Four centuries of slavery and a century of colonialism built the great metropoles of Europe and North America but left holes in the landscape of Africa. In the same vein, fifty years of oil exploitation and exploration built the mega-city of Abuja but left pollution in the Niger-Delta.

Crude oil from the Niger-Delta constitutes about 90 per cent of the nation's foreign earnings and close to 80 per cent of total earnings. The current 63 billion dollar foreign reserves (which may be threatened by the meltdown in US financial markets, that has set off the current wave of global financial crisis) came from the Niger-Delta. Without petroleum products, there is no life in Nigeria. In fact, shut down the oil wells today and the nation comes to a standstill.

It is the oil from the Niger-Delta that built the National Stadium and National Theatre in Lagos, among other edifices. It is the black gold from the South-South that constructed the Kaduna, Katsina, Maiduguri and Sokoto Airports, among other monuments. The Federal Universities of Technology in Owerri, Akure and Universities of Agriculture in Makurdi and Abeokuta were erected by the money that came from the Niger-Delta region. All the states in Nigeria depend on oil revenue to build even a common market in their local councils. Without oil, there will be no salaries and allowances for members of the executive, legislature and judiciary. Without the petro-dollar, Nigerian politicians will go stony broke !

In a way, this monocultural economy is the greatest insecurity any nation can face. And this is one of the major reasons why the Yar'Adua government had to surrender the remaining portions of Bakassi- a Nigerian territory- to Cameroun. Nigeria can ill-afford war in the Niger-Delta. Who says oil prices cannot crash to a record level as witnessed in the late 70s, 80s and 90s. In this era of development of alternatives to fuel from hydrocarbon coupled with the fact that Nigeria's oil wells will dry up in at most 50 years' time, is it sensible for a nation to continue on this road of indolence and profligacy? Must we not attend to the ageless cries of the solid mineral resources in all the regions of the nation?

The Niger-Delta is a beleaguered region of Nigeria. Of all oil bearing regions in the world, she is the most backward. Her people eat oil-polluted food, drink oil-polluted water and inhale oil-polluted air. Close to 80 percent of the Niger-Deltans are illiterate and poverty-stricken. Their major occupations are fishing and farming. But decades of oil pollution means that the marine animals, which is their major source of protein are infested with hydrocarbons. Regular oil spillage destroys the animals and impact heavily on the ecosystem.

Oil is not a substitute for manure or fertilizer. Regular oil spills have therefore rendered most of the farmlands unproductive or in the worst cases barren. Worse, these spills take months- sometimes years- before they are cleared. They destroy farm crops and engender avoidable farming and destitution. Of course, the multi-national companies, aided and abetted by the federal might, pay no compensation whatsoever to the poor farmers. Instead, they bribe some of the traditional rulers and wire their profit to their home countries.

By nature, the terrain of the Niger-Delta is susceptible to flood and erosion. Pollution from oil exploration (acid rains, for instance) compounds the problem such that the people are denied perpetually access to safe drinking water. But the worst of Nigeria's injustice to the oil bearing communities is the perpetual gas flaring. I heard a few weeks ago, a construction worker in the Niger-Delta- not an indigene of the region- complaining of breathing problem occasioned, by the gas being flared into the atmosphere. What then is the fate of those born and bred in the area in the last 50 years of exploration activities and gas flaring?

A visit to the drilling sites will outrage you and confirm Nigeria's inhumanity to the people of the Niger-Delta. The sites have state-of-the art facilities yet a stone throw from them are host communities living in abject poverty and want, cut off from the rest of the nation and civilization. No schools, hospitals, electricity, pipe-borne water, tarred roads, telephone etc. You came to my backyard to dig gold without my permission. Then in the process you destroyed without any remorse my only source of livelihood and asked me to go to hell through your indifference. Well, hell, here we are in the Niger-Delta.

This is the story of youth militancy in the Niger-Delta today. Through decrees (Petroleum Act, Land Use etc)- now converted into Acts of Parliament- you expropriated and appropriated a people's heritage. You employ the armed forces to subdue legitimate agitations and aspirations of the communities. Indeed, Nigeria sowed the wind in the Niger-Delta.

And we must be very chary and circumspect the manner we handle the Niger-Delta crisis. Oil politics is a world-wide one. If for instance, the United States consider it in her own interest- and isn't it? - for the Niger-Delta to break away from Nigeria, (hopefully with limited or controllable crisis), she will aid and abet it. This is the "current eerie suspicion of the 'strategic thinking' of the White House " that I spoke about in this column some months ago, when oil prices were kissing the skies.

The South-South region knows they have some sympathizers in the West, some understanding in the East. At best they regard the North (minus some arms of the Middle Belt) as ambivalent and at the worse, anti Niger-Delta in her crusade for resource control and maybe development. Officers in the barracks have not lost their individual identity. A powerful external force, armed with the recent (updated) United Nations charter on rights of a people to self-determination can aid the disintegration of Nigeria. Remember the (US) National Intelligence Council (NIC) report of 2005.

Nigeria has suffered the Niger-Delta for too long a time. From the Niger-Delta Development Board (NDDB) in 1961 to the Niger-Delta River Basin Development Authority (NDBDA) in 1976, from the Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC) in 1992 to the Niger-Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in 2000, it is all movement without motion, deceit, half-hearted measures, rigmarole and contempt for a people blessed by nature but weakened by other major ethnic tribes in Nigeria.

How on earth can the Yar'Adua government say the money meant for NDDC to develop the Niger-Delta has 'expired' ? But I do understand the outrage of other regions of Nigeria against leaders of the South-South. The general perception is that the 13% derivation funds given to the governors of the Niger-Delta are usually stolen as there is little on ground to show for them. Very well ! Are the moneys given to other governors in other regions of Nigeria not equally stolen? Corruption is not peculiar or limited to the Niger-Delta. But in spite of corruption, Abuja is today a mega-city. Once there is political will to stop corruption in Nigeria and redress the injustices against the Niger-Delta, there will always be a way.

The standard of living of people of the Niger-Delta ought to be higher than other regions in Nigeria by virtue of their contribution to the natural coffers. So, let the talks, summits and bureaucratic bottlenecks end.

Let the bulldozers move into the oil bearing communities to erect state-of-the-art social facilities comparable to other oil bearing regions of the world. Let the militants lay down their arms. Let the gas flaring stop; let oil exploration and exploitation international best practices be observed in the Niger Delta by the multi-national oil companies. Let derivation be raised to 20% immediately. Let Nigeria be a federation in deeds.