Niger Delta, as a
geographical entity, her folks and the enormous gift of nature (crude oil) have
been the cynosure of all eyes as their struggles dominate national discourse.
It can be said with all sense of humility that the region and her people, by
their endowment with abundant natural resources, should not have anything to do
with stifling poverty, as postulated by many.
But that is not the case, the
tale of the Niger Delta is that of misery, despair, penury and haplessness in
the face of immeasurable wealth, that would have accrued them, if the proceeds
of their crude oil resources are judiciously used to develop their polluted
lands. The region is only a microcosm of the dense citizenry of our African
Giant Nigeria.A nation so blessed with human and mineral resources, yet its people live in abject poverty and sickening squalor. No thanks to the haphazard and ill planned oil exploration activities, most villages and towns of many Niger Delta states, have been polluted, due to oil spillage, apart from rendering aquatic life extinct.
The thoughts of the villagers whose peasant
occupation is fishing not having to practice their age-long fishing tradition
for instance, only leaves one neglected. In the face of these odds, the menace
of militancy sprouted. The youths started to revolt against the government.
Soon, oil rigs and pipelines became their targets. They were bombarded by
aggrieved youths belonging to various dreaded militant groups. As their lands
were further contaminated due to wanton level of oil pollution, so was the
nation loosing enormous revenue because of pipeline vandalism. Niger Delta
militants As condemnable as the militancy attacks appeared, it became the only
way to attract governments attention and sympathy. Late President Umaru Musa
Yar’Adua, had in the wake of the needless and constant attacks in the creeks, a
decade ago, swung into action.
He soon established the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs and unveiled the
Amnesty programme for repentant militants to surrender their arms. Other
laudable programmes and activities, aimed at rehabilitating the irate militants
were launched. The result was remarkable as a sizeable number renounced their
membership of various groups. Soon, they were trained in various vocational
skills both at home and abroad and given monthly allowances, together with
starter packs immediately they rounded up the artisan trainings. Brilliant
youths sponsored to acquire degree certificate abroad returned with amazing
results, some even bagged first class.
Part of the deliberate measure, and perhaps, the
most laudable measure taken by the erstwhile late President , was the
establishment of the ministry of Niger Delta Affairs. No prize for guessing,
but everyone knew what the motive and cardinal objective of setting up the
special ministry was. Has the ministry lived up to expectation? That is a topic
for another discussion. In recent times and specifically in the last three
years of the APC-led federal government- there has been bombardments of
pipelines. Some hitherto repentant militants have taken up arms again, hence
returning to their ‘diabolic’ venture, it seems. However, several media reports
that some of those who were sent overseas for studies are now stranded in
foreign lands, are replete.
Like their peers, Governors of the Niger Delta
States, have been complicit in the art of misappropriating, diverting and
‘personalizing’ the allocation of their various states. Little wonder, the oil
producing states despite the additional 13% derivation fund given to them from
the federal monthly allocation still epitomize under-development and
backwardness. Over 1500 illegal refineries destroyed in Niger Delta The
narrative of the geographical entity called Niger Delta needs to be changed.
Reviewing some of the earlier launched empowerment programmes, will be the
first step to addressing the perceived injustice meted out to Niger Delta
masses.
Then, massive infrastructural development,
provision of basic amenities and speeding up the activities of cleaning their
polluted lands, namely the Ogoni clean up should follow suits. These, and many
other activities or programmes can be embarked on by government to assuage the
feelings of the Niger Deltans. Since they (the activities and programmes) are
not rocket
science, the government has no alibi to offer if they fail to do the needful. We envisage immediate action, and enough of rhetoric. A stitch in time, they say, saves nine.
science, the government has no alibi to offer if they fail to do the needful. We envisage immediate action, and enough of rhetoric. A stitch in time, they say, saves nine.
*Semudara, an intern with PRNigeria and
Economic Confidential, wrote from Abuja .
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