Abdul-Rahman Abubakar
17 November 2007
opinion
From whom much is received, an equal proportion must be returned. This saying is in complete contradiction to the situation in the oil rich Niger Delta.
The area alone contributes about 80 per cent of the total revenue of the country but apart from penury and complete deface to the natural environment, nothing seems to have been given back to it.
The Niger Delta, comprising nine oil producing states, have some of the most dilapidated infrastructure in the country-where they exist at all. In most parts of the delta, no single federal project had ever been cited. Speaking to senators on a visit to Bayelsa State, Governor Timipre Sylva said the situation was unfortunate as the area receives "only 13 per cent derivation but bears the remaining 87 per cent" of the brunt alone.
Of all the obstacles posed to development in the Niger Delta, the challenge of environmental degradation and poor ecological base is the most daunting. Most of the surface area of the region is covered with water and marshland. This makes the task of construction and building infrastructures more difficult and expensive than in other parts of the country where lands are firm and can support the structures.
In Bayelsa State, where 85 per cent of the total land area is covered by water, no federal project is going on at present. All federal projects approved in the state have been abandoned by contractors due to unquoted additional cost of first creating land from water-logged surface areas to support their projects. Sylva told senators that for a project to commence, millions of naira would be required to first create land on which to build these projects, thus doubling the original cost. Sylva said about N30 billion is needed to protect Yenagoa from being consumed by surging water.
Oil exploration is supposed to be a source of economic empowerment and social well being to the people. But the oil boom has since turned to doom for the people of Niger Delta as the environmental problems in the area are aggravated by crude oil exploration. Oil spillage has claimed thousands of hectares of land which were hitherto used as farmlands. In Ikot Ado Udo community of Akwa Ibom State, an abandoned oil well caused spillage covering a large surface area used for farming.
The higher cost of developing the area compared to other parts of the country, and the resultant lack of political will to arrest the situation have left the region backwards.
The people of Ogbea in Bayelsa State said that October 31, 2007, was the first day a serving governor of the state as well as federal officials ever visited the community. There is nothing on ground to indicate that the community is part of the larger Nigerian society.
As the people continue their livelihood under such harsh conditions, one interesting thing is how oil companies contradict the posture of government that claims not to do enough due to the difficult nature of the terrain. In most parts of the oil producing areas it is common to find European style camps of foreign oil workers with all the basic amenities. Those living in these camps enjoy life and affluence. They have potable drinking water, uninterrupted power supply, good roads, good schools, standard hospitals and plenty to always wine and dine. But just a mile away, the locals whose resource is being tapped are living in complete contradiction of what their wealth can procure.
In most parts of the Niger Delta, the situation of roads requires immediate attention. Indeed there are no roads in the region. What exist are mere deathtraps. Children in the region mostly attend open schools with no roof over their heads. They are also made to either provide their own stools and desks or make do with logs or even sit on sand.
With so much water, the people of Niger Delta have very little to drink. As oil spillage continues to pollute streams and rivers, dwellers of oil producing communities have no choice but to drink contaminated water that cause various kinds of diseases.
These trend and many other challenges that the people face everyday have drastically raised the level of their vulnerability to different kinds of bacteria and disease infections. As a result the life expectancy of the people is now as low as 37 years in some of the areas.
The neglect of the area is not without the connivance of some 'sons of the soil'. Politicians and leaders of the Niger Delta are accused of not investing substantial part of the 13 per cent derivation which they receive from the federation account into infrastructural development and human capacity building.
Past administrations at state and local government level in the area have failed to adequately utilize the 13 per cent derivation given to them. Senators expressed concern over the way corruption and administrative neglect has now pitched the people against government.
One of the Senators from Bayelsa State, Nimi Barigha Amange, accused state governments of looting the monies meant for the development of the region. Amange queried that why NDDC funds were used to rehabilitate roads in Port Harcourt city when there is a state government that collects monthly federal allocation. He called for increase in derivation but said; "the money must come straight to the NDDC, it should not come through state governors because our governors are not helping matters."
Youths in the Niger Delta are mostly unemployed and therefore vulnerable to crime and other anti social behaviors. The resultant is high crime rate, prostitution, political thuggery and vandalization of government installations such as pipelines and power lines. Today the youths have become the major obstacle to citing projects in their own communities, because they demand for compensation from anything that is government whether good or bad. For a project to receive their support (that means they would not vandalize) they must be given compensation before its commencement. Senate President David Mark warned youths in the area to desist from such acts. He said, "Some of you group yourselves into gangsters and create problems for government. If you form gangsters government will deal with you as gangsters."
Apart from the youths, another group found culpable in the crisis bedeviling the region are the elders. Mark said some of the old men have constituted themselves into cogs in the wheel of advancement of the region. "We have many elders in the Niger Delta who contribute to the problem of the area. They create problems so that they can be called upon to proffer solutions. Such elders must desist from such acts," he said.
As President Umaru Yar'Adua takes steps of improving the lots of the people of Niger Delta one group that he must be wary of are politicians from the region, who may want to sweet-talk him into entrusting them with the destiny of the people. Many a time such people have failed their kinsmen. The president marched words with action as he has increased the funds meant for the NDDC from a paltry sum of N24 billion allocated by Obasanjo last year to N69.9 billion in the 2008 budget. This money must not be allowed to fall into the hands of money profiteers who can mortgage anything including the joy and wellbeing of their generations yet unborn.
It seems the present administration wishes to bring brighter days to the people of Niger Delta. What is left now is for politicians, youths, militants and elders of the region to cooperate in ensuring that a peaceful enabling environment is created to allow for immediate intervention in areas of need.
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