The Nigerian Village Square - NPRC: Do Not Recreate Aburi

NPRC: Do Not Recreate Aburi

Sunday, 19 June 2005

By Taslim Anibaba, FCA

I wish to appeal to the National Conference delegates not to recreate Aburi and its consequences especially as it relates to derivation and resource control.

Aburi took place about 40years ago, and people who fail to learn from history make it possible for it to repeat itself.

In my opinion what is happening right now is another problem being scripted by the elites of the nation, the main actors during the performance stage being the poor masses, who will be sacrificed for the greed and lust for power of these elites.

I, like most other Nigerians strongly believe that the people of the south south deserve a better deal and should be taken care of by the Nigerian state. By south-south people, I mean the masses of the people who are affected by the environmental degradation, loss of income and properties, not the elites who live permanently in Lagos and other capitals of the world.

These elites as in most cases aliens to the people and are just fighting to take over and continue the oppression of the people that they pretend to be fighting for.

I also believe very strongly that there are several ways by which the problems of the south south can be solved. It is not only derivation or resource control that will solve the problem. Resource control and derivations are elitist and if recent experiences are anything to go by, derivation and resource control will not improve the lot of the masses.

The northern part of Nigeria currently feeds a large proportion of the country (yams, potatoes, grains, pepper etc). The north has been turned from a semi-desert to a food basket. This was made possible by the efforts of the federal and state governments via the encouragement of farmers, provision of fertilizers, all year round irrigation systems, provision of tractors,etc. The farmers are the direct beneficiaries.

Can we apply the same principle to the south south problem? Let us compile the list of communities affected by oil exploration and develop a plan to transform the areas such that the people will enjoy good life and also provide them with alternative employment; a Developmental plan of some sort.

Any program(s) for the south south should be people centered and not one that will simply enrich the elites. Right now all the efforts of government via derivation, nddc, etc have not achieved anything if the revelations of the south south delegates are anything to go by.
The people, not the elites deserve a better deal.
After listening to some of the arguments and submissions of some of the south south delegates I felt sorry for the masses. There are so many flaws, in their arguments.

One of them said resource control would enable other regions to look inwards and develop their own resources. That is being clever by half and presupposes: -

1. That Nigeria is not one single entity
2. That the oil was already discovered and developed by the south and it was taken from them.
3. That the south south have proprietary control over oil
4. That the south south have not benefited or benefiting from other regions

The truth of the matter is that Nigeria is as at today one indivisible country and no region can start to compartmentalize it just because it is convenient to do so.

Secondly oil was discovered during the war and was legislated to be a national resource . The law is still in existence. Perhaps somebody from the south south will tell us of the state of oil in Nigeria before the war; perhaps none of them knew of its existence before the war.

Now that it was discovered, legislated upon and so much investment (both local and foreign) have gone into its exploitation the elites in the south south are saying they want to control it, history appears not to be on their side.

Let us even ask, how much of Nigeria’s investment is in this sector? (Very minimal especially in the upstream sector)

You cannot reap where you did not sow and the legitimate cry for environmental degredation should be addressed via a well-articulated developmental programme, which all parties must adhere to. That is the only way to assist the masses.

Nigeria today is a country relying entirely on one resource. Any part that wants to control that resource exclusively should know the consequences of such an action - war.

Please let reason prevail and I will advise the conference takes urgent steps to get on-the-spot assessment of the problems in the south south so as to make informed decisions as to who and what require development and rehabilitation

Lastly, it is a known fact that even before the discovery of oil, the derivation formula applicable to the west and the north were suspended to provide funds for the prosecution of the civil war.

It is therefore not true that the formula of 50% derivation was suspended because of oil so as to deny certain people their dues or because certain people are minorities. We should not be dishonest because the records are there.

My appeal once again is that these elites should save us from another Aburi and its consequences and can the federal government please ask each of them to deposit their passports so that if they draw us to the precipice, they will be here too to taste of the consequences.

God bless Nigeria.

Taslim Anibaba (FCA) 18th, June 2005

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	# 1 By Taslim Anibaba, FCA I wish to appeal to the National Conference delegates ...Read the full article. Posted by Robot\| 01.05.2008 14:20

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