Militants, Sovereign Debts, And Nigeria ’s Niger Delta Time-Bomb
After all said and done, there is usually more said than done. This is
true of the Niger Delta quagmire. The oil rich hinterland, mangroves,
wetlands, and diminishing foreshores of Nigeria ’s coastline is now a
war zone. There are family feuds, cult wars, internecine wars, tribal
wars, territorial wars, environmental wars, political wars, economic
wars fratricidal wars and wars of attrition. There is even a war or
words on corruption and due process. In recent months, oil facilities
have come under attack, hostages have been taken, supply convoys
disrupted, police formations attacked and detainees forcefully released
in commando-style raids, self-acclaimed warlords declared wanted, and
bonafide warlords surreptitiously defanged and sent back to school.
If you connect the dots, the image that appears is that of an emerging
guerilla war. For want of a less ominous parlance, the government and
mass media have settled for the term, MILITANT, to describe motley
groups of young men and women fighting against injustice,
exploitation, disinheritance, poverty, and condescending neglect. They
are also fighting their fellow deprived kit and kin, and amongst
themselves. With grossly underreported unemployment, there is no
shortage of idle hands eager to enlist to either prosecute the wars of
liberation or join the ever present criminal elements in the devil’s
workshop. To the utter dismay and imminent danger for every Nigerian,
the government is as confused as the militants and the general
population. Passing the buck, wringing of hands, rhetoric of sympathy,
monologue, dialogue, reading the riot act, tokenism, task forces,
committees, and a one-size-fits-all solution approach have not moved us
forward.
Everyone concurs that the environment of the oil and gas producing areas
is in ruins exacerbated by unabated gas flaring, oil seepage, and
hazardous production processes, Bad governance, reinforced by endemic
rot and corruption acts as a catalyst which fuels underdevelopment,
breakdown of law and order, weakening of traditional social structures.
A pervasive sense of hopelessness and despair fills the air. Using
conferences, seminars, stakeholders’ meetings, workshops, on the spot
assessment junkets and so on, we continue to grope in broad daylight for
answers while a cataclysmic meltdown looms in the horizon. To
recapitulate, successive governments have admitted that the Niger Delta
lacks even basic amenities such as potable water, decent housing, safe
transportation, health facilities etc. etc.
As the situation deteriorates by the day, it is incumbent on the Federal
authorities to take a detached view, reassess its mindset, and make a
radical departure from the conventional approach which has not yielded
the desired results in the last fifty years. The hallowed halls of
government are awash with theories, proposals, studies, reports,
recommendations and statutes relating to the oil and gas communities.
Everyone seems to have a remedy for the Niger Delta malady. An analysis
of literature on the Niger Delta dating back to the 19th century when
treaties were signed between the Oil Rivers Protectorate and the British
Crown shows that the words neglect, equity, justice, environment, and
employment feature most prominently. To accurately diagnose the malady
and prescribe the most efficacious medication therefore, these elements
(neglect, equity, justice, ecology, and jobs) must be brought to the
forefront.
All things considered, there are indeed several critical keys to solving
the Niger Delta quagmire but first and foremost is the imperative of an
intervention agency. Even the British recognized this, hence they
canvassed that the Niger Delta be designated as a Special Area for the
purpose of development. Consequently, the Niger Delta Development Board
was established, with an accomplished administrator from Akassa, Chief
Isaac S. Anthony of blessed memory as Chairman. Poor funding and the
civil war rendered it moribund.
There exists today, the Niger Delta Development Commission. It is
loaded with experts, professionals, whiz kids, and activists of all
shades, yet its current structure, funding, and encumbered operation
positions it more like an appeasement agency than an intervention
agency. Consequently, it is now a whipping boy, and a fall guy for our
collective failure. The NDDC as an intervention agency is the arrowhead
of the Federal Government in this strategic but troubled part of
Nigeria . To achieve set goals, it must be stripped of the shackles of
bureaucracy, and be adequately funded (real cash, real time). An NDDC
desk ought to be established at the Central Bank of Nigeria , and also
at the Federal Ministry of Finance to ensure timely and unimpeded
release and tracking of approved funds. The management must be given a
free hand to respond in the shortest possible time to address
situations that threaten the peaceful existence of oil producing areas.
It is thus benumbing to read media reports credited to the Federal
Government that budgeted and approved funds due the NDDC which out of
incompetence, callousness, or condescending neglect were withheld over
the past several years have expired. How can these funds expire when the
bridges, hospitals, schools, roads, canals, protected shorelines, and
environmental remediation which these funds are to be used for are yet
undone? The real story is that indeed, this pattern of withholding goes
back to the 1.5% and OMPADEC periods. Any wonder why we have loose
canons with the consolidated misnomer militants all over the place?
When Nigeria in one fell swoop paid-off long outstanding debts owed the
London and Paris Clubs, the Federal Government, represented by Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala described the debts as sovereign debts. The debts owed the
NDDC are indeed sovereign debts which cannot be unilaterally repudiated.
The sooner we realize that the continued existence of a viable, peaceful
Nigeria depends on the handling of the Niger Delta crisis, the better
for not just the Niger Delta, but for every Local Government Council and
State Government that goes to Abuja every month to collect funds with
which they run their enclaves. The debts owed the 1.5% Committee,
OMPADEC, and the NDDC are sovereign debts which cannot expire. They
should be paid forthwith.
With part of these funds, the much desired OIL University with a main
campus at Oloibiri can be established. Campuses which will serve as
Rapid Development Hubs will be established simultaneously in all NDDC
member states. Meaningful jobs which are indeed the panacea for
restiveness and militancy in the Niger Delta will be created.
Furthermore, sorely needed medical equipment such as scanners, x-ray
machines, dialysis machines and other otherwise routine items should be
procured from these funds. Three hundred billion naira in any currency
will go a long way. After all said and done, one wonders what will
happen this time around.
The hour has come to defuse this grossly underestimated time-bomb or
Nigerians and the entire global economy will be sorry to have stood
aloof while the debate continued ad infinitum.
By Eben dokubo
ebendokubo@yahoo.com