Illegal mining is Resource Control
By
NO issue in recent times has generated so much controversy as the demand by South South governments to control resources in their territory. The control of resources by the federating units in a federation which Nigeria prides itself as being, is one of the basic practices in a federal setting. However, the way this basic practice of resource control is carried out in Nigeria leaves a sour taste in the mouth of south south governments. While the so called majority tribes mainly the North and West practice full control of their resources, the resourceful states of the south south which they call minority states are occupied by the military and mobile policemen and the oil resources of these Resourceful States forcefully exploited to the detriment of these states but to the benefit of those who control the central government—mainly the majority tribes of the North and West with the majority tribe of the East relegated to a position of perpetual second fiddle player in the game of squandermania of the wealth of Niger Delta States of the South-South zone of Nigeria.
For decades, the wealth from the Resourceful States a.k.a Niger Delta States, a.k.a South South States has been "eaten" and squandered like the booty of a conquered territory or the booty of a successful armed robbery expedition by the operators of the Federal Government of Nigeria—military and civilian. Since General Gowon is alleged to have declared during his tenure that Nigeria was so rich that its only problem was how to spend the enormous wealth, squandermania and corruption were promoted to the centre stage of governance in Nigeria. The wealth of Niger Delta is now a curse to the people as the British Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook remarked recently in London. In spite of the trillion and trillion of dollars Nigeria has earned from Niger Delta oil, what has the federal government of Nigeria got to show to the world for it? It is a monumental and inexplicable foreign debt, 419, corruption unlimited, alleged billions in foreign currencies in personal accounts of present and past public office holders. It is the abject poverty of the ordinary Nigerian presently living a dog’s life who may never in this dispensation be able to afford one square meal in a year (except by a miracle); it is one cup of garri for twenty naira; it is one hundred and fifty naira to a dollar (which) just twenty years ago a dollar was worth less than a naira). It is total environmental devastation and total neglect of Niger Delta and its people; it is total destruction of Odi town and people by federal troops ordered by Mr. President, it is the continuous impoverishing of the common man through unending fuel price increases that the Federal Government of Nigeria has to show the world as its achievements for the exploitation (and one may add misappropriation) of the mineral wealth of Niger Delta in the last forty years. Today, an over-blown and over-fed pinionless central government is beating its chest, and with fanfare, is compiling its "great achievements" in office.
The responses by most Northern and some western politicians in Nigeria to the agitation for resource control by South South Governors are simply terrible and almost irresponsible and empty in some cases. In most part, their responses expose their irredeemable and incurable greed and inordinate love for free money from Niger Delta, cruelty and hatred towards the people of South South States and total ungodliness in their lives. Or how can a man who eats with a spoon make such roguish, negative and extremely destructive statement that resource control by South South States will destroy Nigeria? Without adducing any fact of contemporary or historical relevance, they disjointedly and zig-zagly immediately conclude falsely and hypocritically too that resource control by South South governments will destroy Nigeria. They make one feel that they love Nigeria too much and would want to survive—on injustice, total domination, subjugation and usurpation of the wealth of Niger Delta people. One needs not refer to any of the responses to resource control by some core Northern and Western politicians.
Today, it is only the wealth of the South-South States which is being exploited, used and usurped by the operators of the federal government in a federation which Nigeria is. The wealth,—solid mineral wealth of all other parts of the country is reserved for the owners of those lands and states. The people of South South States have no share, have no access, have no benefits directly or indirectly from the solid mineral wealth being exploited and owned by Northerners and Westerners in Nigeria. There are vast deposits in commercial quantity of gold in Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ondo, Ekiti, Niger, Kwara, Kaduna, Yobe, Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Sokoto, Zamfara, Borno, Kebbi, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kogi states etc. which would relegate South Africa to second place in gold export if officially exploited, controlled and exported. There are vast deposits in commercial quantity of uranium, diamond, bitumen, tin, limestone, kaolin, tantalite columbite and numerous precious gem stones in all the above mentioned states in the North and South-West Nigeria. These minerals are being mined and controlled and the proceeds kept and owned by the owners of the land-the leaders in these states. They give the control of their resources, a very "beautiful and official" name; they call it "Illegal Mining" which is a euphemism for Resource Control. Let it be said loud and clear that the so called Illegal Mining is another name for Resource Control which Northern and Western States of Nigeria have been practising and operating all along to the total exclusion and detriment of the people of South South States.
Since the Nineteen eighties till this year, Nigerian newspapers and weekly news magazines have featured extensive, in-depth investigations and documentaries of the practice of "Illegal mining" in Nigeria. The federal government, military or civilian, had not done anything to control these mining activities. Let the truth be told; from hindsight, it does appear that since the operators of the federal government have come mainly from Northern and Western states, they allowed their kith and kin to control their resources while at the same time they sat squarely on the organised exploitation of the oil resources of Niger Delta and took every dollar that came their way. Have we not read in the papers how gold mines collapsed and buried fifteen miners alive in Osun and Ekiti States? Have we not read in the papers how a gold mine collapsed and buried five sisters "from the same parents" in Niger state— "the sisters, aged between eight and fourteen" who "had gone to the mine to scoop gold when they were snatched by the cold hands of death?" Lucrative family business— children going into the family gold mines to scoop gold as they wished. If this is not resource control, one wonders what else it is. Young children—boys and girls, men and women, politicians, traditional rulers, etc. make millions from these resources. Foreigners who buy these resources are all over the Northern and South -western states financing the continuous exploitation of these minerals in very large quantities. Recent newspaper investigations have revealed very extensive activities of "illegal mining" in the North and Western states of Nigeria. These are the two Regions which have produced the rulers of this country since independence and these two Regions are always in control of the federal bureaucracy and federal parastatals. They have had total control of their resources to the total exclusion of the people of South-South states.
Recently, the Managing Director and Chief Executive of the Nigerian Mining Corporation, Jos, Dr. Biodun Olorunfemi has been making the headlines with what Nigeria is loosing "yearly to illegal mining". He puts the loss to Nigeria through "illegal mining" at N220 billion yearly. He now advocates that "instead of arresting illegal miners, the corporation would engage and purchase mining equipment for them and pay them for their labour" with the above advocacy, Dr. Biodun Olorunfemi possibly of the south western part of the country easily cuts for himself the image of a man with a child-like innocence. If and when he succeeds in converting multi-billion naira Managing Directors and Chief Executives of "illegal mines" into mere labourers of Nigeria Mining Corporation, he would deserve another doctorate degree. It is doubtful whether Dr. Olorunfemi does not understand or cannot understand the relationship between "illegal mining" and resource control. It does appear that Dr. Olorunfemi is being hypocritical and betrays cheaply a common trait on resource control especially when one considers his comment on the agitation for resource control by South-South Governors. The belief is that Dr. Olorunfemi is now calling on the Federal government to recognise and finance "illegal miners" so that they could exploit and control their resources in a better way especially now that South-South Governors are agitating to control their resources. One can bet all the tea in Mambila Plateau that he will have his way.
South-South people love Nigeria too much. They are the only true and sincere lovers of Nigeria today who want Nigeria to survive and prosper. Others are merely paying lip-services to Nigerian unity because of what they make from "One Nigeria." To them, one Nigeria is bread and butter unlimited. But among the South-South people can be found in Nigeria the greatest and the largest number of men and women of character where virtue is still legal tender. The demand for resource control by South-South Governors is neither borne out of selfishness nor out of a desire to destabilise or destroy Nigeria’s unity and prosperity. It is borne out of a sincere and natural desire to see Nigeria governed on justice and equity so that every group in the country can develop a sense of belonging, unity, prosperity and faith in the country. The present group of South-South leaders, from the Governors to those who constitute the power base behind the throne, to the Traditional rulers, political activists, Opinion leaders, men, women and youths have watched in dismay the way and manner in which the wealth of Nigeria which comes wholly from South-South States is being squandered since 1970 by the operators of the Federal Government. They now know the system too well and the current trend of squandermania if allowed to go on will result in a situation worse than ‘constitutional roguery’ which will definitely spell doom to Nigeria’s survival. The South-South leaders want to contribute to the growth, prosperity, unity, and well being of a modern Nigeria in a 21st century world through a proper utilisation of the resources of the country. The first step to this is that each state should have a full control of its resources and contribute an agreed percentage to the centre. This was so in the first republic. The country did not fall apart because of that arrangement. Each state would now work hard to generate enough revenue to develop along its chosen direction at its own pace.
Perhaps, Alhaji Wada Nas and some Northern governors and other politicians who have been making empty and lifeless statements that Nigeria will collapse if South-South States control their resources do not know that Nigeria had collapsed long ago. When Nigeria stops breathing, it would be a mere formality. The present leaders of South-South States want Nigeria to wake up and live. Nigeria will survive and prosper only when there is justice and equity at the centre and each section or unit or state within Nigeria is allowed to develop at its own rate with its own resources in line with its own cultural values. The current practice of trying to weld iron and lead together in a military, unitary style of democratic governance will never work. No two different sets of people can ever grow or develop at the same rate no matter the manipulations. The case of the North and South in Nigeria is informative still.
It may be worth the trouble to remind the rulers in Abuja that in 1960, there was a bouncing World Power called Union of Socialist Soviet Republics (USSR). Today, try as one may, one cannot locate that empire in a modern map. Some are also honest to admit that they are not sure that their spelling of Yugoslavia is correct. These countries were ruled on injustice and they are now history. South-South Governors want to control resources in their states for the benefit of all Nigerians. They also want all other governors in the country to control the mineral resources in their states, develop them and use the revenue from these resources officially for the benefit of all Nigerians and for the development of their states and not for selfish individual uses through what they call "illegal mining."
Mr. Idaresit, Social Scientist, is based in from Eket, Akwa Ibom State.
September, 2001