The Confessions of House Speaker Oladimeji Bankole

Sabella Ogbobode Abidde

Sabidde@yahoo.com

Mr. Oladimeji Sabur Bankole is the Speaker of the Nigerian House of Assembly. Although he recently joined the ranks of the Nigerian ruling class, he has steady roots in the Nigerian political landscape. Educated at home and abroad, he seems to have escaped most of the blemishes and shenanigans of the Nigerian political system, and as such tend to be more open-minded and more honest with his pronouncements. Even so, no one get to be the speaker of the Nigerian House, or of any House of Assembly, without rigorous schooling in the art of politics. And politics, for the most part, involves deception and the ability to doublespeak.

In his most recent interview (The Nation, 10/14/2009), Speaker Bankole did not exhibit either characteristics. What he did was tell it as it is. In Bankole to Niger Delta: your leaders failed you, the honorable speaker was quoted as saying: “If we are to be honest with ourselves, we have not been fair to the Niger Delta. We have been unfair to the Niger Delta. The Niger Delta has been producing the funds with which we’ve been running this country for so many years.” He got that right: Nigeria has been ridding on the back of the Niger Delta -- especially on the sweaty bareback of the oil-producing communities.

When you ride on people’s back, you may be tempted to take them for a ride, abuse them, exploit them, rape them, deride them, cause havoc to their ecology, encourage social tension and dislocation, and may see no reason to engage in the development of their land. You may not think of providing amenities and other forms of human security. And if you have god complex -- in addition to your tendency to use others -- you may even think they are beneath you, and so you do not see them as equals, as humans.

Indeed, this has been Nigeria’s approach to the oil-producing communities since the 1970s. And now that the Honorable Speaker, who is second or third in line of presidential succession, has confessed to a long-suspected national crime, it behooves the Nigerian Government to render an apology to the people of the Niger Delta, especially the oil-producing communities, for their crime of apathy, abandonment and neglect and for several years of environmental poisoning. After a confession, an apology follows, and then a remedy. In this instance, a public apology, followed by a Marshall Plan for the oil-producing communities is in order.

The Honorable Speaker continued: "The funds we used to build Abuja where I came from this morning, those lovely roads and bridges and offices came from the funds from the Niger Delta. I have not seen such bridges and roads in the Niger Delta. I haven’t. Until those roads and infrastructure come to the Niger Delta, well, we’ll continue to put the request on the front burner of Nigerian politics." To be fair, the Speaker discussed other salient issues -- some of which I agree with, others, I vehemently disagree with. But that is neither here nor there. 

We sometimes wonder if Nigerians – especially those living the good life – understands the type of fetidity those in the Riverine areas are consigned to. I wonder if they know that a sizeable number of those in creeks live an almost subhuman lifestyle: no potable water, no electricity, and no quality schools and health services. I wonder if they know that the most basic of all basics are scare in the Riverrine area -- the same region that sustains Nigeria. There are no lovely road and lovely bridges and lovely homes. Nothing in this region, save the people’s spirit and humanity, can be considered lovely. Life in the Riverrine area is hellish and energy sapping.

A little digression: I wonder if the Honorable Speaker knows any Emir, an Oba, or an Obi whose is not, directly or obliquely, involved in the oil trade? Is there a retired military officer, from the North, Middle Belt, East or West and who retired at the rank of colonel and above that is not in one fashion or another, involved in the oil trade? Are there roads, hospitals, airports, colleges and universities and other government institutions, built between 1970 and 2009 that was not constructed with a high percentage of oil money? What has the oil money done for the oil-producing communities?

Private mansions, from Lagos to Abuja and from Ilorin to Kano and Kaduna, were mostly built with legal and/or illegal earnings from oil. You go to Abuja, Kaduna, Lagos and several places in Nigeria, all you see are palatial homes and fancy cars with their owners going on vacation to some of the most beautiful places on the face of the earth. They go for medical treatments abroad, send their kids to the best schools abroad. How many of those living in the Riverrine areas can make such claims or have access to such opulence? These are the kinds of disparities these communities have been pointing out.

In the last 40 years, about half-a-million Nigerians have been sent overseas on state and federal government scholarships. Considering that Nigeria is a rentier state, one can safely assert that earnings from oil were responsible for their educational-joyrides. It was a good thing, but how many came from the oil-producing communities? Today, the thieving elites continue to send their children to universities abroad with oil money; meanwhile, Nigerian universities are bastions of 19-century education and infrastructure. Who does not know that American and European universities are citadels for children of the thieving elites? How many from the oil-producing communities have so benefited?

Back to where I was: When we hear certain elements from the Northern part of Nigeria speak about the oil-producing communities, we shudder in disbelief. Some speak about the Riverrine areas in contemptuous and derogatory terms. The Ijaw, for instance, are generally considered the trouble-makers, an ungrateful bunch of people. Heck, what should they be grateful for? We sometimes wonder if, in their calculations, they consider the Ijaw equals within the Nigerian polity. Government undercounts the Ijaw, undereducates and miseducates them, pollutes their environment, and promotes social discord, militarizes their land, inferiorizes their leaders, and then appropriates their oil. And then Nigerians wonder why the Ijaw are always agitating?

Consider this: The governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (and his posse) have variously argued that the North own the oil. But leave it to the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) to drum the songs of war. Some members of that body, some of whom I admire, would rather the government invade, expel and send these communities to the most desolate expanse of the Sahara Desert.

As yourself these: (a) how many citizens from the oil-producing area received scholarships to go abroad or attend Nigerian universities; (b) how many from the oil-producing communities have oil wells and/or are directly involved in the oil trade; (c) how many students from these districts are deployed by the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) to serve in the oil and gas sector; (d) how many university graduates from these locales have high paying jobs with the oil companies or the Nigerian oil ministry; (e) how many oil Ministers, since 1970, hail from the Niger Delta; (f) how many federal universities, polytechnics, hospitals and colleges of education and other institutions are located in the oil-producing communities.

Put another way: what’s the level of Federal Presence in these communities? Do you know? Even the much talked about Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) was a charade. It was nothing more than a money-making venture for political insiders.  Intelligence estimates of the last four years show that more about 70 percent of the prime contracts went to non-Niger Delta PDP contractors. For the most part, after mobilization and other fees were collected, contractors simply went their ways. In most instances, party stalwarts brought authorization papers from Abuja or Kaduna and contracts were awarded. These are the kinds of injustices justice-seeking groups have been fighting against.

The Honorable Oladimeji Bankole was, to a very large extend honest in his assessment. We’d like to reciprocate even though we have told the truth several times before: (a) the amnesty program will fail because it was built on deceits; (2) the government does not have viable post-amnesty plans; (3) the government does not have viable plans to develop the region; (3) the surrender of arms and ammunition was a just a show. More than two-thirds of those who surrendered were not militants; and (4) since the government had encourages cloak and dagger mentality, it will come back to harm her. Most of those who promoted the amnesty-fluff were only interested in their bank account and the expected political appointments.

And finally, Speaker Bankole went on to say that, “For some of you who have been to Lagos in the past one year, I’m sure you’ll notice the difference. And I’m not shy to appreciate that there is a difference in Lagos. It’s good governance.” Good governance? Holly Moses! Jah Jehovah!! Well then, it is time the government and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) start to promote good governance in the region. To this end therefore, the party should stop imposing the weak and the inept as governors on the people. Not doing so would be a fraction of absolution.

Robot  # 1 | 18.10.2009 13:26

...Read the full article.

lateesha  # 2 | 18.10.2009 17:12

Rubbish! as though he's not part of the problem. These politicians should all sharap! They are all thieves

emenanjo  # 3 | 18.10.2009 19:27

Dear Sabella, I thank you for the intellectual courage and gut you have brought into the genuine and sincere struggle of your people. Keep it up and may your pen never go dry.

padjekuko  # 4 | 19.10.2009 02:07

If Bankole is serious, let us see some action at the House of Representatives on behalf of the Nigerian people.By the way, I hear Bankole also has a daily allocation of Crude. Can he confirm or deny it? Philemon Adjekuko

Papino  # 5 | 20.10.2009 01:07

@Sabelle, it is amazing that you are taking Bankole anymore serious than a politician earger to engage his immediate environment in a situation where sympathy would give way to true character. The questions you need to answer include; Where was bankole making those statements? Who was present there? What purpose was his utterances made for? and so on.Is it not contradictory that the speaker of the house who has been there for well over two years would talk like a helpless Nigerian that is suggesting policy ideas. This guy can see that the business of house of Assembly stay with issues of would up-grade the living standards in the Niger Delta untill it is done and his inability to do so while, displaying a show of interest in the Niger Delta problematic, baffles me. Please get immuned to shows like that if you want to succeed in your chosen vocation of voicing out the inhumanity of man to his fellow man as per the ND region and the Nigerian state. Furthermore, don't you think that creating a ministry for ND, NDDC and other agencies with an aim to improved welfare and care of the Niger Deltans are genuine efforts of the government which the government should not be held accountable if mismanaged?. I know that people from the oil producing states are exclusively heading such outfits so, why are we not talking about the lack of commitment of those Niger Deltans who used positions of saving grace to achieve personal aims?. I think that second to the Nigerian governments insensitivity to the plight of the Niger Deltans is, the avarice and complete substitution of commitment to obvious pressing issues by the leadership of Niger Delta who seem to agitate only with an aim to fill their personal pockets. Untill honest characters take over both the government of Niger Delta states and carved out agencies for ameliorating the sufferings of the Niger Deltans,it would all be back to square one. Anybody that cannot account for little would also not be able to account for many so, while i totally support the need to do more for the Niger Delta region that has been the goose laying Nigeria's golden egg, let us also spell it out that those who have been chosen to manage the situation even from Niger Delta, have been selling out!

Agidimolaja  # 6 | 20.10.2009 01:39

If Sanusi and other Northern intellectual "mugus" like late Bala Usman argued it, that the oil belongs to the North, then they must be out of their minds as usual. I heard perverse late Bala Usman said it one time, that the oil came from the North.That the rain washed particles down from the North to the Niger Delta Area which then became oil for us today. I wondered in vain which science institution Bala Usman attended where he was taught such abominable theory. Bala Usman talked as if the North is in such a high place while the South is in deep slope as such that rain water descended from up there to the South. The intellectual "mugu" however did not tell us what is the annual rainfal in the North as such that it caused massive wash-down to deepsouth. Sanusi and others should know that the oil in Niger Delta Area has never belonged to the North nor to any ethnic group including the Ijaws. The oil belongs to The Federal Government of Nigeria who discovered it and developed it. In a way, the oil belongs to the people of Nigeria which includes Niger Delta natives. Facts cannot be denied! Bankole is right, that the roads, buildings,institutions, etc were built with proceeds from oil.No one is out to contest those indisputable facts. But let the truth be spoken further,are Ijaws and other Niger Delta natives not sharing the enjoyments of those infrastructures?Yes,they are. The Universities that were built with oil proceeds, were students from Niger Delta Area denied admissions into any of those institutions?Are there any institution in Nigeria today with no considerable number of Niger Delta children?None to the best of my knowledge. The houses in Abuja built with oil proceeds,are natives of Niger Delta not among residents and owners of those houses? The roads that were bult with oil proceeds,do natives of Niger Delta travel on those roads. What then is new about few visible things that could be seen as built with proceeds from oil. Criminal violent MEND went to bomb oil instaation in Lagos and vowed to go ahead and destroy the bridges and anything that was built with oil money.They are all so stupid and senseless. Is it in the knowledge of those criminal buffoons that there is a large number of Niger Delta natives in Lagos who are using those bridges along with other Nigerians to transact daily businesses? Is it in their knowledge that while natives of Niger Delta were coming to Lagos,they travelled along the roads built with proceeds from oil? Why will fools like MEND go out to destroy infrastructures that their own people are also using and enjoying? Unfortunately,Bankole spoke as if Niger Delta natives have been denied access to any of those things that were put in place with oil proceeds. Bankole also failed to mention it that those who made life so hard for the helpless masses of Niger Delta included their own people,their own leaders,their own political bigshots,civil servants,elites etc. While Bankole acknowledged the predicaments of Niger Delta Area,he failed deliberately as the speaker of the house to tell us in plain language how the problems would be solved.It is not enough to acknowledge the problems,it is of great importance to help us find solutions to them. Facts cannot be denied! Niger Delta Area is neglected. But,if I may ask,which part of the nation{less Abuja} is not neglected,including Bankole's Ogun State? Living conditions in Niger Delta is as poor as in other parts of the country. Which part of the country can boast of good schools,hospitals,pipewater etc? I can understand the feelings of Niger Delta natives considering the fact that oil is on their native soil. But that is all about it.Your sufferings are almost the same as our sufferings in other parts of the country because the likes of Bankole are not out there to develop the country.Rather their {political elites}top priority is illegal fat bank accounts. Since Independence,the North have been in the fore front of ruling Nigeria as arranged for them by the colonial masters.Northern oriented political party always controlled the Federal Government;NPC,NPN and PDP. It is so sad however that the poorest and the most backward area of Nigeria is the same North that is always on the driver's seat of the nation by controlling the Federal Government. Sabella always cry out asking,"where is our oil money?" My answer to that question remains the same - in the private foreign accounts of our elites,political big guys,retired military Generals,top civil servants,opportunists and errand boys of which the largest number of them are Northerners. Bankole is a typical Nigerian elite.He talked the talk but he cannot walk the walk.

Dreams  # 7 | 20.10.2009 06:04

Old Soldier; You did not disappoint with this response. The usual cunning intelligence that could be found in your kind. This is why Nigeria has made so much progress. Bravo =Agidimolaja;397298>If Sanusi and other Northern intellectual "mugus" like late Bala Usman argued it, that the oil belongs to the North, then they must be out of their minds as usual. I heard perverse late Bala Usman said it one time, that the oil came from the North.That the rain washed particles down from the North to the Niger Delta Area which then became oil for us today. I wondered in vain which science institution Bala Usman attended where he was taught such abominable theory. Bala Usman talked as if the North is in such a high place while the South is in deep slope as such that rain water descended from up there to the South. The intellectual "mugu" however did not tell us what is the annual rainfal in the North as such that it caused massive wash-down to deepsouth. Sanusi and others should know that the oil in Niger Delta Area has never belonged to the North nor to any ethnic group including the Ijaws. The oil belongs to The Federal Government of Nigeria who discovered it and developed it. In a way, the oil belongs to the people of Nigeria which includes Niger Delta natives. Facts cannot be denied! Bankole is right, that the roads, buildings,institutions, etc were built with proceeds from oil.No one is out to contest those indisputable facts. But let the truth be spoken further,are Ijaws and other Niger Delta natives not sharing the enjoyments of those infrastructures?Yes,they are. The Universities that were built with oil proceeds, were students from Niger Delta Area denied admissions into any of those institutions?Are there any institution in Nigeria today with no considerable number of Niger Delta children?None to the best of my knowledge. The houses in Abuja built with oil proceeds,are natives of Niger Delta not among residents and owners of those houses? The roads that were bult with oil proceeds,do natives of Niger Delta travel on those roads. What then is new about few visible things that could be seen as built with proceeds from oil. Criminal violent MEND went to bomb oil instaation in Lagos and vowed to go ahead and destroy the bridges and anything that was built with oil money.They are all so stupid and senseless. Is it in the knowledge of those criminal buffoons that there is a large number of Niger Delta natives in Lagos who are using those bridges along with other Nigerians to transact daily businesses? Is it in their knowledge that while natives of Niger Delta were coming to Lagos,they travelled along the roads built with proceeds from oil? Why will fools like MEND go out to destroy infrastructures that their own people are also using and enjoying? Unfortunately,Bankole spoke as if Niger Delta natives have been denied access to any of those things that were put in place with oil proceeds. Bankole also failed to mention it that those who made life so hard for the helpless masses of Niger Delta included their own people,their own leaders,their own political bigshots,civil servants,elites etc. While Bankole acknowledged the predicaments of Niger Delta Area,he failed deliberately as the speaker of the house to tell us in plain language how the problems would be solved.It is not enough to acknowledge the problems,it is of great importance to help us find solutions to them. Facts cannot be denied! Niger Delta Area is neglected. But,if I may ask,which part of the nation{less Abuja} is not neglected,including Bankole's Ogun State? Living conditions in Niger Delta is as poor as in other parts of the country. Which part of the country can boast of good schools,hospitals,pipewater etc? I can understand the feelings of Niger Delta natives considering the fact that oil is on their native soil. But that is all about it.Your sufferings are almost the same as our sufferings in other parts of the country because the likes of Bankole are not out there to develop the country.Rather their {political elites}top priority is illegal fat bank accounts. Since Independence,the North have been in the fore front of ruling Nigeria as arranged for them by the colonial masters.Northern oriented political party always controlled the Federal Government;NPC,NPN and PDP. It is so sad however that the poorest and the most backward area of Nigeria is the same North that is always on the driver's seat of the nation by controlling the Federal Government. Sabella always cry out asking,"where is our oil money?" My answer to that question remains the same - in the private foreign accounts of our elites,political big guys,retired military Generals,top civil servants,opportunists and errand boys of which the largest number of them are Northerners. Bankole is a typical Nigerian elite.He talked the talk but he cannot walk the walk.

busanga  # 8 | 20.10.2009 15:30

Your essay on truth telling by our young Speaker is prescient less this point: Consider this: The governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (and his posse) have variously argued that the North own the oil. But leave it to the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) to drum the songs of war. Some members of that body, some of whom I admire, would rather the government invade, expel and send these communities to the most desolate expanse of the Sahara Desert. I respectfully disagree with your assessment of what the CBN boss said as reported by Peter Ekeh in that essay you linked too. Indeed, short of hearsay, there is nothing in that essay that proves Sanusi argued the North own the oil, less Peter Ekeh's imagination and must I say hatchet job. Characters are smeared by hearsay and we must avoid that especially when it relates to casual public commentators that today abound on the Internet who can be both the beneficiary and victims of hearsay attribution. Indeed, the said Essay where Sanusi..., and I see no reference to Niger Delta oil, less a defense of the intellectual underpinnings of Bala Usman overall submission on race and ethnicity in Nigeria. In the kernnel to Prof. Ekeh's deception and obfuscation of fact can be found in this tucked away paragraph in his long tirade: Sanusi’s follow-up response became less shrill and showed a different side of him. He abandoned his previous effort to take me to a degradation ceremony by alleging that I had committed “intellectual suicide.” Uncommonly for his much advertised aristocratic class, Sanusi allowed that injustice had been committed in the Niger Delta. It was in the course of that calmer correspondence that Sanusi sent me a copy of a paper (“Issues in Restructuring of Corporate Nigeria”) for publication in www.waado.org, a Web site that I edit. Well, emphasis at bold..and you now know why the Professor will be made at Lamido, and then attribute a claim wrongly to him. Indeed, I see Prof. Ekeh's false submission as nothing more than an ego trip! And why will Sanusi send him his progressive submission if not to shield himself from the ethnic-race card that old southern war horses like Prof Ekeh are quick to flash at their Hausa-Fulani counterparts ? :D Indeed, Peter Ekeh's own reference of Sanusi's essay delievered at the Arewa forum points at the exact opposite of what he attributed to the man. In an essay, ISSUES IN RESTRUCTURING COR... , the man laid out a vision based on his progressive chops. Peter Ekeh motivation in twisting the man's word to suit his twisted resistance of his appointment to the CBN is just what it should be seen as: a desperate hatchet job. Enough said.

Agidimolaja  # 9 | 21.10.2009 00:27

@ Dreams, whatever is whatever. Facts cannot be denied!

Dreams  # 10 | 22.10.2009 07:52

=Agidimolaja;397610>@ Dreams, whatever is whatever. Facts cannot be denied! Where are your facts???