It is sad to
note that the governors of the states that constitute the Niger Delta have
failed the entire citizens of that region. With Billions of Naira from oil
derivation, it appears that about 85% of the region's funds find its way to
private pockets and
glorified politicians.
Delta, Rivers and Bayelsa States, for example,
receives sizeable billions of naira on a monthly
basis. The number of roads constructed and the level of
development since 1999 cannot be quantified
with the huge sums of monies received from the Federal
Government plus internally generated revenue (IGR).
The flamboyant
lifestyle of our Governors in the
Niger Delta as well as State Commissioners, political
aids and government officials is a pointer to the fact
that the public treasury has been dealt a big blow.
The most painful aspect of the reckless financial evil
of our government officials is that they do not
consider the fact that they are also citizens of the
state they are elected to govern. They fill their
pockets and that of close associates and simply smile
abroad to invest in real estate, aviation, land and
rail transportation, etc.
Evil greed has accounted for the poor infrastructure
in most parts of the country, particularly in the Niger
Delta. Politics in this part of the world is viewed as
a commercial venture where people invest little for a
huge return. The focus is on "making money" rather
than bringing about development in the country.
The Socio-economic and political crisis in the Niger
Delta is a serious indication of the many years of
neglect by both federal and state governments in
planning and execution of developmental projects that
should reflect the value of monies raked by government
from crude oil exploration in the
region.
It is a truism that the federal and state governments
in the region are presently faced with the Herculean
task of solving the activities of militias in the
region. It is also true that their efforts are
yielding little or no results. Why? Reason is that,
the youths and stake holders in this region have fully
realised that the huge wealth from the region goes
into the pockets of top government officials and their
associates to the detriment of the owners of the
resources. Therefore, what appears to be the only
remedy now is for the government to negotiate a new
sharing formula that would accelerate the development
and economic empowerment of the Niger Delta.
Our brothers up North, who in the past, felt that the
Niger Delta people will be foolish forever may have
to dusk their thinking cap and face reality. The
government, too, should know it that the time to face
reality is now. The militias in the Niger Delta
appears to be resolute in their demand for equity and
justice. Of course, they reserve the right to
negotiate for a fair deal in connection with proceeds
from the natural resources in their domain.
In conflict resolution, fairness, equity and justice
must be seen to have been deeply explored. This is
not the case yet in the Niger Delta. The region is
fast gaining global pity. Any sane person who has
been to the Niger Delta region will admit that past
leaders of this country have been cruel to a people
whose wealth constitute 90% of the nation's wealth.
Thank God, members of the Senate Committee on Niger
Delta confessed that the region is in shambles in
terms of development.
Right now, what the militias and the people of the
Niger Delta are saying is that they are tired of fake
and unfulfilled promises. They want practical
solutions. A blue print of economic empowerment and
development strategies and a separate ministry for the
Niger Delta like the federal capital territory
ministry should be created, to be heavily funded.
About 95 per cent of the school children in some part
of the Ijaw nation sit on the bare floor to write
during school hours. From a short distance, they see
Chevron Oil beautiful mansion accommodating all
personnel. The expatriates and their Nigerian staff
are enjoying in full capacity to the direct view of
these extremely poor and frustrated citizens who ought
to be millionaires by virtue of the natural resources in their domains. What a
pity. In fact, it is provoking. It is grossly inhuman and spiritually a
disregard for God, who had blessed the Niger Delta
people with abundant wealth and resources. Should this
continue? No, God forbid.
Painful enough, too, is the oil spillage which the
multi-national oil companies handled and treated with
absolute disdain. They throw some peanuts to community
leaders to suppress the huge compensations they ought
to pay to the communities, local government
authorities and state governments. They have been doing that for decades. No oil
company in the United States will be irresponsible enough to pollute water and
destroy farm land to the detriment of US citizens living within the locality.
Never. It won't happen anywhere in UK or Europe, only in Africa and Nigeria in
particular. Why? That's why the people of the
region are saying that "enough is enough".
Therefore, to end the conflict and militia activities
in the Niger Delta, both government and the
multi-national oil companies must wake up from their
deep slumber and face reality. No tricks, no games,
no fixing of community leaders, no cosmetic
development plan. A 50 year developmental plan must
be worked-out backed by annual funding provided for in
the nation's budget. The Niger Delta development master plan funding should take about 25% of the
federal government annual budget, and reduce Ministry
of Defence budget and apply the reduction towards the
development of the Niger Delta. There is nothing to
defend in Nigeria without the Oil.
The Ijaw Communities are worst affected and therefore
should be tagged "PRIORITY ZONE", in the masterplan
and in the federal and state budgets. All
institutions of learning in the region should be well
equipped. Classrooms should be built to modern
standard, provide clean drinking water, site
industries that would generate employment for the
youths in the region, allocate 35% employment to
qualified youths of the region in oil companies and
government establishment such as NNPC, Nigerian
Liquefied Gas Company, Eleme Petro Chemical, etc.
The multi-national companies should immediately work
out huge payments as compensation for oil spillages to
be applied towards provision of infrastructure and
basic amenities for the people in the region. Chevron,
Shell, etc should face reality in terms of huge
compensation. They have raked trillions of dollars in
the past decades from the region and should be
reasonable enough to invest heavily for the
development of the Niger Delta. The oil companies
should forget the idea of using military protection
for their operations. It worked before but it is
never again going to work. What will work is huge
compensation for spillages, join hands with the
communities to engage in substantial development and
also team up with state and federal governments to
ensure that life is "good" to the people of the
region. Anything less than quality life will amount to
persistent conflict and restiveness.
Truth is bitter but I urge the government and major
stakeholders to swallow this bitter truth for the sake
of peace, justice and equity particularly in the case
of the Niger Delta.
Fred Latimore Oghenesivbe
Executive Director
CAMPAIGN FOR THE ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT AND DEVELOPMENT
OF THE NIGER DELTA (CAMEEND)
Email: freddielatimore@yahoo.com
