Ibori and Resource Control

Chief James Onanefe Ibori, Governor of Delta State is indeed a man with a large heart. Those who know him closely agree that he is one man who is not afraid of waging a battle as long as he convinces himself that the cause he is fighting for is worthwhile.

As a governor, Ibori is striving to stamp his imprimatur not only on Delta State but the entire Niger Delta region. To achieve that, Ibori is pouring daily libation on the altar of resource control, which he insists is an integral component of true federalism.

Though the origin of the term "resource control" has been lost in the mire of cacophonous emotions, Ibori has come to symbolise the campaign. This he has done by uncannily placing the issue on the front burner of national discourse. Rightly so, since it is one issue that majority of his people and indeed the entire Niger-Delta Region are agreed on its necessity.

And that raises a most fundamental question. What actually is resource control and what does he aim to achieve by the campaign that is not only taking his ample time but resources of the oil-rich state. To such a question, Ibori would always started from explaining what Resource Control is not. "Our objective is not to break up the country. We have put in so much into the project-Nigeria-that we could not be demanding its breakup."

To the affable and impressionistic governor, clamour for resource control is a quest for a true and functional federalism. To him, the clamour for resource control is all about fiscal federalism. And to Ibori, it is a serious issue that is not exclusive to the oil-producing Niger-Delta region alone because of its immediate benefits, but one that benefits all regions and states in the long run, and ultimately the Federation called Nigeria.

The issues inherent in resource control, to Ibori, have to do with the foundation of Nigeria as a federation, participation by the federating states and fiscal federalism in strengthening the bond of unity. The governor aligns himself with the definition given the term by his colleagues in the South-south during their last meeting held in Benin-City, the Edo State capital. According to the governors, "the practice of true federalism and natural law in which the federating units express their rights to primarily control the natural resources within their borders and make agreed contributions towards the maintenance of common services of the Sovereign nation State to which they belong. In the case of Nigeria, the federating units are the 36 states and the Sovereign nation is the Federal Republic of Nigeria".

To the governor therefore, it amounts to red-herring if not tendentious argument that the demand for resource control would threaten the corporate existence of the Nigerian nation "such mischievous allegations have only one aim: to blackmail the protagonists of resource control in the hope that they will either chicken out or be put on the defensive."

As the demand continues to gather momentum, Ibori says such people should hide their faces in shame.

There is no doubt that the issue of resource control has become very emotive. In a lecture titled, "The Sokoto Caliphate in the Transformations of the Niger Delta, The Oyo Empire and Nigeria" by Chief Richard Akinjide, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and former Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, he traced the origin of resource control to colonial times. "The Scramble for Africa aptly describes the frenetic, and sometimes obscene struggle by the European powers for the resources of the continent of Africa by the Europeans for the Europeans". Coming down home, Akinjide fingered Lord Lugard as the architect of the present resource control cesspool in Nigeria. "Immediately, Fredrick Lugard effected the amalgamation of the Northern and the Southern Nigeria in 1914, the first thing that followed in 1914 was the enactment of the Mineral Ordinance 1914 which invested all the mineral resources in Nigeria in the British Crown, and not in Nigeria for Nigerians. Nigeria will never know the value of minerals, disclosed and undeclared, taken away from the Plateau State over the Years", Akinjide explicated at the distinguished Lecture 2001 at the Sultan Bello Hall of the University of Ibadan. The same ordinance was re-inforced under the 1946 Minerals Act. Ibori believes that such Act has become anachronistic in today's Nigeria, at least for the sake of the nation's federalism. He argues that to exclusively vest the control of all minerals in Nigeria that practices federalism is untenable since the federating units ought only to pay taxes on the mineral resources from their areas.

There is no doubt that Ibori's campaign has caught many people particularly leaders from the North on the wrong foot. The rancorous session that characterised the shooting down of Hon. Temi Harriman's (Delta) bill aimed at amending the Petroleum Act not only underscores the sensitivity of opponents of resource control but the arduous task facing Ibori. But few opponents have bothered to look beyond our borders to see the true benefits of state control of natural resources and the strengthening effect it has in the unity of a federal state.

The Delta State governor agrees it is a daunting task. "The journey is long and tourtous but victory is sure." His optimism is buoyed by his faith in late Sylvanus Olympic admonition to his Togolese folks that: "No matter how long the input may be, day will surely follow.

Yet, Ibori is worried that he is being misunderstood, by some section's of the country. "We don't want to be misunderstood, our struggle is not aimed at the economic strangulation of any section of the country but is shoring aside all unitary clauses in our constitution which hamper our development and ditract us from the practice of true federalism".

There is no gain-saying that if allowed to run its full course resource control will strengthen Nigeria 's stunted federalism. Ironically, those opposed to it are arguing from a position of ignorance. Available evidence from developed federal states around the globe point to the fact that in a fiscally federal state, the federling units are always better off.

Ibori's message is succinct and clear. The quest for resource control is a struggle for justice, fair play and equity. Anything short of that will mean a relapse to the pre-colonial Nigeria, and a slap on the face of federalism.

It smacks puerile ostrichism for Nigerians to canvass for federalism while refusing to live by its tenants. Unitarism is a recipe for chaos. Rather than being discouraged, Ibori ought to be commended for his foresightedness. His doffed fight for resource control is Nigeria's only escape room from the dungeon of anarchy.

His will surely vindicate him and the vision of his Southern collegues who are predicating the survival of Nigeria on the practice of true federalism with its full fiscal accoutrement.