Opening remarks by Chairman, Chief Emeka Anyaoku at the First Information Summit on Media, Peace and Develpoment at Asaba, 27-28 August 2008.

I am delighted to be here in Asaba for this first Information Summit on Media, Peace and Development. I must thank Mr Oma Djebah, the Delta State Government Commissioner for Information, for inviting me to chair the conference. But, above all, I must congratulate His Excellency Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, the Executive Governor of the State whose leadership inspired the convening of the conference.

As I understand that today is the seventeenth anniversary of the establishment of Delta State, I would like to offer my congratulations to the Government and people of the State and to wish them a bright future under the focussed leadership of Governor Uduaghan.

When Oma Djebah came to discuss his invitation with me, it quickly became clear to me that the conference was going to be part of the Governor’s already impressive efforts both to project the true face of the Delta State and to avail the State of its many development opportunities. I readily agreed to be here to witness this unveiling of the true face of the Delta State because of my admiration for these efforts.

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From the discussions I had with Commissioner Djebah and from the documents we have been given, it is clear that this conference is not about what has come to be known as the Niger Delta question. I trust therefore that our deliberations will focus on the three planks of the conference’s theme – Media, Peace and Development. However, given the venue and the second plank of the theme, ie peace, it would be remiss of me not to say a few words about the Niger Delta question.

My first observation is that the country must recognise that we now have in the Niger Delta region a major national crisis with potentially perilous implications that will go beyond our national economy if not properly resolved. The crisis is the culmination of long years of neglect of the interests of the people of the region, and indifference to the ecological consequences of the exploitation of the region’s oil and gas resources.

The primary responsibility for this neglect and indifference lies with our national administrations which have, over the years, not only controlled the proceeds from the main resource of the region, but also have allowed the multinational oil companies to operate in the area in a manner that would not be tolerated in more environment conscious countries.

The response to this national crisis must begin from a clear understanding that the situation which now exists in the Niger Delta region cannot be resolved through force of arms. There should be no confusing of the activists who are seeking to give vent to their people’s legitimate grievances with those elements who are criminally exploiting the situation. The former should be induced to resile from armed militancy through speedy undertaking of a comprehensive development programme in the region; while the latter elements should be dealt with by the enforcers of law and order in the society. And here, I would urge that consideration should be given to the setting up of two special squads to be equipped with the state of the art facilities: one, a special anti oil bunkering squad; the other, a special anti-kidnapping squad as was done two weeks ago by the Government of Mexico in combating the menace of kidnapping for ransom and other reasons.

The crisis in the Niger Delta region should be treated as a national emergency by the Federal Government. It is to be welcomed that President Yar’Adua acknowledged the seriousness of the situation right from the beginning of his administration and accordingly decided to convene a major dialogue of the stakeholders on the Niger Delta. This initiative on which the Vice President has already begun to work should be supported by the nation especially by all the people of the Niger Delta region.

Fortunately, there is no lack of evidence of what needs to be done to address the clearly justified grievances of the people of the region. Recommendations for action, including most particularly the provision of infrastructure and social amenities, abound in the reports of the many Commissions and study groups that have deliberated since 1958 on the so-called minorities and peoples of the Niger Delta region. Only a little over two weeks ago, many leaders from the region at the end of the two-day Legislative Retreat on Constitution Review sponsored by the Vanguard Newspapers Ltd, issued a Communique that outlined what they considered should be the answers to the situation in the Niger Delta region.

For the dialogue to be meaningful, there should be immediate distillation of the ideas and proposals contained in that communique and the earlier reports to which I have referred together with effective consultations with the stakeholders with a view to updating and determining the order of their implementation. And while these steps are being taken, appropriate national dialogue should be conducted in which the constitutional aspects of the proposals should be considered.

In all this, the emphasis must be to move from rhetoric to action.

Let me now return to our conference. Peace and development are two desirable symbiotic conditions in every nation, especially a developing nation. As experience in Africa and the rest of the world has shown, without peace and its corollary of stability, there can be no successful pursuit of national development. And if peace is to endure in any State, the citizens must be given the chance to improve their quality of life and to pursue their self-fulfilment which are the true essence of development.

In the pursuit of both peace and development, the media as a collective has a seminal role.

Apart from its role in promoting peace and stability in individual nations, the media through dissemination of information on government policies and activities mobilises the citizens for efforts in national development; it sensitises the government on the needs of its citizens; it contributes to good governance through exposures and constructive criticisms of deficiencies and mismanagement on the part of government; and in these days of the growing importance of foreign investment and partnership, particularly in industrial and mining development, the media is indispensable in showcasing available investment opportunities. Hence the importance of this conference and of the Ministry of Information in the heirarchy of the State Government's establishments.

In its development strategy, I believe that this Delta State Government is demonstrating admirable vision and objectives.

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In addition to the impressive progress being made in pursuance of his three point agenda, by channelling 50% of its oil derivation fund to the development of the oil producing areas in the State through the Delta State Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission(DESOPADEC) and by stressing diversification in its development agenda, Governor Uduaghan's administration has acknowledged that neither the oil and gas reserves nor the current high price of oil in the world market will last for ever.

Because oil and gas are finite resources, and because there are widespread continuing global efforts to find alternative sources of energy both for ecological and high cost of oil reasons, many oil producing countries are investing their current high revenue in long term infrastructural and national assets.

For instance, Norway and Russia have set up Sovereign Wealth Funds which the former is using to increase its spending on kindergarten education from $2.75 to $3.3 billion in 2008, and the latter for financing its priority national projects including health care delivery, access to education and affordable housing. And nearer home in Africa, the Angolan Government is using its current high oil revenue in building impressive miles of roads, refurbishing and standardising its airports and laying several miles of new rail tracks.

We must therefore ask the question: How are we in Nigeria spending our current high revenue from our oil exports?

Finally, I am delighted that our principal host, His Excellency the Executive Governor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan is here to deliver the keynote address to the conference.

And we have as our guest speaker Dr Eloho Otobo, one of Nigeria’s most senior United Nations staff members in New York. In popular parlance, Eloho Otobo is a son of the soil of Delta State. Judging from his periodic articles in such serious publications as the Financial Times of the UK and from the quality of the intellectual and drafting support given by Dr Otobo to the United Nations Secretary-Genreal’s Special Panel on International Support for NEPAD, which I was privileged to chair, I have no doubt that he will give us the right steer to a useful exchange of views. Regrettably, as a result of unexpected development at the UN in New York about which he telephoned to tell me three days ago, Dr Otobo's presentation will be read to us by Dr Francis Akenami who has flown in to represent him,

I would like to conclude by expressing my words of welcome to the speakers and participants from overseas. I hope that you will find your visit to Nigeria, and in particular to Delta State, an enriching experience. I look forward to our exchanges over the next two days.

 

Asaba

27 August 2008.