on the eve of former Governor, Lucky Igbinedion's exit from office, a large expanse of Iguobazuwa forest reserve measuring 3,500 hectares, was leased to a French multinational rubber giant-Michelin Nigeria Plc- to cultivate large -scale hevea trees otherwise known as rubber plantation. the approval and lease agreements, which was allegedly done through the back door, was signed without due process or consent of the people of the communities. but the displaced communities after fruitless efforts throught relevant government agencies for adequate compensation commensurate to unwarranted hazards they are now facing. the affected communities are in ovia south west local government area of edo state in nigeria. as a concern citizen of this country, please i need you all to comment on this issue and suggest a way forword cause this is one area that is fast destroying the livelihood of thousands and inturn affecting our biodiversity and ecosystem at large.
thanks

The cry of an impoverished communities by a multinational company Michelin Nigeria Plc
Translated into French by: Adesuwa Ero
on the eve of former Governor, Lucky Igbinedion's exit from office, a large expanse of Iguobazuwa forest reserve measuring 3,500 hectares, was leased to a French multinational rubber giant-Michelin Nigeria Plc- to cultivate large -scale hevea trees otherwise known as rubber plantation. the approval and lease agreements, which was allegedly done through the back door, was signed without due process or consent of the people of the communities. but the displaced communities after fruitless efforts throught relevant government agencies for adequate compensation commensurate to unwarranted hazards they are now facing. the affected communities are in ovia south west local government area of edo state in nigeria. as a concern citizen of this country, please i need you all to comment on this issue and suggest a way forword cause this is one area that is fast destroying the livelihood of thousands and inturn affecting our biodiversity and ecosystem at large.
thanks

Because writing was never my forte, I’ve never really considered myself as a person who would be doing a blog. To be honest, I rarely post, write or give my opinions online. Even as I write this blog, I am doing it in Microsoft Word, then copying and pasting it onto the website to ensure I have no spelling mistakes (I keep concerning myself with the red underlines under the word “blog”). However, with blogging about my intern experience being a mandatory part of completing the internship, I knew that this had to be done. Besides, this was one of main reasons I wanted to pursue this internship as a journalist. I wanted to challenge myself by attempting to raise awareness of issues I care about, but in a way that is outside my comfort zone.

Upon receiving the notice that I was selected as an intern as a journalist (Sustinable Development and Sports), I was excited but a bit surprised. I did not have any formal journalism experience and I was never an active participant in any sort of groups promoting social issues. However after doing a thesis on waste management technology with my professor, I learned a lot not only about the technical challenges, but also the positive social implications in implementing this technology. I knew at this point, I wanted to apply my background in engineering to helping understand social issues. What better way to do this then to learn from like minded individuals. I saw TakingITGlobal as a means of doing this by interacting and understanding the views of people from all over the world.

Initially, I thought I wouldn’t have trouble keeping up with the tasks. Though researching the topics has been extremely interesting, I have found myself leaving the written tasks (such as this blog for instance) for later. Unfortunately, this is mainly due to procrastination. Being well into the second month, I am looking to improve my time management skills, and hope to provide some more input as this internship continues.