Woes of the oil-bearing communities
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, was arguably at his empathetic best when he issued an impassioned statement over the state of the Niger Delta oil communities to underscore the failure of the Federal Government to adequately address the plight of the ravaged people and their environment. He will do well to go beyond lamentations and use his good offices to mobilise action for the improvement on the lives of the people of the Niger Delta.
After sixteen years of democratic governance, the ideal is that some positive changes would have taken place, giving the people hope and dousing the tension in the region. But that, unfortunately, is not the case. The people are much more in despair and aggrieved by their plight in a nation that has been built solely on their resources.
The Speaker made his remarks during the National Stakeholders Summit on Petroleum Industry Reforms organised by the House Committee on Petroleum in Abuja. He said the legislature was determined to draft a law for the industry that will be in the interest of Nigerians, repeating the familiar line that Nigeria remains one of the richest countries in the world but has not been able to effectively maximise its immense oil and gas potentials and the revenue accruing from them.
Dogara’s expressed frustration points to the fact that not much has really been done to redress the environmental degradation and blight plaguing the region. In a way, it means that the actions and strategies applied so far have been ineffective and need to change
The heart-rending state of the oil communities is well known and has been the root of armed agitations. The injustice to the people has drawn international attention as decades of oil prospecting and exploitation have blighted the communities even as their livelihood have been devastated.
Oil pollution and gas flaring have degraded both land and water surfaces, thereby rendering fishing and farming impossible. Though, the Muhammadu Buhari administration has launched the Ogoniland cleanup programme, as prescribed in the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report, real action is yet to commence, even, as the project represents a tip of the iceberg, given the magnitude of degradation and devastation in the entire region.
But while that and other remedial measures are being proposed, the people need to live a meaningful life. The absolute neglect of the communities evident in the lack of basic social amenities highlights the degree of injustice the people suffer.
It is commendable that Dogara has recognised that problems abound in the Niger Delta, which can only be solved by concrete action, he and his fellow lawmakers should also effect changes through appropriate legislations.
The establishment of the Niger Delta Ministry and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), among others, have come to be regarded as mere tokenism and their impacts have been negligible. Not even the amnesty programme has proven good enough a solution to the problems.
Nothing short of a massive construction effort in the manner of Abuja, built from the scratch, is desirable in the region and can assuage the people’s agitations.
The neglect of the region has created room for the emergence of several militant groups including the dreaded Niger Delta Avengers, which at present is a thorn on the flesh of the Federal Government.
Certainly, government needs to create the enabling environment for investment and improved livelihood in the region for all to have peace.
After years of oppression and suppression which have not worked, wisdom demands that government returns to the drawing board with the view to doing the appropriate things in the interest of peace, justice and equity.
Otherwise, the country’s economy will continue to bleed as a result of vandalization and attacks on oil facilities. For example, the country’s crude oil output has been on steady decline since the Avengers stepped up attacks on oil pipelines thereby drastically reducing the income accruable to government.
As part of its first gesture of seriousness about ending injustice in the region, President Muhammadu Buhari should take personal charge of the development initiatives in the Niger Delta and visit the place regularly. Also, the Ministry of the Niger Delta, NDDC, NNPC and other oil prospecting outfits should be compelled to relocate to the Niger Delta even if only in symbolic show of their readiness to identify with the people of the region.
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16 Comments
Anger won’t let me read all the write up in this publication, but I can tell you that the major issue we have in the Niger delta is government inability to engage capable heads in managing the affairs of NDDC and other commissions setup to develop that region. what happened to the billions of naira that NDDC and other commissions have collected in the last years since their enactment? No accountability and nothing viable to show and its managers are now billionaires while the local whallo in poverty…. Shame shame.
I am full on your side, all this chiefs of local communities up to NDDC should be stoned, they took all the billions of naira to enrich himself.
Precisely here we can see how stupid these NDA idiots are.
The youths of those communities should lead the struggle against those thieves hiding amongst them.
You forgot the governors and the 13% derivations? They are not being given state allocations from the federal because they are the best boys in politics but to develop the states and improve the welfare of the people. Where does all these money go to?
Thank you my guy.
You see my problem with some Igbo people?
Just read his comment again. So appalling and senseless.
Why they hate hausa so much I don’t understand.
I just don’t get it.
During the building of empty land called ABUJA was the money given to anyone or did the Federal Government took it upon them selves to build and develop ABUJA in only two years with money from the NIGER DELTA.
How much was given to NDDC and others?.
How much was given to the NIGER DELTA MINISTRY?
These were empty-Purse-Deceiving================= Nigeria’s Style Corruption
The Government should arrest those they gave money to develop NIGER DELTA—- If at all they gave any money out.
No cunning Igbo man can deceive we Nigerdeltans.
We know how our governors raped our Treasury.
We know how much has been allocated to NDDC and how much has been squandered.
Stay in your southeast, you don’t belong here. Don’t agitate for us.
Indomie brain.
Impartially speaking i beg to wonder why you impute tribal animosity to a relevant comment from a citizen of a democratic society? Your atavistic behavior sounds really like you are not a niger deltan but an agent provocateur sent to create contentious disputations among tribes. This portends another dangerous dimension to this troubled democracy. Drop this vice like hot potato
Hon.Obayangbo, is that you?
Fools die for want of wisdom. Niger Delta is made of up Nine States in your foolishness you can name them. Even with your oil which Igboland are part of oil producing states, you all are nothing to the IGBO and can never be anything compare to IGBO, you slaves
Igbo business makes more money than the oil that come out of your ravaged areas.
Yes, they make more money through money rituals.
Ewu!
????????
It all burst down to the same demon called corruption.
Over and over again Nigeria keep singing the same song and making the same mistakes. There is no law anywhere that says it is the responsibilities of the federal government to develop the SS. The region just like the rest of Nigeria is divided into states and these states into local governments. These states in addition to their monthly revenues also get 13% derivation funds. Where does all these money go?
The people of the SS should hold the governors to ransom to account for their allocations. If River state is not hosting the PDP national convention today, Edo, Akwa Ibom or Bayelsa etc are jostling for position to do so so from whatever is left from settling politicians demon fathers and what the governors have not stolen, how can there ever be development in these case?
These governors are busy using state resources to import arms to arm jobless acutely ignorant miscreants and nuisances in the society calling themselves avengers and militants who do not know why they are armed and to whom they are supposed to turn the guns. Why would you allow someone to rob you, lead the high life with the commonwealth he has stolen from you and at the same time allow him to send you to the creeks to deal with mosquitoes and diseases because he has political scores to settle. If you are not ignorant, why not ask him first what he does with your state monthly allocations that has never ceased to come?
Oh my God!
You nailed it again!
I haven’t finished your comment yet,i just read the first and second paragraph, and that is exactly what I have been telling my brothers in the Delta and even those Biafra Agitators. what did the successive Governors,deputy Governors, senators, house of representatives honourable, house of assemblies honourables, ministers and local government chairmen did with the monies they have received since 1999?
pls speaker, compute the 13% they give they states every month before you conclude. the problem is that this region push all the blame to the center while the state government just squanders the 13%. i am not exhorting the center but if the center cannot find a solution to these problems , the state can always do there part
Dogara, the half clever budget padder lacks the moral impetuosity to adequately address the niger delta issue. With each passing day nigeria degenerates further and deeper into the riddle in a mysterious puzzle inside an enigma. The
nation awaits another bout of big oil windfall to bask in renewed ostentatious depravity and totally forget this nightmare that lays it reckless soul bare. This sums it all despite the erudite socioeconomic pontifications playing to the galleries
We will review and take appropriate action.