Gabriel Nwadike
17 November 2008
analysis
With the elusive peaceful resolution of the Niger Delta imbroglio, the inevitability of a violent change is no longer questionable.
The above quotation paints a vivid picture of the raging hostilities over the control of oil revenue in the oil rich Niger Delta region.
When crude oil was first discovered in Oloibiri, a sleepy town in Rivers state in the 1950s, little did the jubilating inhabitants of the community realised that it would later become a curse rather than a blessing to future generations.
Admittedly, the rapid infrastructural transformation of the country, witnessed in such major cities as Lagos, Kaduna, Ibadan, Enugu, and Kano in the 1960's and early 70s were made possible by oil revenue derived from Oloibiri and adjourning enclaves.
Today, Oloibiri, indigenized by local farmers, is a ghost of his own. Degradation and disenchantment, resulting from decades of land and sea pollution, were attributed to the activities of multi-national oil and gas companies that dotted the coastal communities.
Worse still, there are no observable socia-economic infrastructure on the ground even as the entire ecosystem are completely destroyed.
Over the years, the contentious issue of resource control or derivation has continued to haunt the country with no solution in sight despite the gun-boat agitation which the struggle assumed in recent times.
The authors of our independent and republican constitutions of 1960 and 1963 respectively were conscious of the ingredients of true federalism when they insisted on 50 percent derivation formula with which the three and four regional governments provided massive infrastructural development to their respective regions.
But the battering of the constitution by the military in subsequent years made nonsense of the concept. Since then, the country has practiced unitary, rather than federal system of government to the detriment of all the federating units which late Chief Obafemi Awolowo described as a geographical expression .
Late general Aguiyi Ironsi, fired the first salvo when he promulgated a decree proclaiming a unitary system of government for the country shortly after his interventionist forces retrieved power from leaders of the first coup d' etat in the country. Ignoring vehement protests from the political elite, General Yakubu Gowon insisted on the status quo, which he warned, was necessary for the effective execution of the civil war that followed.
Isaac Adaka Boro's bid to create national and international consciousness of the state aided injustices metted out to the peoples of the Niger Delta region was stoutly subdued. Ken Saro Wiwa even paid the supreme price for daring to champion the same agenda amidst national and global protests which fell on deaf ears.
Successive administrations of late general Murtala Mohamed, Alhaji Shehu Shagari and General Mohammadu Buhari inexplicably distanced themselves from the lingering issues of resource control despite its volatile nature.
As the agitation assumed international consciousness and dimension, military president, Ibrahim Babangida created the Oil Mineral Producing Area Development Commission (OMPADEC) with three percent allocation to derivation fund which fell short of the expectation of the Niger Deltans.
Late General Sani Abacha established the Petroleum Special Trust Fund (PTF) and increased the derivation fund to 13 percent the highest since the end of the civil war. However, the fund was disbursed on equal basis across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory through project locations. This, further infuriated the Niger Deltans. Thus, intensifying the struggle
The emergence of Obasanjo as president paved way for the creation of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). The Commission, the first under a democratic setting, contended with political manipulations and in-fighting as well as inadequate funding.
Ironically, the Commission has been grossly starved of funds by the very same institution that midwifed its birth. The fallout is reflected on scores of uncompleted projects littered across the nine oil producing states covering its sphere of influence.
This development heightened tension in the oil rich- region which gave rise to youth restiveness that degenerated into full blown militancy resulting in commando style kidnappings and blood letting.
Despite the creation and deployment of the Joint Task Force (JTF) to the coastal enclaves to dislodge the rampaging insurgents, they continued to wreak havoc on the oil and gas industry with considerable ease aided by the peculiar nature of the terrain and waterways in the creeks.
Consequently, the sustained attacked paralyzed sections of the oil industry that compelled the pegging of the country's daily crude oil output to as much as 25 percent. With oil revenue as the life wire of the nation's economy, the development distorted the financial standing of the government.
As the oil "war" ragged, the fate of the Niger Delta master plan and the Niger Delta summit remained official secret. While the former is believed to have disappeared with the exit of the immediate past regime, the latter might have been suspended following the embarrassing scenario that trailed the appointment of Ibrahim Gambari as the chairman of its steering committee. He resigned at the heat of the controversy.
Though the recent creation of the Ministry of Niger Delta region is applaudable, especially if given the free hand and resources to operate, the government should go a step further in finding an enduring solution to the region's decades old quagmire to avert possible nationalization and internationalization of the conflict that could undermine national security and threaten our territorial waters and boarders.
Even as the recent unilateral declaration of ceasefire by the militants to give the government the benefit of doubt in its renewed effort to develop the region is on, it should not be seen and regarded as an end to the conflict.
•Mr. Nwadike, a journalist, writes from Lagos.
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