Healing Delta's Big Heart disease

By

Ambrose Thomas

IF only authorities at the Federal Road Safety Corps knew at the onset that Nigeria’s Delta state would be enmeshed in such crises as it is in today, she might have been advised to adopt a more appropriate slogan other than “The Big Heart” as seen in vehicle number plates. For to be of a big heart is to be brotherly. But the reverse is the case today because ever since Delta was created out of the old Bendel State, its inhabitants have continually found themselves in such situations of unrestrained exuberance, fighting over one issue or the other.

To begin with, a look at the structure of the state reveals that Delta per se, is not a people or race, but a geographical location accommodating some peoples; notable among them are the Urhobos, Ijaws, Itsekiris, Isokos and Ikas, this goes to suggest that its affairs would always be diverse and contradictory just as its variegated natures and cultures.

Being one of the oil-bearing states of the federation, it goes without saying that the areas that possess oil fields are bound to hold sway over the affairs of the state and this accounts for the alleged marginalization of some sections within its body politic.

Now that the nation is heading towards the polls for re-election or otherwise of political office holders, the pendulum in the state appears to be swinging in only one direction and if events turn otherwise, the terrain could become fraught with tension and might not take time to manifest into regrettable extremities.

The city of Warri, inarguably the economic capital of the state, is in itself a melting pot since it houses the major gladiators of the state and consequently possesses in its ‘DNA’ all the troubling agents of power tussle, oil crises, etc especially when intolerance is highly practicable.

As a result of these problems, its either the Urhobos are up against the Ijaws, the Ijaws against the Itsekiris or the Itsekiris against the Urhobos. They have all become entangled in a web of crises and melee so much so that tranquility in the state only has the permanence and stability of a soap bubble.

But in spite of this situation, there is hope for the restoration of peace in the state and the way out of the problems is such that involves the rulers and the ruled. In the first place, one would expect a conference of all leaders in the state, traditional and political leaders alike, from all parts of the state to deliberate in a quasi- national conference basis, on the issues and problems affecting them. In other words, Delta State stands the chance of serving as a testing ground for the nation’s much talked-about sovereign national conference. That is, if issues did not get well cooked in this small melting pot (Delta), it may never be better cooked in a larger melting pot (Nigeria).

This would go a long way to help address the grievances of all stakeholders in the state and consequently channel the course for their future actions.

And on the part of the Federal Government, there should be more empowerment for the Institute of Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR) established sometime ago, so as to be able to approach and address frictional issues before they escalate into national disasters. The authorities should not always wait for conflicts to escalate into disastrous proportions before wading in. This has been one the major reasons for extensive clashes in the Niger Delta as a whole. On the other hand, individuals in the state, who had hitherto been used as mercenaries for executing the whims of some puissant persons, should wake up to analytical judgement and reasoning. They should by now realise that the best way out of any dispute is at the round table and not on the battlefield.

Besides the fact that the nation loses about 40 per cent of its daily oil output when the region boils in conflict, there is also a high disregard for the nation’s defense force as evident in the killings of military personnel deployed to the region on peacekeeping mission.

These options should therefore be given a chance because they are by far better than building ‘walls of Warri’, when even the wall of Berlin did not stand the test of time.

May 2003