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.
