Features

 Niger Delta Crisis
Emmanuel Amurawaiye
IT is no longer in contention to believe that one of the major problems that plague the polity of this nation is the invidious and controversial issues surrounding the Niger Delta region. Today, the region has turned out to be like the zoo of lions’ den where people are scared to tread on. It is the epoch time for kidnapping and blood shedding. Frankly speaking, the Niger Delta crisis is absolutely a huge one that is capable of throwing this nation into a monumental setback.
There is imminent calamity that is gradually and has even snowballed into successive complications of our socio-economic and political terrain and most defectively, this looming act is inevitably disuniting the people of this nation. This unfolding scenario so far has seemingly gotten deteriorated and going out of hand. The combatant and restive youths of the area are sadistically aggressive since their plights are not addressed by the federal government. In this case, they are aggressively bent on attacking and destroying oil installations and facilities in some areas of the region. As it is now, the situation is very pathetic and sad too and therefore calls for abrupt re-engineering of strategies of programmes that will address this ugly problem. The rest of us who are concerned –citizens including yours sincerely, have decided to enjoin the government to face this enormous challenge and realize that the implication of continuous neglect of the region would aggravate the situation.
Apparently, the Niger Delta today is characterized by two major features. One, it is the oil rich region of this country and secondly, it is a prominent place for imminent poverty, rapid unemployment level, poor health facilities, inaccessible roads among others. I’m not surprise, at the way this people react when they travel to the north and other parts of the country and see the opposite of what they have in their area. Consequently, they have good reason to be extremely aggressive. They are mad like wild dogs that have been lured with bones and then deprived of eating them.
The Niger Delta people are displeased at the imbalance of the socio-economic condition of their area compared to others. If not for anything, the area should be more developed than other parts because about 90% of the revenue generated in this country is gotten from the Niger Delta. The amalgamation of the northern and southern protectorates in 1914 was evidently meant to serve the interest of the northerners since other regions were in dearth of minerals that would generate revenue as the Niger Delta areas. So, if this was the case, the oil rich people ought to be offended.
As a region with such natural endowment how can it then be made to undergo such protracted marginalization? How can whooping billions of dollars accrued to the federal treasury be used to develop other places while the region remains the poorest in the country? The international community has also cried out that the only way the Nigerian government can placate the people of the oil rich region is to give them what they want and not to resort to military option. Federal government has already sent troops to the area in order to apprehend those youths that champion this just cause. But it sounds tactless that the intervention of the military in the area will only amount to more violence in which innocent lives will be lost.
Surprisingly enough, several administrations in the past have blatantly declined to address this problem. Why is it so difficult for them to resolve this crisis? For example, there is enough money to establish companies, engage in capacity building and job creation for the youths of the area. It would be recalled that since the inception of independence, Nigeria has had series of summits and consequently various commissions of Niger Delta were set up to this effect.
Among these commissions that had comprehensive and thorough recommendations was the Ogomudia Commission which eventually were suspended and jettisoned. Until now, no reasons were adduced as to what led to its extinction. It is obvious that the call for another summit by the chairman Prof. Gambari will mean another jamboree. It is another means to create diversion and make the whole exercise appear to be real.
If you ask me if there should be another summit for the Niger Delta, then I will quickly ask you how a hungry man who has been coddled and calmed several times without putting food in his mouth, can subscribe to another futile summit. How can you dialogue with somebody with an empty stomach? A hungry man, they say, is an angry man. The people of Niger Delta are boiling with anger and this time their anger will know no bounds if there is insistence on depriving the region. In recent times, the youths of the region have become aggressive and are determined to shed more blood.
Apparently, this ugly scenario has made the desperate youths to now cultivate the culture of incivility in order to justify their agitations. Against this backdrop, the Niger Delta today is unsafe for anything. Most contractors handling government projects as well as other private investors have left the area for fear of being lynched.It is obvious that the only language this people understand now is action. There is no need for any summit again, they exclaimed. The leader of the youths has warned the government on the implication of insisting on having the summit. They have had enough summits in the past with good recommendations and already, a master plan has been designed in other to calm down the anger of this people. So, what is the government waiting for? Perhaps, it is the belief in some quarters that giving room for another summit will certainly imply procrastinating the whole thing, if by the end of it, all recommendations and observations made will have to go through a long process. Perhaps, it has to be examined and approval will be made through legislation. This procedure will definitely lead to tenure of another administration.
Another section also opined that if the summit will be held, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, the former representative of the United Nations is not qualified to chair the summit because he is not conversant with the crisis in the Niger Delta and that the venue for the summit should be limited to the Niger Delta areas and not Abuja. Obviously, it appears that the administration of President Yar’Adua is trying to follow his predecessor’s policy of negligence. For instance, he prefers to spend billions of naira on security of lives and properties in the region. In one word, it is grossly unfortunate. The solution of the Niger Delta is simple. The situation demands that government creates employment for the youths and also improve on the infrastructural facilities of the area like good potable water, Electricity supply among others.
Even the Governors of the region and the so-called NNDC are not helping matters. As a matter of fact, they constitute a greater obstacle to the on-going crisis in Niger Delta. I put this to you that this commission is a complete ruse. Between 2003 to 2007, the commission has expended over N345 billion and people are demanding to know how that money is being spent. Moreso, the monthly statutory allocation for this regions is thrice that of other region, yet Niger Delta region remains underdeveloped.
Monies are stashed away abroad. Going by these irregularities however, the people of the oil rich area have recommended that the federal government should take full responsibility of the region since the Governors and the commissions are rather looting money meant for the development of Niger Delta.
One good programme I have come to appreciate about the Lagos State government is its ingenuity in empowering the youths. On assumption of office, Barr.Fashola Babatunde observed that there are too many street urchins who are popularly called touts. He realized that creating jobs for them will certainly disengage them from crime tendencies. With this singular act, they became reasonable to themselves and since then now have responsibility to discharge, they invariably are no longer a threat but meaningful to the society. Today, there is absolute reduction of touts on the streets of Lagos.
By and large, this approach can also be employed in the Niger Delta region because it is the rising unemployment of the youths and inadequate social infrastructure that is igniting violence. Rather than spending billion of dollars on securing assets and on organizing another summit, why not use this money to provide the area with the necessary infrastructure and create job for the teaming Youths Population?
Emmanuel Amurawaiye writes from Univerisity of Abuja


President Umaru Yar’Adua