Sir: For those unfamiliar with the acronym, ‘DESOPADEC’, it is simply a contraction of the Delta State Oil Producing Area Development Commission.
The interventionist agency was created by the enabling Act in Delta State, to secure 50 per cent of the 13 per cent Oil Derivation Fund accruing to Delta State government and the received sum used for rehabilitation and development of oil-producing areas of the state as well as carry out other development projects as may be determined from time to time.
From the above, it becomes evident that the commission was designed to play a key role in attracting development, build infrastructure and provide well planned fiscal incentives and most importantly establishing good relationships with oil and gas-producing communities while creating sound policies that will fundamentally enable private enterprises to operate successfully in the area.
It, however, becomes not only disturbing but a contradiction of sort that the same DESOPADEC which was created to achieve the above objective had under previous boards regrettably gone astray with consistency in poor performance, thereby creating a frosty relationship between itself and the Oil and Gas Host communities.
From the deep sense of crisis that have characterised/trailed DESOPADEC existence, one important fact that must not be hidden from the Commission’s new board is that the DESOPADEC they inherited enjoys more burden than goodwill. There is a glaring trust deficit.
There is no doubt that the agency has a sincere desire to move the oil and gas parts of the state forward, but there are, in my view, two major factors. First, there is no clear definition of their problem, the goals to be achieved, or the means chosen to address the problems and to achieve the set goals. Secondly, the system has virtually no consideration for connecting the poor with good means of livelihood-food, job, and security. This is the only possible explanation for this situation.
To solve this lingering challenge, the recently inaugurated members of DESOPADEC board must first admit that many of the villages and communities within its preview daily tell stories of a people without a good survival record. They are at intervals either sacked or their property destroyed by flood, their people particularly children decimated or dispersed. They endure poverty, economic powerlessness and outright deprivation. This is the order of the day among oil and gas-bearing communities in the state.
This particular fact calls on the new board to commence thinking of creative ways to develop/implement plans and policies that will lead to emergence of legacy infrastructures in the area. This effort should begin with establishment of schools for basic studies for these community dwellers.
Jerome-Mario Chijioke Utomi is the programme coordinator (Media and Public Policy), Social and Economic Justice Advocacy (SEJA), Lagos.
