By Paul Onomuakpokpo
Although
the struggle to halt the ecological degradation and wanton appropriation of the
oil resources of the Niger Delta has resulted in the gristly end of agitators
like Isaac Boro and Ken Saro-Wiwa at the hands of the state, there
has been no dearth of such benign moments when the
Federal Government spared a thought for the people of the region.
Indeed,
through the setting up of the Niger Delta Development Board (NDDB), Oil Mineral
Producing Areas Commission (OMPADEC), Niger Delta Development Commission
(NNDC), Ministry of Niger Delta, the amnesty programme and the payment of
derivation funds, successive governments have attempted to
ameliorate the imperiled existence of the people of the Niger Delta.
But
government’s interventions are largely self-serving and this is why
the results they generate do not last. Whenever there
is a resurgence of militancy in the region, the government moves to
restore peace not for the sake of the people of the region but because of the
need to protect its interest in the oil resources of the region. Oil remains
the economic strength of the nation as long as it has not
developed other sources of revenue.
The government’s move for negotiation with a new set of militants who call
themselves the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) derives its validation from the fact
that the country cannot exist without the oil from the Niger Delta that
sustains the economy. If there must be peace in the Niger Delta for the nation
to access its prime source of revenue, the government should not listen to
those who are opposed to negotiation with the militants. While one does not
support a resort to armed struggle, those who are affected by the ecological
ravages in the Niger Delta region have a genuine reason to call the attention
of the world to their plight if their own government and the oil companies
making billions of dollars from the region are not willing to develop the
region. Besides, it is clear by now that the military option is not workable
not only because it has not stopped the militants from destroying oil
facilities but also because it is innocent people who are often
brutalised by the troops.
But we
should be alert to the danger ahead if the whole process is bungled. During the
former President Goodluck Jonathan’s era, the policy of appeasement resulted in
the creation of billionaires out of militants. Yet, a regime of violence
returned to the region after his exit. This shows that the strategy of
appeasing only some people would not bring enduring peace to the region.
What the
Niger Delta region needs is a strategy of development that would not benefit
only a few people but the whole region. When a negligible number
of people benefit from the policy of selective appeasement, fresh violent
groups emerge in the region.
Obviously, if the members of the NDA are allowed to be the sole
beneficiaries of the negotiation with the Federal Government, some other groups
would soon emerge to wreak more grievous havoc on oil facilities and eventually
be appeased by making them billionaires. Instead of settling militants
with contracts for the monitoring of oil pipelines, the government should
produce a comprehensive template for the development of the region.
It is good
that the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu has promised
to allocate oil blocks to people from the Niger Delta to break the existing
monopoly of the oil blocks by people whose land does not produce the oil.
However, the Niger Delta needs more than this. The allocation of oil blocks
would only produce another few billionaires without solving the problem of the
region. Worse still, those who may even get the oil blocks may not be those
whose means of livelihood like farming and fishing have been eroded by oil
pollution and thus they can no longer send their children to school or even
feed themselves.
While it is
imperative to really know what the avengers want, the preparation of
a developmental template for the Niger Delta should involve the input of
some credible people from the Niger Delta, other parts of the country and the
rest of the world and the multinational oil companies. Such people should
not include traditional rulers and politicians from the region. These people
often seek opportunities to cater for their selfish interest and this is why
the problem of the region has festered over the years. The negotiation should
go beyond meeting the demands of only a single ethnic group in the region
simply because they were the ones engaged in a violent agitation. It is the
whole of the Niger Delta where oil is either exploited or gas is flared that
has been ecologically devastated.
The avengers should underscore their sincerity by sifting their genuine
demands from the ridiculous. They cannot claim to be fighting against injustice
and at the same time be asking that some people who are the linchpins of
inequity through their appropriation of resources meant for all should be
shielded from facing the consequences of their criminal actions. They
should not insist on their demand that the Federal Government should apologise
for the ‘intimidation’ and death of Diepreye Alamieyeseigha who was found
guilty of corruptly enriching himself at the expense of Bayelsa State
Above all,
for enduring peace in the Niger Delta, the government and the militants must
agree that the region should control its resources. In the past 60 years,
the resources from the Niger Delta have been used to develop other parts of the
country at the detriment of those who own the region. It is time for them
to be given the opportunity to manage their own resources and restore their
degraded environment. They should agree on true federalism and the need for the
implementation of the 2014 conference report that has resolved some of the
troubling issues in the Niger Delta, but which President Muhammadu Buhari has
vowed to consign to the archives.
Now that
the avengers have agreed to negotiate, the government should avail itself of
the opportunity and find enduring solutions to the problems of the Niger Delta.
*Dr. Onomuakpokpo is on
the Editorial Board of The Guardian
The question I ask is: is Nigeria too big or too small to be divided along regional lines? Is she too important or too sensitive to split? Even if it means that the distinct regions may renegotiate to come together at their own terms? The truth is that the agitation is beyond settlement at this point. So much opportunities have been lost to nip the problem associated with the unsolicited and un-negotiated unification of the hitherto regions by the white man (strangers). No palliative would satiate or fully appease the Eastern region, craftly branded Niger Delta, by an ostensible divide and rule arrangement. The present situation has seen virtually all parts and all levels of the indigenes of the region highly enlightened about their ownership of the oil which has been feeding the growth of other regions at their detriment. Nothing can replace taking back your heritage, fully. It is often a struggle that people will die for and resurrect to fight for. The earlier Nigeria begin to think along the line of giving back to each region what belongs to them and letting the people decide how they want to run their affairs as in their natural pre-colonial existence, it would be near impossible to come up with a permanent solution to the issue of agitation in the Eastern region. The earlier we begin to stop some divisive terms like South-South, Niger Delta, etc when describing the region, the quicker the people can begin to perceive sincerity in any discussion relating to the issues. Sincerely, if these people had not began militarizing their quests would have been listened to in the first place? Has Nigerian governments past and especially present not attempted to call their bluff, before taking them serious?
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