George Oji
29 June 2008
Kaduna — Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), the umbrella socio-cultural organisation for the northern states, has blamed the persistent militancy in the Niger Delta region on the failure of leaders from the area.
The ACF accused the leadership of the region of not translating the huge resources accruing to the Niger Delta into developmental projects for enhanced standard of living for the people.
The forum's position was contained in a communiqué issued at the end of its national executive council at the weekend in Kaduna.
While sympathising with the people of the region over the pains and hardship they suffer, particularly the environmental degradation from oil exploration, the ACF said a large share of the blame must go to the leaders who have had opportuniities to redress such situations without doing so.
Acording to ACF, "It must be pointed out that recent regimes have embarked on spirited efforts to address the problems of the Niger Delta region.
"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.
"If these huge resources have not translated into developmental projects and enhanced standard of living, then it is simply not fair to blame the national government alone; the managers of these resources to the Niger Delta region are more culpable.
"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 by violent militants is internecine in the sense that it scares away foreign investors at our collective peril."
The communiqué also frowned at what the ACF described as "jumbo pay and generous allowances to public office holders," regretting that the development tends to make politics and public offices better business in the country.
"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."
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