Emeka Mamah
29 June 2008
Lagos — The northern group, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), says that leaders of the Niger Delta should be held responsible for the festering militancy problem in the region.
In a communiqué issued at the end of its national executive council meeting in Kaduna at the weekend, the ACF noted that it was regrettable that the people of the Niger Delta had gone through pains and hardship associated with environmental degradation from oil exploration without commensurate efforts at mitigating such suffering in the past.
However, according to the ACF, in spite of the huge resources accruing to the Niger Delta, the leaders "have not been able to translate such resources into developmental projects for enhanced standard of living for the people."
The northern group pointed out that recent regimes had embarked on spirited efforts to address the problems of the Niger Delta.
"Such efforts range from OMPADEC through the NDDC, to full implementation of 13 per cent derivation. That is why a state in the Niger Delta region would have a budget of N377 billion while another state in the same country would have N53 billion as its budget.
"In fact, as recent as last month, some states in the Niger Delta took home as much as N42 billion while many of the non-oil producing states went home with a paltry N6 billion," it said.
The communique went on: "The ACF thus appeals to the people of the Niger Delta region to have a rethink of their manner of agitations with a view to improving on their management practices of resources made available to them as well as to embark on constructive engagements with the rest of the country in the national interest of fairness, socio-economic justice and for unity of the country.
"Taking up arms against one's fatherland in an endless manner can never solve the problems.
More distressing is the fact that the insecurity being visited on the Niger Delta region by violent militants is internecine in the sense that it scares away foreign investors at our collective peril."
The ACF also said that the meeting deliberated on the "jumbo pay and generous allowances to public office holders."
The communique explained: "It tends to make politics and public offices better business in the country hence the drift from the private sector to cut throat politics which has become a contest of survival.
"There is this transparent corruption whereby the executive and legislative arms connive and award themselves remunerations and perquisites that make them live in affluent islands surrounded by a sea of misery.
"There should be value for money in our practices of governance. Consider a public officer leaving the office with full salary and allowances and still entitled to gratuity and a befitting house at a location of his choice. This practice offends the sense of justice of many people."
Read comments. Write your own.
Copyright © 2008 Vanguard. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
When discrimnatory laws like quota system, catchment areas and the much publicised educationally disadvantaged areas are in our law books, what has the north got to say about the national interest of fairness, socio-economic justice and for unity of the country. When successive Presidents are ministers or petroleum and appoint people from their states irrespective of whether they produce oil or not as group managers of NNPC where lies the talk about fairness. How many ministers of Abuja have emerged from the South South or the South East. We are sick of the hypocrisy of the ACF. If they are… [Read Full Text]
When discrimnatory laws like quota system, catchment areas and the much publicised educationally disadvantaged areas are in our law books, what has the north got to say about the national interest of fairness, socio-economic justice and for unity of the country. When successive Presidents are ministers or petroleum and appoint people from their states irrespective of whether they produce oil or not as group managers of NNPC where lies the talk about fairness. How many ministers of Abuja have emerged from the South South or the South East. We are sick of the hypocrisy of the ACF. If they are… [Read Full Text]
THE ISSUE OF MILITANCY IN THE NIGER DELTA IS VERY UNFORTUNATE INDEED. LETS US NOT RESORT TO ACCUSATIONS AND BLAMES RATHER FIND SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEMS. SINCE THE PRESIDENT IS SERIOUS TO RESOLVE THIS CRISIS, WRITE UPS ON BLAMES WILL NOT HELP THE MATTER. AREWA PEOPLE ARE CORRECT IN THEIR OBSERVATIONS. IF SO MUCH MONEY WAS RELEASED TO THESE REGIONS, WHERE IS THE ACCOUTABILITY FOR THE USAGE OF THESE MONEY. COSTANT AGITATION FOR MORE MONEY WITHOUT ACCOUNTABILITY CAN NEVER SOLVE THE PROBLEMS. NIGER DELTA SHOULD PUT THEIR HOUSE IN ORDER AND SEPERATE CRIMINAL ELEMENTS FROM REAL AGITATORS. THE PROBLEMS IN… [Read Full Text]
Yes it's true the past and present laeders of the Niger Delta set up and equipped these militants at the expence of the Niger Delta people to cover-up all their mis-rule and electoral malpractices. The federal goverment should do all it came with all its present resources to stop these miltants as they are not representing the interest of the region but to feed their habits. Those leaders SHOULD be BROUGHT to book while i recommend that the other regions should stop depending on the Niger Delta. Nigeria should develope all her resources and all takings for regional resources should… [Read Full Text]
The entire sectors of the Nigerian government are corrupt and dysfunctional. We have waited ages for changes. From the beginning of Obasanjo's regime to almost half way through Yaradua's regime. It is quite unfortunate that we still sit back and expect anything good from these government. It has lost its credibility and trustworthiness to both Nigerians and the entire Africpan community. I believe we should focus more on the environment and economy. Nigeria constitutes about .25 percent of the entire black Africa. The earlier we all stood up and said 'enough is enough', the better for us. Unfortunately it is… [Read Full Text]
Let us put the issues where they belong, the issue here is that the North is exploiting the South specifically the oil producing areas. Take a moment and think about it, if the oil deposits were located in the North does anyone think that the north would still be part of Nigeria? Hell No!
For AREWA Consultative Forum to suggest that the Niger Delta should be held responsible for festering militancy in the region is preposterous and insensitive to need of the people. First of all the people are living in abject poverty whereas the oil money from their backward… [Read Full Text]
Interesting! I wonder if they had any words of wisdom for the people of Kano and Kaduna states the youth militancy in those states which has terrorized many non-indigenes for over two decades now and scared away untold numbers of local and foreign investors.