ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We would like to take the opportunity to thank the almighty God for giving us the
knowledge, wisdom and understanding to be able to develop this project successfully while
carrying out other course assignments and responsibilities.

We would also like to thank the professor of the Global Issues in Business II Dr.
Thomson. Based on the standards and criteria he has set for us in the completion of this project,
we were able to meet such criterion with the aid of theoretical information provided in relation to
an analysis on the article “Niger’s Double Disaster” retrieved from the BBC World News.

We would also like to thank all of our group members who sacrificed the time out of their
busy schedule to ensure this project was completed and well presented.

We do appreciate the assistance provided by all who have contributed to this project and
we assure everyone that the knowledge we have gained will not go in vain but be used in our
future educational endeavors or businesses.

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 INTRODUCTION

Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world. Most of the population in Niger lives a
hand to mouth existence before the disasters which caused the situation to worsen the country
already existing havoc.

According to an article from BBC it was said that, “Floods and heavy rains across Niger
have destroyed crops less than two months before harvest, compounding the country’s existing
food crisis. Flooding has killed at least six people, left thousands homeless, ruined crops and
forced hungry families to crisis point. It’s a double disaster. Before the rains, people lacked
food, now any small reserves of grain they have had been washed away by the water.” This
paper would first analyze the article on Niger; secondly it would discuss the article, thirdly our
view as how it relates back to Grenada and finally give some recommendations.

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 ANALYSIS ON THE ARTICLE

The article “Niger’s Double Disaster” came from the British Broadcasting Corporation
(BBC) News which is one of the most reliable, objective broadcasting news networks in the
world. The article was written by Mr. Mike Thomson a well-qualified reporter from the BBC
Radio 4’s Today programme on Monday, 13 August, 2010, after his visit to Niger. In analyzing
the contextual structure of the article we detected that the author’s tone of voice was subtle and
was not in any way harsh to the target audience or public. Hence, we determined base on the
content and context of the material; that the author uses pathos as a means to appeal to the
audience or public’s emotions. For instance he uses words such as, “homeless, starvation,
hungry.” All these words are triggered at the emotion and in no way was the article bias in
delivering the news as it happens. His (Mr. Mike Thomson) agenda therefore, was to raise
awareness of the situation and to inform the world of the devastation faced by thousands in
Niger.

It must be noted that the author was not subjective in anyway but merely placing
emphasis on the devastation faced by Niger which went unnoticed by the country’s government
and the world. By the use of facts and personal communication with the people of Niger,se
information can be verified from other sites such as the CIA World Fact book which is a very
credible site for gathering factual data on countries.

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 SUMMARY

The flooding has left Niger with a humanitarian crisis of unprecedented proportions, vast
areas of the country under water and thousands of homes swept away.

The article “Niger Double disaster” from the BBC News is mainly about a country in
Africa called Niger located in West Africa a drought prone area close to the Sahara Desert. The
Article speaks about an existing, long-term food crisis that has now been compounded by
devastating floods. The effects of the flooding are really causing major problems with aid
assistance in the country. It is called “Double Disaster” because the country was faced with
famine and flooding together with disease, and no clean drinking water. Niger is confronting a
huge crisis (BBC 2010). One hundred and ten thousand people are homeless. Nearly 8 million
people about half the population are threaten by starvation. The article speaks about some of the
situations that are not properly looked at or being properly dealt with as in many situations
around the world are not being dealt with. The article further goes on the speak about the
international aid agency such as Oxfam, the red cross and the world food program, who are
assisting towards this crisis. Although these charity organizations are assisting there is dire need
of more assistance from the outside world. The double disaster in Niger urgently needs more
money to fund not only the food crisis but also to help those hit by this second emergency (BBC
News, 2010).

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 GLOBAL ISSUES

Niger’s double disaster is a global issue which impacts the globe as global issues are issues
affecting the globe. The major issue arising from Niger’s disaster is that of poverty. Additionally,
because these global issues are interrelated other issues arising includes are health, politics,
education, technology, ethical behavior, regulation and migration which all compounds the
situation.

These underlying issues have all compounded the poverty issue because of poor health
conditions, corrupt governments, lack of proper educational facilities and advanced technology,
lack of governmental supervision to protect the rights and property of many devastated Nigerians
which in turns internationalize this issue through migration and trade thus affecting other
countries throughout the globe by way of epidemics, poor living standards, poor education
systems which adversely impacts our ‘future economic benefits’ the children across the globe.
These in turn leads to over exploitation as poor nations and individuals are often forced to over
exploit the environment in order to exist on a daily basis given the problems faced by the world
in terms of environmental damage. This can also cause conflict as people are forced to search out
adequate resources which wealthier nations fight to keep at the expense of the many poor who
fight to obtain them. Another issue arising is that of trade which can hinder local agricultural
produce because of cheaper more quality foods from rich countries thus further compounding the
issue of poverty.

Globalization has also added to the issue as it has created a new kind of poverty because of
its technological driven nature creating a cap between the rich and poor as they complete for
resources on an international level, for instance businesses have to figure out the most
appropriate ways to target profitable markets such as bottom of the pyramid consumers (the
poor) completing to gain access of its limited resources through its pricing strategies, investment
in unskilled labor force by way of appropriate educational facilities and high quality advanced
technology at relatively low cost to consumers through cooperation between governments and
other organization to access a wider market share given the nature of such under developed

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countries such as corruption, unskilled labor force, inaccessibility, lack of technology and
education.

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 HOW THIS RELATES TO GRENADA

Although Niger’s double disaster occurred far across the globe its impacts would be felt
globally as a result of global trade. Niger’s export commodities such as uranium ore, livestock,
cowpeas and onion are traded on the global market. Among Niger’s many export partners
including France and Nigeria is the United States of America (USA) which is a major exporter to
many Caribbean islands including Grenada.

Grenada is a small tri- island state which imports approximately 18.11% (for 2009) of its
imported commodities from the United States of America (The World Factbook, 2010).
Therefore, Niger’s disaster can hinder trade activities between the United States (US) and
Grenada.

This can impact the amount of available commodities for consumption which can lead to
scarcity thus causing prices to increase given Grenada’s reputation for its higher than average
standard of living and unemployment and poverty rates. In addition to the country’s nature as
tourism dependent given that the tourism sector is unpredictable therefore, if prices were to
increase this would negatively impact the country’s progress.

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 CONCLUSION

In conclusion, although issues may arise in certain areas, its effects are transferable
because of the global market in which we operate, so whether it’s high standard of living in
Grenada or poverty (floods and droughts) in Niger it affects businesses, the global community
and even small islands. This is because issues arising today are global in nature and influences
the actions and livelihood of all whether financially, socially, physically or emotionally as we are
all connected whether through business, family members across the globe, the internet
(globalization’s driving force) or poverty as this is an international issue which hinders global
future development.

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 RECOMMENDATIONS

 A more effective way for Niger to deal with the problems, is for donors to concentrate on
longer-term, self-help development, such as working on agriculture, emphasizing
irrigation and the construction of grain storage banks to protect against future climatic
crises.

 Donors could also provide skills training and support education, people don’t want to be
locked into an endless cycle of asking for international aid, but want instead to have the
tools and training they need to help themselves.

 This approach may sound less exciting, but prevention is cheaper and more effective than
an emergency response when a full-blown crisis hits.

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 REFERENCES

BBC News World (2010). Niger’s Double Disaster.

Retrieved on August 30th 2010, from

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11099798Schilling, A. M., (2008). Strategic

Management of Technology Innovation

New York, NY, 10020.

The World Factbook (2010). Africa: Niger.

Retrieved on September 2nd 2010, from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-

world-factbook/geos/ng.html