreneurial Leadership, Osita has extensive backgrounds in Education, Community Development, Communication and Entrepreneurial Governance. Working with known global social innovators, Osita has followed the shift of fledgling dreams into transformed enterprises. Today he’s one of the few African members of the Social Enterprise Association (United States) and his Center, CLC is the African Liaison for the Foundation for African Arts & Letters, New York aka the Entrepreneurs’ Academy. He’s member of the renowned Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership and a member of the IBBU Senate. Currently on Leave-of-Absence from IBB University, Osita works for the United States Agency for International Development | Nigeria Expanded Trade and Transport (USAID | NEXTT) Project. More

Ms. Wilma E. Aguele

Ms. Wilma Aguele is the Chief Executive Officer of Wilbahi Corporation. Wilbahi is a business services group serving Nigeria’s land development, agricultural, infrastructure, educational, communication, production and distribution sectors, operating across seven divisions including agriculture, ICT, Energy, Consumer Goods, Training and education among others.  Her primary responsibilities are Projects Acquisition and New Business Development. Ms. Wilma Aguele has been extensively involved in corporate management in the past 15 years. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations and a postgraduate study in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California – USA. She is a member of the Nigerian/British Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Nigeria/South Africa Chamber of Commerce and Industry amongst others. She has attended several conferences and workshops on international services and management generally.

Ms. Wilma brings her vast experience in the Corporate World to bear on all her activities. She sits on the Boards of several multimillion naira companies and developed businesses running into several millions of dollars within and outside Nigeria.

Philip "Kip" Bates III

A graduate of the Whittemore School of Business and Economics, Philip "Kip" Bates is now the Senior Systems Administrator at the University of California at Santa Barbara in California. He is also the owner of Hope Avenue Computer Services which serves as an Independent Content Provider for The Microsoft Network, acting as an aggregator for the Hospitality Industry.His company is also a Beta tester for all Microsoft Productivity Software, Business Software Solutions and Operating Systems.

Bates has made more than 10 trips to West Africa in the past few years on behalf of such notable organizations as the Ford Foundation, The World Bank, USAID and others. He specializes in technology and he also is the founder of "Bolgatanga Baskets", an importer of art and craft items from Ghana to the US.

Ben Ocra

Ben Ocra has had a long and distinguished career in Corporate Management and International Affairs and Information Communications Technology. His wide experience in these areas and his involvement in social development, business and civic organizations have all helped shape his vision of helping to advance the course of development in deplorable settings

through different frontiers. Mr. Ocra’s core competences cuts across managing teams, projects, establishing effective monitoring and evaluation systems for projects, planning, directing and co-ordinating activities of group of professionals and technical officers engaged in diverse projects. He has over 13 years track record in project management, building and actively managing relationships with development partners, funders and senior decision-makers in the public and private sector, coordinating the activities of dispersed and nonhierarchical teams in a fast-paced environment, with frequent changes. More

Angie Boatmaa

Angie has been working with the team since 2004 when she assisted with the administrative coordination of the International Conference if InterCED in Accra, Ghana. She has worked for Travellers Worldwide as their volunteer coordinator and Busy Internet, Ghana's largest provider of Internet services and Internet Cafes and one of the largest IT companies in West Africa. 

Terry Cromwell, Esq.
While our friend and colleague Terry Cromwell is recovering from brain surgery and a way-too-close brush with the grim reaper, he continues to play an important role in keeping our spirits up and we hope, as he gets stronger he will help with our social media outreach. . . all in anticipation of that day when he will be able to walk down the streets of Lagos and hear the familiar booming sound of Nigerian friends who refer to him as TERRENCE CROMWELL!

Terry Cromwell brings nearly 30 years of domestic and international corporate problem-solving and leadership skills, most recently as CEO of International Kiosk Solutions, Inc (iKS). Terry, a Montana native, has held executive positions with publicly-held Fortune 500 companies and privately-held corporations alike. Whether a corporate officer or troubleshooter Terry has reported directly to Presidents, CEO's, Boards of Directors and shareholders with responsibilities for operations, development, legal issues and risk assessment/management. His experience spans work with diverse industries in equally diverse settings including: High Tech, Construction, Railroads, Oil, Hospitality, Insurance and Financial Services operating in the Northwest, New England, Las Vegas, Hawaii, Africa, Australia, Alaska and the Arctic.

Dr. Osita Aniemeka

Dr. Osita Aniemeka is a social entrepreneur bringing all of his skills to bear on the social and economic development of West Africa. Osita Aniemeka is Fulltime Faculty (Communication) and Director, Center for Learning at the IBB University, Lapai-NIGERIA. With a PhD in Communication and Entrepreneurial Leadership, Osita has extensive backgrounds in Education, Community Development, Communication and Entrepreneurial Governance. Working with known global social innovators, Osita has followed the shift of fledgling dreams into transformed enterprises. Today he’s one of the few African members of the Social Enterprise Association (United States) and his Center, CLC is the African Liaison for the Foundation for African Arts & Letters, New York aka the Entrepreneurs’ Academy. He’s member of the renowned Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership and a member of the IBBU Senate. Currently on Leave-of-Absence from IBB University, Osita works for the United States Agency for International Development | Nigeria Expanded Trade and Transport (USAID | NEXTT) Project.

At the USAID | NEXTT Project, Osita’s job is facilitating development of the Lagos-Kano-Jibiya (LAKAJI) Corridor to serve as a magnet for investment in Nigeria’s agricultural sector. The corridor, in fact, represents a mega-opportunity for investors, linking the largest consumer market in West Africa (Lagos) with some of the highest potential agricultural zones in the region. As Manager of the LAKAJI Corridor Development, he leads a major component of the USAID Project, which involves:

The LAKAJI Agricultural Growth Corridor Assessment to map out the existing opportunities for improved infrastructure and services for agriculture;

The production of LAKAJI Corridor’s comprehensive fact files on agribusiness investments that provide the impetus for private investors, public agencies and donor-funded programs, to maximize the potential of the Corridor;

The LAKAJI Corridor Transport and Logistics Baseline Assessment to quantify the time and cost of trading goods and the logistical inefficiencies along the LAKAJI Corridor;

Working with the Corridor Management Group on the Validation Workshop that presented the findings of the Transport and Logistics Assessment to the private sector, the public sector and development partners and to get their feedback;

The first ever LAKAJI Agricultural Growth Corridor Investment Summit that presented the LAKAJI Corridor Investment fact files to a global audience; Coordination of a platform for private sector advocacy on the LAKAJI Corridor

Osita Aniemeka

As fulltime faculty in the Department of Mass Communication, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University (IBBU), Lapai, Niger State, Nigeria, Osita teaches broadcasting – advanced radio and television – and digital journalism as well as overseeing internships and supervising degree projects. He is an international pedigree and a good communicator, and brings his diplomatic and consulting skills to mediate constant classroom conflicts – the known blight of modern teaching. He sees the remit of his career in Broadcast/Digital Journalism teaching in today’s academia covering four main functions—teaching, supervision, research, and entrepreneurial behavior. He has deep knowledge and broad experience and expertise in all four aspects of the job.


Osita is the pioneer Director of the Center for Learning Communities (CLC), having single-handedly established the center for moving the academic community beyond the classroom and the campus, thus broadening university learning experience to a global environment. The IBBU-CLC is the first African center initiative to address an increasingly interconnected world, by a state university creating learning climes and curricula that meet the demands of globalization in order to prepare students to learn differently to subsist in the global society. The Center is today, engaging students in first year experience/retention programs; in mentoring, in paying it forward; in life ethics and daily life routines. Also, he develops and facilitates seminars for the University Consultancy Services in myriads of communication, leadership and governance fields.

Previous to becoming a Fulltime Faculty and Director of IBBU-CLC, he was from 2002, Founder and Director of the Foundation for African Arts & Letters (FAAL), New York. Managing the overarching network of African Diaspora from New York, his job involved pooling knowledge, supporting Africans to learn from one another, and harvesting the power of collectivity for spurring development on the continent. Under his leadership, FAAL continually renewed research initiatives and provided the opportunity for increased knowledge about the countries of Africa (particularly West Africa). He bolstered good communication and cooperation among the pockets of Nigerians, Ghanaians, and a host of other ECOWAS nations in the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut using his communication skills to create research and scholarships on Africa.

Dr. Animeka

Osita worked for the International Center for Development Affairs (ICDA) and the Development Gateway Foundation (World Bank) to set up the Nigeria Development Gateway Collaborative whose aim was to promote ICT use in enabling sustainable development of Nigerian communities. The Collaborative stimulated the sharing and exchange of information and knowledge, and at the same time working toward national development goals for a knowledge-based society. The Nigeria Development Gateway was part of the global Country Gateway Network comprising almost 60 (sixty) countries around the world.






In 2000, he was asked by Tony Elumelu, the then Managing Director of Standard Trust Bank (now UBA-PLC) to set up and integrate a sub-corporate structure to solve to bolster the new generation bank’s global image. At STB, he turned a one-man unit into a six-department division using his years of experience, astute knowledge of public relations and position as Group Head, Corporate Communications and Community Relations to recruit, create and manage a dedicated team and employed the team to build new reputation for the bank providing the qualifier for the financial institution to smoothly metamorphose into the huge African global bank that it is today.

Between 1998 and 2000, he was accepted by the Communication and Language Arts Department of the University of Ibadan for the MPhil/PhD in Communication and also became a Ford Foundation Fellow as a Scholar-in-Residence at the North Dakota State University (NDSU) Fargo, North Dakota and while in Fargo he was invited to join the NGO Working Group on the World Bank – a network of global NGOs that followed the work of the World Bank in developing countries.

From 1996 to 1998 he was privileged to work for the Africa Communication Network of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), an experience that was so riveting that it changed his life forever. At WWF, he worked with the quintessential Sandra Obiago and they pooled together communities from the plethora of environmental hotspots in Nigeria, taught them how to tell their stories, turned them into radio producers and brought them to national and state radio platforms through deft negotiations with Nigerian radio stations. To achieve that feat, he was producer, media coordinator, desk-top publisher, trainer, and community relations liaison – all in one and it was most perceptive. Working with the African Radio Drama Association (ARDA), outputs from the WWF National Radio Project include the nationally-aired broadcasts, What’s Going On – a magazine program and Bugga Town – a drama series both on the environment.

National Youth Service Corps

It was while he worked with WWF that he met an American former Senator – Wayne Douglas King – who was in West Africa connecting hundreds of non-profits in a network of social entrepreneurs with a platform aptly called the Electronic Community Project.

In early 1990’s, he resigned from his broadcasting work at the State Broadcasting in Benin-City to become editor and later publisher of two separate development journals – Passions Magazine and Affairs Magazine. In both experiences, he used popular media to bring the nascent and grueling health and environmental issues to the fore. While publishing, he delved into college teaching as Adjunct Professor at the University of Lagos in the Department of Mass Communication applying his hands-on experience working for more than a decade in broadcasting and a newly earned graduate degree in electronic media to teach Radio/Television News Writing and Production.

After his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme in 1983, he joined the Bendel Broadcasting Service, Benin City as an Assistant Producer. His talent in broadcasting became obvious very early in his career that in just a few years of joining the service, he went from a producer to a program coordinator and later, station coordinator – manning the new arm of the state radio. His sterling and creative output at the Bendel Broadcasting Service were brilliantly captured and rewarded severally.

Besides, he earned Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in Communication and Entrepreneurial Leadership (Dissertation: Social Media and Entrepreneurship Education: Pedagogical Implications of Computer Mediated Communication in Higher Learning in Africa). He received my Master’s degree in Mass Communication (Project: Broadcasting and Family Planning) from the University of Nigeria and Bachelor’s in Education and Community Broadcasting (Project: Radio and Social Mobilization) also from the University of Nigeria. Postdoctoral focus is in Entrepreneurial Journalism.

Osita is a good relationship manager, and workplace leader with the capability to think strategically and prime people aright. He has a knack for planning and organizing with resilience and flexibility. He thrives in open, transparent, and merit-based process, the very approach that has defined and propelled his careers all the years.

Osita is dynamic and creative and epitomizes the kind of strong leadership, creativity and innovation needed in today’s burgeoning work environment. His impeccable credentials, including depth and breadth of knowledge of broad fields of endeavor prepare him for his next venture: oil spill cleanup and poverty alleviation in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria – Phoenix Project that envisions creating enterprise recovery and empowerment zones in the entire Niger Delta.

Osita is blessed with four sons, two daughters, one daughter-in-law and four grandchildren.

Ben Ocra

Mr. Ben Ocra has had a long and distinguished career in Corporate Management and International Affairs and Information Communications Technology. His wide experience in these areas and his involvement in social development, business and civic organizations have all helped shape his vision of helping to advance the course of development in deplorable settings

through different frontiers. Mr. Ocra’s core competences cuts across managing teams, projects, establishing effective monitoring and evaluation systems for projects, planning, directing and co-ordinating activities of group of professionals and technical officers engaged in diverse projects. He has over 13 years track record in project management, building and actively managing relationships with development partners, funders and senior decision-makers in the public and private sector, coordinating the activities of dispersed and nonhierarchical teams in a fast-paced environment, with frequent changes.

Since the early 2000’s, while working for the United Nations, Southern New Hampshire University, Massachusetts General Hospital and MaxImpact Institute, he promoted regional development through a number of grass root programs aimed at helping the poor in society. His work has significantly enhanced these institutions’ interactions with government through the development and maintenance of positive working relationships and network of contacts. Mr. Ocra developed models for solving development problems and works to scale up successful projects through determining cost effectiveness of poverty alleviation programs, using the most rigorous evaluation techniques. He founded a technology driven program called the Computers In Every Home Program which has served thousands of low income individuals in the New England region of the United States. Mr. Ocra’s involvement at the United Nations headquarters in New York, and other regional and international involvements have made him a strong professional in advocacy, public policy formulation and government programming and strategic partnership development. His foresight, commitment and dedication in aiding the alleviation of poverty among disadvantaged individuals has earned him prestigious honors and citations from public officials such as former Senator and Mayor, Ted Gatsas and Frank Guinta of Manchester NH. Mr. Ocra is also a motivator who keeps people focused on the goal rather than themselves. He is a mediator who finds common ground among disparate factions and a communicator who believes that people work best when informed about that which affects them. Mr. Ocra is the trusted third party who gets things done because he isn’t linked to any special interest in an organization. He is an inclusive leader who believes in the value of the team.

Mr. Ocra has University teaching experience in the areas of Business Law, Marketing, Business

Research Methods, Information Communications Technology and has made many presentations at local and international conferences.

Mr. Ocra holds a BA from the University of Ghana and a MBA & Msc from Southern New
Hampshire University-USA, where he was hired to fill a newly created position of Development Research Officer upon graduation for nearly four years. He is currently a doctoral candidate at the Open University of Malaysia-Ghana Campus.

Senator Wayne D. King

Wayne D. King
B. Nov 24, 1955
Senator (Ret.) Wayne D. King is a businessman, social entrepreneur and former politician. In the course of his life he has been a mountain guide, a teacher, a State Representative and Senator in NH, The Democratic Nominee for Governor of NH (1994), a publisher (Heart of New Hampshire Magazine); President of Moosewood Communications, and VP, elevated to CEO of MOP Environmental Solutions, Inc., a public company in the environmental remediation business. He also convened a small group of Social Entrepreneurs calling themselves the Electronic Community Project. Since 1997 when they first went to Nigeria for the Ford Foundation they have been working in West Africa with NGOs and businesses to enhance their connectivity, communications and to empower communities and people.

King is also a noted photographer and artist with work in galleries across the US.


Life and Career

Early Years
Born on Thanksgiving day, November 24, 1955 to parents Roger Franklin King and Roberta Dixon King. Though his family was living in in rural New Hampshire in the town of Bartlett, King was born in Boston where his family was visiting his mother’s family in Massachusetts for the Thanksgiving holiday.

King Spent summers at Mowglis, School of the Open an outdoor-education oriented camp on Newfound Lake first as a camper and later as the director of the camp’s Outdoor Adventure trip program organizing and leading backpacking and canoeing trips in the White Mountains.

King as Mountain Guide in NH

King attended elementary school in Campton, NH. He was badly injured in a childhood accident that shattered his right elbow. Doctors at the time feared that he would never be able to use the arm for more than limited purposes but King credits his nurse mother with pushing him to get more and more use from the arm until the injury became barely noticable to all but the most observant.





Mount Hermon School: King attended Mount Hermon boys prep school, later Northfield Mount Hermon when the school merged with nearby Northfield School for girls. He graduated cum laude though all indications were that he was at best an average student. However, it was at NMH that King became politically active in part because of the radicalizing influence of the campus anti-Vietnam war movement and the killing of four students at Kent State University during a protest there.

King in College at University of New Hampshire

College
The University of New Hampshire: King attended and graduated from the University of New Hampshire, initially for financial reasons but later became so thoroughly ensconced in the academic and social life of the University that he remained there for both a Bachelors degree and his Masters degree in Earth Science Education. On first arriving at UNH King managed to arrange a job as a photographer with the student newspaper by borrowing a camera and some photos from his roommate and best friend Edward Acker III and presenting himself as an experienced photographer. Both he and Acker were hired and would spend the next four years competing for the front page photo credit each week. It was during this time that he developed his actual skills and love for photography. He would go on to study under Richard Merritt at UNH, though the University had only 3 photography courses. 

Political Beginnings:
Kings activism in the antiwar movement led him to activism on campus including his participation in a student organization, MUSO, that brought speakers and musicians to campus. Over the next four years he would move more and more into the mainstream of politics, becoming involved in Presidential politics with the campaigns of Oklahoma Senator Fred Harris and later California Governor Jerry Brown. In 1980 he filed to run for State Representative in the family tradition as a Republican but later removed his name from the ballot because he came to realize that his more liberal politics were ill-suited for the Republican party. In 1982 he would file again, this time as a Democrat and despite an overwhelmingly Republican district, win election to the New Hampshire General Court (House of Representatives).

1982 - 1987 General Court: King’s fast-earned reputation as a maverick made him a bit of a target in both political parties, but his ability to build coalitions and consensus eventually won over many of his colleagues.

Removal From EDA Committee:
During his Freshman term King was assigned to the Committee on Executive Departments and Administration a committee that normally was of little consequence but because of a major reorganization of state government initiated first under Governor Hugh Gallen and now under the control of newly elected Governor John H. Sununu. King would become a key player in efforts to limit the power of the Governor and to protect the citizen boards and commissions that he felt kept government more responsive to its people. This opposition eventually led to his removal from the committee, ostensibly for poor attendance, although King demonstrated with attendance records and other documents that his attendance had been among the highest of any members of the committee. Normally, a removal from a committee would hardly draw attention but Kings insistence that “they can tell me where to sit, but they will not tell me where to stand” made the skirmish a media cause celeb. King would not be restored to the committee until he was re-elected overwhelmingly by his constituents.

Fight over Computer Access: in 1984 King and his Republican colleague and friend V. Michael Hutchings became involved in a very public battle with Governor Sununu over open access to computer records that gained the attention of national and international media including the New York Times, Time Magazine,The London Economist, and the Wall Street Journal as well as locally in the Boston Glabe and NH Union Leader. In what to most seemed an innocuous effort to consolidate government access to citizen records, King and Hutchings insisted that this was an opening salvo in a much larger battle to come in the nascent technology revolution and insisted that government needed to begin the process of opening up information to citizens. Eventually the battle would conclude with a re-examination of the state’s Right-to-Know laws and a commitment to a policy more inclusive to citizens in the pre-Internet age.

1988 Election to the NH Senate:

Alice King, Senator Bob Kerry and Wayne King

In 1988 King was elected to the New Hampshire Senate, among the youngest NH Senators ever elected. He quickly established himself as a consensus builder and would be a key player in the election of the State Senate president in both of his next two terms. Having moved from a legislative body with 400 members to one with 24 King quickly discovered the power of a Senator and directed his energies toward legislation that would have a broad impact on the lives of citizens. Sponsoring and passing legislation to establish New Hampshire’s first homeless shelters, a trust fund to help rentors in mobile home parks and apartment buildings to purchase their buildings or parks to gain greater control of their costs. He also became one of the Senate’s leading authorities on economic development and growth, helping to create the Office of International Trade, The Business Finance Authority to provide loan guarantees for new buesinesses and to convert the former Pease Air Force base into a high technology business park.

1992 Growing power in the Senate: By the time of King’s third election he was instrumental in the election of Senate President Ralph Hough, a moderate Republican committed to a Senate where “merit mattered more than party”. King was appointed Chairman of a powerful new Economic Development Committee and with the strong support of Hough, organized a statewide Economic Summit held at the privately owned Center of New Hampshire an all day event simulcast by both public television and public radio a first in New Hampshire. The Summit produced a series of four major economic packages that received broad support among the members of the Senate and would eventually become law in various forms.

1994 Governor’s Race: A growing frustration over the disparity of taxation and the inability of the State to provide an adequate education for its children led King to seek the Democratic nomination for Governor against the popular Stephen Merrill. King ran on a platform to establish a statewide property tax that would serve to level out the tax burden of providing an adequate education. Though he lost the election his major proposal, to establish a statewide property tax levy, would become law the following year.

Post Politics Years

After the 1994 election, King declared that he was finished with elective politics, though he continues to refer to himself as a “recovering politician”.

Personal Life:

In 1980 King married Diane Gehrung of Keene but the marriage was almost immediately at risk between King’s busy schedule and his wife’s job as a regional coordinator for the Alan Cranston Presidential campaign in a district that required her to live away from home. With the end of the 1982 presidential primary the writing was on the wall and it was only a matter of months before the marriage was over.

King and Wife Alice atop Cannon
Mountain in the White Mountains of NH

In 1984 King met Alice Vartanian, a consultant to the US Department of Justice, while meeting with Claire Ebel, director of the New Hampshire Civil liberties Union. King was smitten and for the next year the two of them carried on a long distance relationship each driving two hours between Portsmouth and Rumney to spend time together. On December 21, 1985 King and Vartanian were married in a civil ceremony beside the Stinson Brook in Rumney where they would build their home the following spring. King and Vartanian remain happily married today, still referring to one another as “my boyfriend” and “my girlfriend”.

On February 11, 1991 their only child, a son, Zachary Douglas King was born to the couple, delivered by King in a Concord Hospital midwifery center with a midwife looking on to assure the safety of the child..



The Artist
Though he devoted little time to his art photography during his years in politics, King took up his camera again in 1994 after the Governor’s election and developed a unique style he calls Mindscapes which combine elements of water color and oil painting with his photography.

In an artists statement published at the Xanadu Gallery Website King’s work is described as “a celebration of life, blending the real and the surreal to achieve a sense of place or time that reaches beyond the moment into a dreamlike quintessentialism designed to spark an emotional response. Using digital enhancement, handcrafting, painting, and sometimes even straight photography, King takes the viewer to a place that is beyond simple truth to where truth meets passion, hope and dreams.”

His work can be found in the collections of a broad range of people including Livingston Taylor, (the late) Peter Max and Koko Taylor, Richard Merritt, Bill Bradley, Bruce Babbitt, Bill Clinton, Adhiambo Odaga, Bill Russell and others.

King studied photography under Richard Merritt at the University of New Hampshire. UNH had only a few photography classes but in those days Richard Merritt developed a small and dedicated group of young acolytes who would become some of today's most renowned photographers including: Edward Acker, Steve Bliss, Christopher Polydoroff, Casey MacNamara, Hannah Stutz and others. King has had two one man shows and numerous group shows and his work can be found in galleries from Maine to California and with a healthy on-line presence.



Businessman

1993 - 2001 Moosewood Communications:
For a number of years after the Governor’s race King ran a consultancy under the name of Moosewood Communications.Consulting on marketing and communication as well as crisis management.

Mowglis School of the Open: Upon hearing that his beloved summer camp faced closure in 2001, King set aside his consultancy to work full time to help save the camp. In 2003, after a highly successful centennial celebration and with the Camp on its way toward firmer footing, King announced that he would be returning to his consultancy business.

Heart of New Hampshire Magazine: In 2004 King launched a magazine called Heart of NH, a regional lifestyle and art magazine. The magazine received critical acclaim but the timing for the launch could not have been much worse in light of the movement from print to digital media brought on by the Internet. The magazine closed in 2007.

MOP Environmental Solutions, Inc.: in 2007 King was hired as Vice President of MOP Environmental Solutions by the company’s CEO Charles Diamond. Upon Diamond’s death in 2011 King was elevated by the Board to the CEO position and immediately set to work on finding a suitable company for a merger or acquisition. In 2013, MOP Environmental entered into a management agreement with JPO Absorbents of Fairfield CT with a defined pathway to a merger or acquisition.As a part of this agreement King resigned his position as CEO and Chairman of the Board.


West Africa

King Presenting Computers and printers
to West African NGOs in Senegal West Africa

In 1997 King was asked to head a team of Social Entrepreneurs to establish a training program for Non governmental organizations in West Africa. The Ford Foundation had determined that these 250 NGOs would benefit from computer technology and training as well as professional development. King and his colleagues Philip K. Bates III of the University of California, Santa Barbara and Dr. Chidi Nwachukwu of Milwaukee Wisconsin, made a preliminary recon mission to West Africa - where at one point they were held for 5 hours at gunpoint in a Nigerian prison by the forces of Nigerian dictator Sanni Abacha, being released safely only after King “convinced” the leader of the group that it would be the wisest course of action. The team returned with recommendations that included providing over 350 computers, printers and software to the NGOs and providing them with the training necessary to make them an integral part of their mission. The Ford Foundation concurred and for the next three years the team, soon to be joined by Osita Aniemeka and Anndy Omolaubi of Nigeria, would crisscross West Africa to set up computers, train the NGOs and provide support services to them.

In 2003 Dr. Chidi Nwachukwu died unexpectedly from complications associated with Leukemia but King and Bates vowed to keep on in memory of their friend. Since that time King, Bates, Aniemeka and a number of other consultants have engaged in work with the World Bank, USAID and others. Most recently they have proposed a project called The Phoenix Project - Niger Delta, an innovative concept combining Oil Spill cleanup and poverty alleviation and enterprise development in the hard hit Niger Delta region of Nigeria.

Honorary Chairman, International Chamber of Economic Development Conference on Technology and Economic Development, Accra, Ghana.

In 2004 King was chosen as the Honorary Chair of International Chamber of Economic Development Conference on Technology and Economic Development, Accra, Ghana. Osita Osita Aniemeka joined him for the conference and together the two authored “The Ghana Declaration” adopted unanimously by the conferees calling for greater transparancy in Government activities, free and universal elementary and secondary public education and a broader use of technology to empower and involve citizens in building their own future.

Other
In 1991 King was selected as a part of a delegation of young political leaders for a 2 week mission to Japan at the invitation of the American Council of Young Political Leaders, and the Japan Foundatione: King was one of eleven individuals nationwide chosen for this special trip to Japan to meet with Governmental and private sector leaders, including: The President of the Bank of Tokyo; The Director of MITI; The Director of International Operations, Kobe Steel Corporation; LDP Secretary General, Keizo Obuchi; The Publisher of the Japan Times; The President of Sony Corporation; The President of Sumitomo Corporation and many others. Continue to maintain contacts with many Japanese leaders in government , industry and the media.

1991 Chosen to receive the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of New Hampshire.
1994 King received the Hero for Children award from the New Hampshire Children’s Lobby.
Additional awards and honors:


1996 - 2008 International Men of Achievement,

1995 - 2008 Who's Who in the World

1994 - 2008 Who's Who in America

1988 - 2008 Who’s Who in American Politics

1991 Meritorious Service Award, New Hampshire Women's Lobby1

1991 New Hampshire Nursing Association, Legislator of the Year Award

1992 New Hampshire Realtor’s Association, Legislator of the Year Award


Ethnicity
King’s paternal great grandmother and grandfather were both raised as orphans in a Canadian orphanage for Native American Indian children. His great-grandmother of Iroquois and Algonquin ancestry and his Great-Grandfather a Blackfoot. His Indian heritage has always been an important part of King’s life and he regularly attends Pow wows and other cultural activities. His mother claimed lineage from the Mayflower as well as with the early American explorer Martin Pring a direct line ancestor.