By Chris O.O. Biose
The basic issue in the
Niger Delta is that since the promulgation of Petroleum Decree No. 51, 1969,
the Off Shore Oil Revenue Decree (No. 9), 1971 and other obnoxious military
decrees by which military dictators dispossessed the Niger Delta of the
benefits of its oil and gas resources, successive Federal administrations have
been extracting the oil and gas in the Niger Delta and using the proceeds to
develop other Regions in the country to the exclusion of the Niger Delta.
The activities of the oil
companies were reflected in permanent gas flares, massive coastal marine
pollution and unprecedented levels of environmental degradation without
parallel anywhere in the world. They promoted intra and inter-community strife
by means of selective favours. Regrettably, some youth resorted to militancy
although the vast majority remained law-abiding. All these engendered tendency
towards breakdown in traditional values and confusion among the oppressed
people of the Niger Delta.
