Date Published: 11/01/09

Gas Flaring: Niger Delta renews battle for environmental tax

APPARENTLY uncomfortable with the reluctance of the Nigerian government to halt gas flaring and other harmful oil exploration and production activities in the Niger Delta, oil-bearing communities are renewing their agitation for environmental tax from the polluting extractive industry ahead of the 2011 polls.

The clamour for such a tax would be on the front burner when power seekers begin to  comb the oil and gas region for electoral support. The way things are at the moment,  the peoples of the oil region are likely to vote for a presidential candidate who will forcefully address the environmental problems of the area, and not blind party following.

''That is why our people want electoral reform before the 2011 elections. The peoples of the Niger Delta will like to vote candidates based on issues, and not just blind party loyalty'', said Dan Anderson, leader of the Niger Delta Patriotic Front (NDPF), a radical pressure group.

They are already demanding that the in-coming governors of the core Niger Delta states should set a machinery in motion for appropriate legislation that will impose specific taxes on oil and gas companies operating in the region.  The oil-bearing communities are pushing for taxes on oil windfall, gas flaring, marine life, land pollution, among others as would be deemed fit by governments in the region.

In the context of the agitating oil-bearing communities, past governors of the core Niger Delta states : Obong Victor Attah (Akwa Ibom), Dr. Goodluck Jonathan (Bayelsas), Mr. Donald Duke (Cross River), Chief James Ibori (Delta), Chief Lucky Igbinedion (Edo) and Dr. Peter Odili (Rivers) did not do much to arrest the environmental terrorism visited on them by the transnational oil and gas corporations.

These six states however, constitute the south south zone that was equally interested in the 2007 presidential race, but had to chicken out due to high wire political blackmail and the Aso Rock-engineered corrupt charges..

The oil communities want the Niger Delta states to enact appropriate legislation that will elevate the traditional and customary laws of the peoples of the region.  According to them, some state governments in the country  enacted laws based on their religion, a clear reference to the Sharia Law.

Behind this campaign are the Ijaw community associations in the United Kingdom and Ireland.  The campaign is already catching on with the Arogbo-Ijaw, the Ibani people (Bonny), the Buguma, the Kabowei Ogbo Esama, the Nembe, the Ogbia, the Opobo, the Wakirike communities as well as the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) and the poloitical wing of the militant network.

Spokesperson for the Ijaw self-determination group, Ijaw Republican Assembly (IRA), Annkio Opurum-Briggs, told our correspondent that the Ijaw people, which she claimed are the fourth largest ethnic group in Nigeria, are prepared to pursue causes that would lead to the resolution of the country’s alleged problematic national question.

Continuing, she said the Ijaw people do not believe that the Nigerian state will protect the oil-producing environment better than the communities of the Niger Delta.  “The peoples of the Niger Delta can find a solution to their dregrading environment if they are in control of their resources”, she said.

For Dr. Edwin Sawacha, a sovereign national conference of all the ethnic nationalities is the best way forward to solve the numerous problems affecting the “twisted” Nigerian federation.  According to him, the Ijaw in the Diaspora were shocked by ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo’s combatant approach to solving the grievances of the Nigeria Delta.

The Ijaw communities are alleging that Obasanjo contributed immensely to the problems of the Niger Delta with the promulgation of the Land Use decree of 1978. 

“We thought he (Obasanjo) would have been able to correct the wrongs that were perpetrated against the Ijaw and the peoples of the Niger Delta in his second coming to power”, Sawacha said.

However, President Umaru Yar'Adua, of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is busy assuring the sceptical Niger Delta electorate that he will repeal the decree that was foisted on the Nigerian people in 1979, as an Act.

In the mean time, the thinking of the Ijaw people, according to Fredrick Ebigha Ajih, was based on the promises Obasanjo allegedly made to them.  Ajih said the Ijaw people in the United Kingdom and Ireland, have since called on President Obasanjo to be honest with their people.

“The ex-president never realised that strong-arms tactics could not give government victory over the Ijaw.  The death of Isaac Boro and Ken Saro-Wiwa, have not put out the flames of agitation for self-determination and resource control.  It is in the interest of President Yar'Adua’s administration to have a constructive dialogue with the Ijaw people through the Ijaw National Congress (INC) and the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) to resolve the socio-economic and environmental issues being raised”, they said.

The Ijaw communities have also expressed sadness that Abuja has not paid the accrued 13 per cent derivation to the oil producing states of the Niger Delta.  They claimed that the 1999 constitution stipulates that Abuja should pay at least, 13 per cent of the revenue derived from oil to the oil producing states.  For them, 13 per cent is the minimum and that even at that government has not been faithful.

Investment analysts are already saying that stability is a critical factor in appraising investment opportunities in any country.  They active social forces in the Niger Delta struggle for justice are interpreting this to mean that government alone cannot guarantee stability.  They the unrelenting Ijaw communities, it is therefore important that the oil companies should develop “good” community relationship with the inhabitants of the Niger Delta.  They are insisting, increasingly that the divide and rule strategy of the transnational oil corporations is bound to fail.

The agitating oil communities are in the main calling on all the stakeholders in the Niger Delta to prevail on Abuja to address the fundamental defects of the Nigerian federation before it is too late.  They are also arguing  that investment and economic activity would not thrive much in Nigeria in so far there is absence of peace, justice, equity, accountability and respect for human dignity in parts of the country.