Niger Delta Ministry- Political solution or Political illusion? 

On the 1^st of October 2009, Nigeria will be celebrating 49 years of independence. It would appear we are many months away but the reality is that it is so near. After all the politicians have started preparing for the next general election in 2011 (2010 in Anambra State). Since the end of the fact finding committee work on the Niger Delta, Nigerians are still waiting to know what is going to happen. I only hope that it will not be a campaign tool soon. There are no clear-cut guidelines for an acceptable political solution to regional underdevelopment in Nigeria. What we do have, though, are some ideas. Amongst them are; a meaningful devolution of power for the development of communities and a negotiation based settlement as exemplified by various regional developmental boards and recently; the creation of the Ministry of Niger Delta. 

A coat hanging behind a door gives the illusion that some one is standing there. That is how I feel the creation of the Ministry of Niger Delta is. It is like someone is standing there and I do hope it will be true that someone is really standing there. An illusion is a false perception of a real, external stimulus. Interestingly, and quite strategically, the government has attempted to present the creation of the Ministry of Niger Delta as something well thought out and formulated. The delayed developmental state of affairs of the region has made people in general to be cynical about talks on development and empowerment. If this current action fails because of the unsavory situation in the region, I bet we all can and will shift the blame of underdevelopment to the citizens of the region or past governments thereby distancing the current administration from any kind of responsibility and/or blame. 

So the new Ministry is now the next big thing. Following the announcement of its creation, people are shouting! People are grumbling! Others are happy! Thank you messages have poured in for Mr. President. Oh yes it appears that is what the people of the region want. But wait a minute! It may be politically expedient to create a Ministry but is it really what the people of the region want? I think we all know what the people want- development, empowerment and in some quarters self determination alias resource control. Therefore the question is; is this approach the best way to tackle the problem? I believe that what we lack is the will to wield the big stick in the best interest of the generality of the people of the region. After all, the President is empowered by our constitution to do so. 

So come to think of it is any body listening to what many people are saying? The man and his family in the village where the pollution and degradation are occurring daily do not care about a Ministry. In fact, they will not even know the name of the Ministry and its Minister and where it is located. They simply don’t care. All they care about is being able to enjoy water, light and have a place to live as well as have food to eat. They care about being able to go and fish and come back with a reasonable catch for their livelihood. They care about how to transport themselves. They care about their children going to school. The people who care about a Ministry are the politicians who want contracts and those who want to perpetually enslave the villagers. 

Any way, let’s come to the real point, what do we expect next after the creation of a Ministry? May be it is too early to comment. However, judging from the array of varied comments on the creation it appears all is not well with the idea. It does seem that only politicians are in total support of the new ministry. Doubts have been expressed about the workability of the Ministry. Issues have been raised about the bureaucracy that will be introduced by the Ministry into an already slow process of development by other parastatals that are currently in place. Already, we have seen the serious lobbying for which state had to produce the Minister and junior Minister. The NDDC was created to solve most of the problems which now face the Niger Delta Ministry. No body has questioned how the billions the NDDC was given has been spent. Has the NDDC been a value for money? There does not seem to be accountability so far and if that is extended to the new Ministry, then the region is doomed. I hope that unaccounted spending on juju and native doctors will not be part of the new Ministry because I am afraid people will do anything to keep themselves in the forefront of Government money in Nigeria. 

With the current level of agitation in the region, the creation of the Niger Delta Ministry portends a situation where confusion is in scope, where "governments" (and I'm using this term very informally) are contained by other governments. If this Ministry is to be a political solution, citizens of the region have the opportunity of real power to change things. But it won't happen by treating the new Ministry as a government but rather as an opportunity to task Mr. President to keeping to his words about developing the area. As usual feature and policy requests by citizens will only be taken very seriously if they fit in with the President’s grand scheme and if they perceive the changes to be potentially life changing especially the lives of the elites. This is usual thing we have seen before. 

My suggestion therefore to Mr. President is that the time is now for him to do something urgently. He should bring out a Marshal plan that is time bound. Something concrete and visible must be done before the 2011 elections. If not the region may not be safe to go and campaign. For many of us, what the region needs is a marshal plan with defined activities that are time specific and backed up by adequate funds. I believe that if the plans already on ground are implemented now the region will be a better place. 

The Presidential spokesman has said in press releases that the new Ministry will empower youths. We have just heard that the Ministry will not be employing. There are still embargoes on employment in the various Niger Delta states. We all know what empowerment of youths has been in the region. Governors and politicians empowered youths by providing arms for them to carry away ballot boxes. These youths have now turned the albatross to peace, development and stability in many of the states of the region. I have wondered how the creation of the ministry would then provide youths the opportunity to join hands with the government in transforming the area when at the various states’ level these youths have not taken up the opportunity currently being offered because of suspicion of sincerity of the governments. Many Governors are still battling with the monsters created by their predecessors in terms of militancy. I therefore wonder how the new Ministry will do it. 

I believe that the development of any region in Nigeria requires sacrifice from other regions. This I mean a compromise from the majority regions; they need to forgo certain privileges they have enjoyed in the past and invest in a more equal sharing of power with minority communities. This I guess is why the region’s elders had to protest recent NNPC appointments. I understand the President has acted promptly to stop the announcement of the various appointments. I am of the opinion that any attempt at a lasting political solution brings with it the risk of isolating the major populace of Nigeria at least for a short while. Are we ready for this? I hope we are! If we are not then development of the region through the creation of a Niger Delta Ministry will be a political illusion. 

Dr Anyanate Ephraim aephraim1@yahoo.co.uk.

Robot  # 1 | 12.02.2009 07:26

Niger Delta Ministry- Political solution or Political illusion? On the 1stof October 2009, Nigeria will be celebrating 49 years of independence. It would appear we are many months away but the reality is that it is so near. After all the politicians have started preparing for the next general election in 2011 (2010 in Anambra State). Since the end of the fact finding committee work on the Niger Delta, Nigerians are still waiting to know what is going to happen. I only hope that it will not be a campaign tool soon. There are no clear-cut guidelines for an acceptable political solution to regional underdevelopment in Nigeria. What we do have, though, are some ideas. Amongst them are; a meaningful devolution of power for the development of communities and a negotiation based settlement as exemplified by various regional developmental boards and recently; the creation of the Ministry of Niger Delta. A coat hangin...Read the full article.

olusiji  # 2 | 12.02.2009 08:44

Reading the patriotism flowing from your message Ephraim and your positive attempt to make useful suggestion one feels like making for his handkerchief and cry just momentarily first for the Delta, and the daughters the white labourers forgot in Port Harcourt. The rape is not just psychological and mental, it is even spiritual. What will a Ministry achieve other than what the millitary invented in OMPADEC and all other NDDC look alikes? What ae the current Ministries recording to change the poverty in the land? Fat cats, foreign travels, Better Life for Ministers wife you can see what I mean. Since the problems were first identified, nothing in form of serious attempts have been made to solve the critical human and cultural issues. If you have resource control, how will you force the Governor of your State to not repatriate the dollars to buy golf courses in Dubai? If you establish a Ministry, how will you manage the recurrent expenditure for salaries, bonuses and allowances not to mention fraud and open stealing. I believe the problem with Africa is that of impunity. Leaders can do anything and get away with murder. There are no consequences. Believe me, if Two Governors of the Delta can just go to jail for embezzlement and corruption today, Local Government Chairmen will spend money better and for what the budget states. At Federal, State and Local Government levels, impunity in corruption is the problem. This does not push aside your suggestion for more power devolution though. Corruption feeds fatter in a command structure like the unitarism we fake for federalism here.

giafaleye  # 3 | 12.02.2009 10:06

Just like the creation of ministry of power could not translate into constant supply of electricity no one should be under the illusion that creation of the ministry of Niger Delta would be any different. Nigeria and indeed the people of the Niger Delta still have a big river to cross. I suggest that a mechanism be put in place where our leaders could be held accountable alternatively the citizenry should hold their leaders accountable through any means possible.

Palamedes  # 4 | 12.02.2009 16:33

What Ministry of Niger Delta? Yet another conduit to create jobs for the boys—members of the divide-and-chop brigade. This is not negativity but inference from repetition (in one form or another) of the same failed policies of the past. As I said on another thread, the solution to the Niger Delta problem is two folds: (1) job creation and (2) better environmental management--everything else is vanity and sheer gimmick. I understand the President has acted promptly to stop the announcement of the various appointments. What use is a appointment if it is filled by the thieving Odilis of this world? When are Nigerians ever going to learn that appointing a tribesman is not a guarantee of better management, or better local accountability. Once he or she is initiated into the divide-and-chop brigade, and with an unconditional trust and support of the appointee's ethnicity, the level of mediocrity and corruption frequently surpass that of outsider appointees. To create jobs in the Niger Delta, the FGoN should give investors (both local and foreign ones) tax breaks, guarantees; provide trained workforce and security, and ensure that such businesses use local resources (particularly, local labour). These businesses should also be environmentally friendly and not add to the existing pollution of the Niger Delta.

Iyke  # 5 | 13.02.2009 04:06

YAradua was trying to hood-wink people with the Ministry of Niger-delta. Instead of adressing the main issues he complicated matters. Now the minister in-charge Ufot Ekaette recently said that the ministry is not hiring people for positions. No the fundamental question is this, if the ministry is not hiring, who and who are working in the ministry, dont tell us that people were deployed from other sectors, if so those sectors woul have inturn be open for positions. A functioning ministry will employ not less than twenty staffs. but who and who is there, nobody. A ministry of Niger-delta located in Abuja, is arrant nonsense.

EezeeBee  # 6 | 13.02.2009 07:40

Where is the 'Ministry of the Federal Capital Territory'? If Abuja can come to life and begin exist without a 'Ministry' (and with money from the Niger delta) then the Niger Delta DOES NOT need a separate Ministry. Yar'Adua is tired and toast. He and his 'kitchen cabinet' have NO IDEAS worth implementing and his 'reign' is letting the locusts have a field day with the lives of the Nigerian people.

denker  # 7 | 13.02.2009 07:59

Since the end of the fact finding committee work on the Niger Delta, Nigerians are still waiting to know what is going to happen. ..i no go take mouth put for here, until me know wetin dey inside dis committee report..any clue, anybodi?

PAPIG  # 8 | 15.02.2009 04:44

NIGER DELTA MINISTRY:ANOTHER AVENUE FOR MASSIVE STEALING If the Ministries of Health, Education and Power have presided over a country that has one of the highest infant and maternal mortality rate even in the West African sub-region and still rising; the outright collapse of our educational system and a medieval nation of killer generators; is it not outright STUPIDITY and MADNESS to expect a Niger-delta ministry to deliver to the long suffering and dying indigenes? Sorry, the ministry would deliver dividend but into the bottomless pocket of incorrigible thieves like Goodluck Jonathan, UMYA, Alaibe, Ibori, Igbinedion, Odili, Alams and their military partners North of the Niger and Benue Rivers. I predict it would be the biggest fraud that may have emanated from any government in history against the good people of the Niger delta. Is anybody being held to account for thievery and mismanagement involving previous Niger delta experiments like OMPADEC, NDDC and all the other useless bodies created to assuage the anger of the people? NIGER DELTA MINISTRY, most certainly not in my name. Getting rid of the PDP and the NIGERIAN MILITARY and ensuring ACCOUNTABILITY in our polity is a task that must be done. We absolutely have nothing to lose but our second slavery status made possible by thieves like Goodluck Jonathan, Alamiyeisegha, Peter Odili, UMYA, OBJ, IBB, David Mark, Tafa Balogun and Tony Anenihs of this world. These would be the real beneficiaries of a MINISTRY OF NIGER DELTA including the so called ELDERS OF THAT REGION.