Without sounding disparaging of the efforts and contributions of the Federal Government in seeking to bring the impasse in the Niger Delta under control and to its long overdue end, I believe there are some decisions which would be hard put to prove that they represent the aspirations of the generality of the citizens of Niger Delta.

For instance, in an attempt to solve the Niger Delta issue, the President in the last two years has made many pronouncements in his wisdom. These include; the setting up of the Niger Delta Technical Committee chaired by Ledum Mittee, the setting up of the Niger Delta Ministry headed by two distinguished gentlemen from the Niger Delta with a take-off budget of about fifty billion Naira, the Presidential panel on Amnesty with a request for fifty billion Naira and the reconstitution of the NDDC board with an estimated ninety-six billion Naira budget. Also, just before our President travelled out to Italy for the G8 summit, he appointed Timi Alaibe as his Honorary Adviser on Niger Delta matters as well as chief negotiator on amnesty. Looking at all these, one is bound to believe that something is being done and the President really means well.

We can see that the amount of money already estimated to be spent on the region is getting to two hundred (200) billion Nara. But what is my concern and I believe which should make Nigerians ponder? If the Niger Delta were to be a personal business, will whoever owns this business put in all these to get it going the way it is being done now? Do we need all these interventionist agencies at the same time in one basket? Are all these pronouncements and appointments value for money? What is worth doing is worth doing well. Does it not appear as if the government is playing to the gallery? I very much think that I am not alone in this season of doubt. I have always said that what we need is just one body to do the things necessary to develop the Niger Delta because there is an English proverb that says one person with a belief is equal to ninety-nine who have only interests. What the area needs is physical development. The moment there is such development, all other things will key into it. I very much believe that even the boys and girls carrying arms will drop them and embrace peace because they will see things on ground that can compare with any developed part of the world.  And I do not think we need all these organisations and committees to achieve it. People may say how can there be development without a peaceful environment? However, I have a very strong optimism that once pronouncements awarding the contracts are made, the change will come into place.

The many bureaucratic agencies and committees being set up only create more doubts in the minds of many Nigerians. Karl Max once said that ‘For the bureaucrat, the world is a mere object to be manipulated by him’. I just hope that our President has not turned himself into a bureaucrat because posterity will not forgive him and time is not his friend when it comes to the Niger Delta issue. In the Niger Delta, we are not in a position in which we have nothing to work with. We already have capacities, talents, direction, missions and callings. There is already a master plan. All that is needed is to put the infrastructure down. We need roads and bridges, to connect our towns and villages, new cities or expand the old ones. These activities will create employment and engage the youths.

The current situation as it is in the Niger Delta with the many interventionist agencies is akin to what we can call in medicine a potentially inappropriate drug combination which comes with its inherent risks. Has the government thought about the fact that there appear to be too many cooks now all wanting to cook one soup?  I mean there seems to be all these levels of banter, leaders talking to leaders, Ministers talking to ministers, delegates talking to delegates, who the hell is supposed to be actively doing things? One of the more common mistakes that I’ve found with governments in the past is the propensity to seek to have a huge Public Relations campaign by pressing many big buttons at the same time when in reality all that’s needed is a fewer, more targeted ones that would be built on active physical development. I do not think the people of the region will believe that the more the number of intervention agencies that are set up the better.

Taking into consideration the government’s intransigency over the years, the current perceived activism or the quiet diplomacy and the devastating schism within the ranks of the militants, it will be a remarkable achievement that all parties will finally agree to take seats around a negotiating table. It will be a step forward, furthermore, that they will have to, without any acrimony being generated, agree on an agenda to guide the negotiations and the amnesty.

There are too many Niger Deltans and Nigerians who are not pinning their last hopes on the success of these latest initiatives, given the likely possibility and consequences of failure and given a situation where the oil economy is gradually reaching stages of total collapse. While the Government has clearly reached the end of its tether, the backs of the people have finally been driven against the wall, with no room for further retreat or tightening of belts.

To my fellow Niger Deltans, now that the amnesty has officially begun, I would appeal that in the absence of evidence of any other viable proposal for a solution to our current catastrophe in the region; we have little option but to lend our support to the current initiatives. Even if Niger Delta is low down on the 7-point agenda, let us see what the Government can do.  My advice to the Federal Government is to bring together all bodies with the sole aim of developing the region through dialogue because the Niger Delta is too important a soup to leave in the hands of many cooks and time is of the essence.  

Robot  # 1 | 08.08.2009 10:20

Without sounding disparaging of the efforts and contributions of the Federal Government in seeking to bring the impasse in the Niger Delta under control and to its long overdue end, I believe there are some decisions which would be hard put to prove that they represent the aspirations of the generality of the citizens of Niger Delta. ...Read the full article.