Nigerian native Omoyele Sowore will share his take tonight regarding the ongoing struggle for peace in his country as part of a Global Exchange international delegation tour across the West Coast.

The talk will be held at 7 p.m. in Smith 120.

Sowore has been an active proponent for change for the last 17 years, beginning with student protests in 1989. After being elected president of the university students' union in Nigeria, Sowore was completely dedicated to the task of bringing much-needed reform to Nigeria.

"We've had supposed democracy for six and a half years, and people still can't eat," Sowore said. "Who has benefited? There's no basic health care. We don't have running water. We don't have electricity, no basic education. Right now, Nigeria is a leaking basket."

He seeks much more than just education reform, however.

"The Niger Delta area is polluted, occupied and heavily militarized," Sowore said. "People get killed on behalf of the major oil companies every day. That cannot be right."

His charge about the complacency of international oil companies is not baseless invective. According to the Human Rights Watch Web site, "multinational oil companies are complicit in abuses committed by the Nigerian military and police."

In Nigeria alone, human rights groups estimate that in the last 10 years, military factions acting on behalf of multinational oil companies have killed more than 2,000 people in the Niger Delta, according to the Web site.

"Quite honestly, I think the situation in Africa is grossly underreported in the USA," Sowore said. "But I think all of us who believe in pulling Africa out of the woods have a duty to enlighten people in this part of the world. There are well-intentioned people in the United States who, if they have adequate information, can put pressure on policymakers to encourage democracy in Nigeria."

Contributing writer Anthony Michael Erickson: development@thedaily.washington.edu