Tackling the Niger Delta conundrum

By

Oma Djebah

When President Olusegun Obasanjo assumed office in 1999, he promised to deal decisively with the upsurge of violent agitations in the volatile Niger Delta. Given the speed with which the government went about deploying troops to many troubled spots in the area, the expectations were that in a matter of days, the crisis arising from violent agitations by many host communities in the Niger-Delta for a fair share of the national cake would have been addressed by the military contingent. But more than four years after, the military contingent deployed to the volatile Niger-Delta has not been able to restore normalcy and live up to its mandate in the area.

In the wake of the inter-ethnic feud that almost tore Warri, the oil-rich city, apart, troops were deployed to restore order. But at the end, rather than abate, the crisis worsened and it took the sheer diplomatic sagacity of the Delta state government and concerned stakeholders to calm angry nerves that had been bruised in the storm. Such scenarios where troops failed in their mandate are now common place in the area. They are not restricted to Warri, the once vibrant commercial hub of the Western part of the Niger-Delta.

In Bayelsa state, the initiation of Youth development programme such as skills acquisition projects by the Niger Delta Development Commission [NDDC] has helped in many ways to keep the youths well-focused and properly aligned with the mission of development in the Niger-Delta. To many, the skills acquisition programmes which are currently on going in the nine constituent states of the area, in various forms including computer-training has been most effective in taming youth restiveness in the volatile region.
 

Thus given the effectivenes of these iniatives, many believe that the federal Government should forgo the idea of a militarised approach to the Niger-Delta question. In fact, the militarisation of the area has continued to generate many unanswered questions. First, where do we go from here given the seeming inability of the combined forces to restore peace to the crisis-ridden communities of the Niger-Delta.? Secondly, can a military approach to the crisis ever help in situations like those in the communities of the Niger-Delta.? Or put differently, will the continuous deployment of troops to police the area yield the expected results given the violent reactions that have always trailed such moves? More than anything else these are issues currently agitating the minds of many in the Niger-Delta. For President Obasanjo had last week in another move to tackle the crisis in the Niger-Delta convened a meeting of Security Chiefs in a move to further strengthen security presence in the oil-rich belt.

The meeting, the second in two months, which was held in Abuja had resolved to strenghten the Nigerian Navy's operations in the Niger Delta to ensure effective patrol of the country's territorial waters at all times. Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, the Chief of Defence Staff, General Alexander Ogomudia, all service chiefs with the exception of the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Tafa Balogun, Governors Peter Odili and James Ibori of Rivers and Delta states respectively and the chief executives of the NNPC, Shell, Chevron and TotalfinaElf attended the meeting. Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mrs. Remi Oyo, who briefed correspondents at the end of the meeting which lasted several hours confirmed that the high-level security meeting dealt with the renewed theft of petroleum products and the vandalisation of oil pipelines in the Niger Delta area. She added that the meeting was to ensure that military presence is further enhanced is the Niger Delta. Oyo described the situation in the Niger Delta as "an economic sabotage," adding that the meeting was in line to find lasting solutions to the problems in the region. "People of the area should be willing to give information on saboteurs to (enable security forces) fight against this economic sabotage," she said. While explaining that the federal Government alone cannot resolve the crisis in the area, the Presidential spokesman revealed that "the Nigerian navy is to be strenghtened as an integral part in policing the warters." "What needs to be done is to support the efforts".
 

Earlier on, in what appeared as a coincidence, while the Presidential spokesperson was talking tough, Managing Director of the PPMC, Dan Nzelu was lambasting the people of the Niger Delta over what he called violent "economic activities" and acts of sabotage. Nzelu said the pipeline fire outbreak in Abia state community was an "act of vandalisation". He said the pipeline was properly maintained but has continued to be the target of saboteurs. "Most of the perpetrators of the vandalisation incidents are organized and in some instance in possesion of dangerous weapons. Sometimes villagers often physically disrupt repair activities.", he stressed.
 

He charged Nigerians to stop vandalising pipelines and right of way enroachments because they constitute threats to the "refineries' performance, supply and distribution, pipeline flexibility, lives and properties, environmental pollution and national security." Nzelu also blamed vandalisation incidents on "economic" saboteurs, noting however that there are exceptions "such as where dynamite was recently used in several locations to blow out crude oil lines at Escravos for political motives.

"This soon degenerated into an economic exploitation as contractors who mobilized to the site for repairs where obstructed and exploited by the various youth groups. It has also been observed that for the past three years, most cases of vandalisation of the pipeline have been predominantly in Abia state segement precisely between Kilometre 50 to Kilometre 150", he said. The above scenario has however, only thrown up the debate about the Niger Delta and the way forward. Where do the people of the area go from here?

Niger Delta: The Beginning...
The area known as the Niger Delta is inhabited by a variety of small ethnic nationalities, known as host communities of the Niger Delta. Between the 14th century and the present day, the Region has played a dominant role in the political, social, cultural and socio-economic development of the the country. According to Prof. Andrew Onokerhoraye, former vice-chancellor of the university of Benin, "the region is apparently one of the least developed parts of the country. It is also characterized by some of the highest intra-regional and intra-group disparities and inequalities." He explained this phenomenon graphically in a paper he delivered in the wake of the current democratic dispensation thus: "A variety of internal and external historical, political, economic and cultural factors have combined to conspire against the socio-economic development of the Niger Delta Region over the years. As we enter the new millennium, the political and economic environment in which the Niger Delta Region must operate has changed greatly and is changing very rapidly, and therefore the future has become increasingly unpredictable."
 

Covering a total landmass of about 29,100 square kilometers or about 3.2 percent of the total land area of the country, excluding the continental shelf, it is home to the nation's oil installations and a rich wetland of global standard. It used to comprise states like Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa-Ibom, Cross River, and Abia.

But in recent times, the definition of the Niger Delta has been politicised. According to Onokerorayen. "This was not so before the ascendancy of crude oil in the Nigeria economy." Since the oil boom era of the early 1970s, the definition of the Niger Delta, which has tended to connote some proprietary rights over the oil wealth has become highly politicised. Political boundaries suddenly have assumed great significance because of their importance in determining which states and local governments fall within the oil producing areas of Nigeria with all the implications for revenue sharing. At various times in the recent political history of Nigeria, squabbles over the oil wealth have led to agitation for boundary adjustments between states, and for the creation of local governments even within the states in the Niger Delta Region. In the perception of many Nigerians, the Niger Delta Region is synonymous with the oil producing areas of Nigeria. By this definition, the Niger Delta Region extends laterally along the coast to include the coastal creeks and lagoon zones to the west and east of the Delta where there are oil and gas producing fields, both onshore and offshore. This concept of the Niger Delta is evident in the definitions of the operational area of the defunct Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC). It is in this context of varying definitions of the Niger Delta Region that terms such "Core Niger Delta' covering the four states of Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers and 'marginal areas' have emerged in recent years in the discussion of the issues affecting the region."

Root Cause of The Crisis...
Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, former Information Minister and a national leader of the Ijaws says the root cause of the crisis lies in the peoples of the area's resolve to make the Niger Delta look like Abuja in terms of development. Clark who was a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, representing Warri during the Second half of the Second Republic and one time Commissioner in the old Mid-West Region.

According to Clark, the on-going agitation for a better deal for the people of the area was somewhat ignited in Abuja in 1998 during the regime of late General Sani Abacha when the Nigerian youths under the auspices of the then Daniel Kanu-led Youths Earnestly Ask for Abacha (YEAA) organized the infamous two-million man march, to woo the late tyrant to run for the presidency of the country. Interestingly, when the Ijaw delegation and other youths from the constituent states of the Niger- Delta such as Akwa-Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, Rivers, Cross River, Ondo, Abia and Imo saw the glittering and impressive level of development in Abuja, they were momentarily thrown into a state of bewilderment and realization. "Ah, na so Abuja be? And na this Niger Delta oil money dem take shine the town fine, fine so! Our own creeks and villages too must fine like dis Abuja!"
 

For Clark, this instant and spontaneous realization marked the very genesis of a fresh and intense battle in the Niger Delta for the control of what they perceive as their God-given resources. "As soon as these boys who went to Abuja returned and compared what they saw in Abuja with what is in our area, then they started pressing for better development in the Niger- Delta. And we all know that it is good to control our resources by giving us fair derivation as it were during the First Republic when we had cocoa, groundnut and palm kernel and other mineral products .."

Truly, the spectre of violence and youth restiveness grew in astronomical proportion in the years preceding the coming of Obasanjo's government when youths in the volatile Niger- Delta laid siege on oil installations and kidnapped oil workers in various multi-national firms operating in the Delta belt. In fact, the youths operating under various names such as Egbesu Boys, Ijaw Youths Vanguard, Bakassi Boys and Niger-Delta youths coalition unleashed mayhem in the Zone, making it an unsafe haven for any meaningful economic activity to thrive. In fact, the General Abdulsalami Abubakar regime which took over the reigns of government following the demise of the General Abacha could not respond to the crisis apparently as a result of limited time and the determination of the regime to speedily handover to a democratically elected government on May, 29, 1999. Indeed the attempt by the regime to address some of the critical problems besetting the Niger- Delta were considered as rather too feeble and could not go deep down to the core issues affecting the zone. First, to many analysts, the government's decision to set-up a team to reinvigorate the ailing OMPADEC was a step in the right direction but the team was not focused and could not get down to its actual mandate before the regime left office in 1999.

OMPADEC: How it failed
The Oil Minerals Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC) was established in 1993 by the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida. OMPADEC was established to resolve the long years of neglect of the Niger Delta belt. Thus to many, it was supposed to assuage the excruciating hardships foistered on a people from whose land the oil, upon which the major chunk of the nation's economy revolves. Moreso, it was also meant to remedy the despoilation that the ecology and vegetation of the region had suffered, thereby effectively distorting their sources of economic livelihood. For analysts, the birth of OMPADEC was therefore greeted with high expectations that at last, the region would begin to experience real and visible development. Unfortunately, those expectations were dashed. In fact, the hopes turned out to be unfulfilled dreams that crashed under the very feet of some indigenes of the Niger Delta who were saddled with the task of piloting the ship of OMPADEC. Indeed, the tenure of Professor Eric Opia appears to be the most disappointing as the leadership of the Agency began to falter right from the beginning when it started pursuing an agenda that was completely at variance with its statutory mandate.

To experts and stakeholders in the Niger Delta, One of the problems was the lack of a master plan to define its developmental objectives and strategies. In effect, the commission was just headed to a destination it had an idea of but with no road map to guide its cause. In fact, it was like a pilot flying without a compass in an aircraft cockpit. Official profligacy was also another hallmark of the defunct OMPADEC. Officials of the commission saw in it a cash cow that could nourish their corrupt tendencies. In fairness however, it must be conceded that some other factors like unfavourable political climate and inadequate funding among others also contributed in hamstringing the commission. Thus its untimely demise orphaned a lot of unfinished and abandoned projects scattered across the region. According to our analysts "the OMPADEC programme eventually turned out as a nightmare to a people who were already traumatized by poverty and socio-economic decay. "It was an anti-climax which saw the people steeped further down the abyss of hopelessness.

They were but left to grapple with a degenerated vegetation and environment; a worsted socio-economic milieu occasioned by contaminated and polluted sources of economic livelihood; and to add insult to injury, a rather careless and distant government that had only made pretensions to ameliorating their plight was the hallmark of the military era. The easy recourse to more stringent and violent agitation which in some cases resulted in inter-communal clashes which in turn increased the propensity for violence of the inhabitants of the region reared their heads endlessly. As one analyst noted: "The Niger delta sooner than later became an issue nationally because the very heart of the nation's economy came under serious threat as restive youths recklessly disrupted oil production activities. It did not matter to them that their activities were tantamount to sabotage." Even to some observers outside the zone, it was a understandable, though not excusable, venting of the people's pent-up feeling of frustration, anger and betrayal. It was against this background that the ideal of establishing a truly and highly effective interventionist agency came up once more in the build up to the 1999 presidential polls, to help resolve the burning conundrum in the Oil producing states.

The NDDC: How far?
Thus when Obasanjo took over from General Abdulsalami's regime, one of his immediate pre-occupation was to set-up the Niger-Delta Development Commission (NDDC)as an interventionist agency with the responsibility of, among other things, formulating policies and guidelines for the development of the Niger Delta and prepare masterplan and schemes designed to promote the physical development of the Niger Delta area. But given the circumstances under which the body was set-up, the question being asked in the Niger Delta is: How well has the NDDC performed in the discharge of this mandate? Beyond the hoopla, how far has the agency really gone in taming unrest in the Zone? Already, the performance of the agency that is just about two years old, is eliciting mixed reactions. To many, the long years of neglect in the volatile Niger delta cannot be addressed by a single agency overnight. Even still, stakeholders seem to believe that more than its predecessors like OMPADEC and the Niger Delta Development Board of the "First Republic, the present crop of leadership of the NDDC has repositioned the agency to be able to discharge its statutory duties. The team include Chief Onyeama Ugochukwu, Godwin Omene and Timi Alaibe, Chairman, Managing Director and Director of Finance and Administration respectively.

Interestingly, the list is not limited to roads construction. The Managing Director of the NDDC, Mr. Godwin Omene and the Executive Director, Finance and Administration in recent interviews said the commission in its determination to make a lasting impact on the living conditions in the Niger Delta has already put in place a transportation scheme for both land and water. For instance, Omene says the agency acquired buses, speed boats and waste management trucks to effectively enhance transportation and waste management in the volatile Niger Delta. He said: "We are determined to make a positive difference in the Niger Delta. We are poised to empower the youths and women, and indeed the people of the Niger-Delta. The transportation scheme is just one of such schemes. We have 300 buses which would be distributed on the principles of fairness, equity and volume of oil production. That will guide the distribution. But it will go round to all the oil-producing communities there are also waste bins trucks. We are also organising workshops, and in each state, and all these will create more jobs for youths and women in the region. We are also talking of ambulances...which will go to the states.... So we are working very hard to redress the problems of the Niger Delta which started many years before the present administration came into being."

So beyond this, how are the stakeholders reacting to these and other developments being embarked upon by the commission?

The traditional rulers in the region have stated that they are impressed with the performance of the NDDC vis-a-vis its its mandate and the funds available to it. Prince Maikpobi Okarewe, National Secretary of Traditional Rulers of Oil Mineral Producing Communities of Nigeria (TROMPCON), told THISDAY in a chat that most people are ignorant about the mandate of the NDDC vis-a-vis the role of other development initiatives in the zone, including those of state governors of the Niger Delta. "Many people just talk, open their mouths without knowing how much the commission has and what its mandate is really in the Niger Delta", because the NDDC has done very well given the funds available to it" he declared.
 

He explained further: "If you look at the overall set up of the commission and the NDDC mandate, you see that the commission has done well given the funds at its disposal. Look at the East-West road, before now it was impassable, but with the intervention of NDDC, it is passable now. Drive through it. Look at some of the roads in Delta, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom that were so bad. The NDDC has done them. In the areas of transportation, it has acquired transport schemes for both land and riverine transportation and so on. So we in the oil-producing communities are impressed. But we are saying that given more funds, the commission can do more. Therefore, the traditional rulers of the oil-producing communities are calling for a transfer of the original 3% of total oil revenue that was due to OMPADEC, to the NDDC under a new Bill to increase the commission's revenue base so that the whole Niger Delta can be uplifted in a few years. Mind you NDDC is just about two years old and it has recorded such success. Because its take off was delayed by the National Assembly."
 

Clearly, the crisis in the Niger Delta goes beyond the mandate of the NDDC. Chief Onyeama Ugochukwu in his inaugural speech during the take-off of the agency had captured its mandate and expectations thus: "We have also been confronted by their (host communities) expectation, by their high hopes that, finally, here is an agency which would tackle infrastructural and human development frontally and bring to their doorsteps the promise which their immense natural and human resources has long held for them."

The sum of their mandate, he had added, is to ensure that the "people will rise above poverty level, hold their heads high and be proud to be from the Niger Delta. "The Niger Delta is a region steeped in rich culture and history. It is a region of diverse, hospitable, friendly and hardworking people. NDDC will help the people rediscover those fine things which endeared them to non-indigenes, and for which they have been so richly blessed by God. Our mandate is, therefore, a battle cry, while the members of the Board of the Commission are the torchbearers for this region".

To many, the commission is well poised to achieving this laid down mission but a school of thought also believes that the NDDC is encumbered by insufficient funds. To this, TROMPCON agrees and to address this constraint, the royal fathers say they are working hard to push a bill through that will "give more funding to the NDDC to enable it move faster".

But while this is on, the on-going debate in the Niger Delta remains: will an enactment of this Bill resolve the crisis finally? Or will the deployment of troops resolve the boiling conundrun? Opinions are however divided on the way forward. Constitutional Scholar, Prof. Itse Sagay argues that beyond all these lies the need to embrace true fiscal federalism as the basis for revenue sharing within the Nigerian federation. Sagay traces the endemic crisis to military intervention in the nation's body politics which centralised the apparatus of power. The eminent argues that says since the country has returned to constitutional government, it is therefore necessary to reverse this existing scenario. The crisis arising from the controversial onshore/offshore dichotomy law is another major issue which stakeholders in the zone believe should be addressed by President Obasanjo and the National Assembly. To many, the abrogation of the dichotomy will ease tension in the region and help to calm angry nerves in Akwa-Ibom state.

According to stakeholders in the Niger-Delta, what is needed given the impressive performance of the NDDC is to beef-up the revenue profile of the agency to further boost its developmental agenda and mandate. For according to Development experts, the oil-rich belt has not got enough of its fair share in the scheme of things as far as jostle for the national purse is concerned. Sagay agrees and posits that "even the so-called OMPADEC was a hoax essentially, a cruel joke on the oil producing states. Figures provided by the first Chairman of OMPADEC, Chief A. K. Horsfall during the three year period he was in office (1992 - 1995) shows that the Commission, going by the 3.0 per cent derivation formula was supposed to have received N72 billion. In fact it only received N11billion. In the period 1995 - 96, when Professor Eric Opia was in office, the Commission received just over N2 billion. By contrast, during the three year period of 1994 - 1997, the Petroleum (Special Trust Fund) (PTF) jocularly referred to as the 'Northern OMPADEC 'received N346 billion."

Thus, the answer to the crisis in the Niger Delta lies in the ability of the Federal Government and the multi-national oil companies to come to terms with the fact that resolving these age-long crisis will not only take a long time but involves enhanced revenue for the people. Thus any attempt to use a militarised strategy to seek to tame the volatile area may therefore only end up as another failure of strategy. According to stakeholders and analysts, what is needed is to beef-up the capacity and revenue capability of the NDDC to enable it further its developmental mandate. Said Chief Tom Ubogo of Bayelsa Front: "We believe that the government should not be deceived into deploying troops to the Niger delta. Let Government fund the Niger Delta Development Commission properly because with the little at its disposal the body has done well".

August 2003