Whither the Niger Delta

By 

Kenneth Young

 

I shall not be brief. I have carried a lot on my mind these past years... there is a raging fire in the minds of many of our citizens, and we had better put it out before it leaps forth and consumes the nation... Prof. Wole Soyinka.

ON October 1, 2000, Nigeria clocked 40, the legendary number where foolhardiness supposedly becomes incurable, and predictably the media was inundated with congratulatory messages from individuals, organisations, political prostitutes, treasury looters, sycophants, rights violators, all mocking truth, integrity, equity and justice with their hypocritically patronizing advert texts, which many-a-time are a far cry from the true picture of Nigeria.

None of these congratulatory adverts would feature appreciation of the Niger Delta region and its people for contributing and possessing the bulk of the natural resources that gave the nation its fame, wealth and relevance in the comity of nations. Not one of these messages would remind the Federal Government to correct the ills, the neglect, the marginalisation, and impoverishment the Niger-Delta and its citizens have been suffering as a component part of Nigeria since attainment of independence from the colonialists on October 1, 1960.

It is jocularly claimed or asserted that had the Britons known Nigeria was blessed with enormous quantity of crude oil and not only the quantity of oil discovered in Oloibiri, Rivers State in 1956, they would have still held on to governance longer than they did. The validity, truth or seriousness of that claim/assertion or joke remains a mystery. However, we grabbed independence, inherited vast human and natural resources, but sadly we ignited a long, yet unending race of internal strife and colonialism, socio-economically and politically, the virus of morbid rivalry for power and the oil money has rendered worthless the struggle of our foregone nationalists. The Niger-Delta, the bride that gave herself freely to the immoral and gluttonous groom, has been the victim of these terrorizing form of internal colonialism.

Indeed, had the Niger-Delta been treated fairly and appropriately given its rightful place and honour as the mint of the nation’s resources it would have been a model region, a real Canaan flowing with milk and honey, but the reverse is the case for the region is nothing but a socio-cultural, environmental and industrial eyesore, a place where poverty and misery thrives, even competing and matching barrels by barrels, volume for volume, the abundant crude oil in the region.

The Niger-Delta has been the region that has earned the country the record of the sixth largest crude oil producer in the world, but the reward for such immense contribution has been one of the most environmentally-degraded and excessively exploited regions in the universe.

The Gross National Income (GNI) of the Niger-Delta area is alarming and far below the national poverty level. Successive military and civilian regimes have always sang the song of sympathy, care and socio-economic and infrastructural surgery for the area but one needs consult no soothsayer to read the hypocrisy of their words and actions, and the fears of the Niger-Delta people that they would never enjoy succour continue to strengthen from time to time.

During the constitutional conference of 1957 to 1958, the Willink Commission, which was set up to review and allay fears of minorities, agreed that these fears are real and later suggested that ..." "There should be a federal board appointment to consider the problems of the Niger-Delta".

And from 1961 till the present, different bodies/board have been commissioned/constituted to look into the "fears" and allay the problems of the Niger-Delta, but history refuse to be corrupted or influenced, for she records that each organ set up for Niger-Delta’s development ends up as nothing more than avenues to fatten some pockets and distract the attention of the minorities from the real and larger problems of the region. A quick random survey of some of these boards shows:

Niger-Delta Development, Board (NDDB), (1961-1962): In consonance with Willink’s report, this was set up, but the board bothered itself only with some scanty surveys and researches and as the first military putsch and the eventual civil war occurred it became a farce.

Niger-Delta Basin Development Authority (NDBA): This was defaced with administrative and political scheming, and the 1979 to 1983 disbursement of River Basin authorities shows the real disgust the various governments have for Niger-Delta’s development.

Oil Minerals Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC): This one was ill-managed by inefficient individuals; it was starved of appropriate funds; it was riddled with bureaucracy and shortsightedness; it was a bitter pill. Indeed from inception it was programmed by its author, government, to fail and to distract the attention of the citizens of the Niger-Delta. Throughout the inception of OMPADEC it was used as an avenue to line few selfish pockets and brief case contractors.

Niger-Delta Development Commission (NDDC): Pased into law through yet to be implemented, God knows why. But one can tell it is another ruse to buy time by the Federal Government. It is a trump card to divide the ethnic nationalities of the region and antics of groups and individuals of the Niger-Delta as they scheme, backbite and blaspheme against each other shows the ruse of the government is yielding fruits.

No doubt, the crippling of the Niger-Delta’s socio-economy has been the agenda of the governments. Again, for 40 years of independence despite the glamour given to concern for the Niger-Delta not one of the governments has deemed it fit to abolish obnoxious laws and decrees such as the Land Use Decree, the Petroleum Act of 1969, Mineral Act of 1948, the land, title vesting decree 52 of 1991, the National Inland, Waterways Authority of 1997 and other such draconian legislation that denies the people of Niger-Delta the right to own, enjoy and have the right of exploiting and utilising all the resources found on its area/ancestral lands.

The economic enslavement of the region right from October 1, 1960 when we had an indigenous government has not abated even as we clock 40.

The revenue allocation during the colonial era acknowledges recognition of the derivation principle in revenue allocation and these can be summarised as the recommendations:

But from the Yakubu Gowon administration till Shagari’s government it dwindled until Babangida’s regime raised it again to 3% and now President Obasanjo paid 13% (though scandalously paid 7.5%) which is presently setting throats and fangs spoiling for a fight in some Niger-Delta states over how it should be expended.

One would have thought that as a means of soothing the ills of the people of the Niger-Delta, their citizens, youths, would have been compensated with enough employment opportunities and appointment into federal establishments and sensitive federal portfolios, but the unemployment and political marginalisation indices reveal that the people are denied and cheated out of employment in multi-national oil corporations and federal institutions. Even when multi-national oil companies establishes youth training programmes, entrepreneurship training and scholarship schemes the people from the predatorily parasitic major ethnic groups rip off these opportunities from the real beneficiaries of these schemes.

The neglect of the region even during periods of economic boom like the post civil war era, the gulf war oil windfall and the present ‘bonanza’ in the world of oil price has still not diminished even as we start the race to the 50th anniversary.

The picture of environmental degradation and over-exploitations; that of polluted lakes, rivers, farmlands and ancestral lands. Most Niger-Delta villages and communities lack good roads, potable drinking water, electricity supply even when near flow stations or tank farms, and the health care system is zero. The fight to correct these ills have brought us the loss of many heroes and potential leaders. Popular among these are Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Ogoni eight. The fight authored by other declarations has brought about the formation of different pro-Niger-Delta groups all fighting, or claiming to fight, for the region’s freedom.

For want of succour (but mostly due to negligence on the part of government and NNPC/PPMC officials), the Niger-Delta has lost human and material resources through the Jesse fire disaster, Ekakpamre, Ughevwughe oil spills, the Oviri-Court fire incident. Again, the Odi massacre, Choba killings, Ogoni suppressions and other unannounced, extra-judicial and violent suppressions and killings during the period of despotic military rule have diminished the numerical strength of the Niger-Delta.

Till date, nothing works in the Niger-Delta. The Delta Steel Complex, Aladja, which would have provided enough employment and means of livelihood to Niger-Delta citizens, lies moribund. The major highways of the area are death traps and in bad shape. For example, the Benin-Warri dual (?) carriageway. Small time businesses, cottage industries are non-existent or unprofitable, sense of belonging is a scarce element, and youth restiveness haunts our peace and communal unity. The family system is shattered, culture seriously defiled and the fears have reached astronomical heights.

When shall be the succour of the Niger-Delta? After 40 years of being a relevant and distinguishable component part of the Nigerian nation, what have we reaped? What hope remains as we sail into another ten-year-period?

The present government’s attitude towards the Niger-Delta shows the fool at forty might remain not just a fool forever but one with a terminal disease that would eventually end the present parasitic relationship between the two. The NDDC is yet to be implemented, but one sees it not succeeding. The signs are ominous it is another gimmick. The joke card of Obasanjo’s government has been approved payment of the 13% derivation. The aim is to distract and divide the people of the Niger-Delta from concentrating on their struggle for justice, equity and succour, the payment was timed to coincide with the tempo of agitation for freedom from socio-political and economic bondage and one make bold to predict that the plot to marginalise the Niger-Delta further remains when the Obasanjo’s government approves a federal allocation formula of 40% to local governments, 35% to states and 25% to itself, then let’s see how any agitation or unified struggle for recognition would continue as attention would now be shifted to the local councils by individuals, leading to scrambles for largesse or contracts as the councils would be richer than the states and the present efforts/agitation for resources control by South-South governors might be rubbished or sabotaged while the Federal Government continues its exploitation of the region. 

With the local governments having 40% allocation who would remember that the NDDC would soothe pains better (if properly constituted and given the appropriate funds) than local administration, for that is the yet-to-be revealed game plan of the Federal Government hence its dilly-dallying with the NDDC, a wild claim you would say, but let’s watch events as they unfold. Let’s hope the Niger-Delta would smile hugely on the 41st independence anniversary.  

The writer wrote in from Lagos, Nigeria