30 December 2008
guest column
ESCRAVOS, Nigeria: As dusk approached and the glow from the oil rig gas flares grew stronger, the oilmen, politicians and militants arrived by boat in small groups to celebrate the opening of 911 Resort, a half-finished villa accessible only by boat at the outer edge of the creeks of the oil-rich Niger Delta.
Among the crowd at the resort - which takes its name from Operation 911, the Nigerian military's original campaign against the militants - state ministers mingled with American oil contractors and Lebanese businessmen chatted up militants-turned-local politicians before they all sat down at long tables cluttered with bottles of wine and Champagne. Hundreds of villagers watched from behind a barbed-wire fence prowled by guard dogs as comedians and musicians entertained the guests.
The scene, surreal as it was, would have been all but unimaginable two years ago, when this remote region of southern Nigeria was in the midst of a torrid stretch of kidnappings, killings and pipeline vandalism.
"The fact that I went there without security is a huge statement, but it's still on a knife's edge," said one American oil worker who attended the opening and did not want to be named because of company rules about speaking publicly.
For years the Niger Delta has been plagued by instability caused by armed militants who kidnap foreign oil workers or wealthy Nigerians for ransom, clash with the military and sabotage oil pipelines. Billions of dollars' worth of oil is pumped out of Nigeria every year, and yet the average Nigerian earns less than $2 a day.
The militants have claimed to be fighting on behalf of local people who get no share of the oil riches, but their actions often boiled down to profit-driven criminality.
And while other states in the region continue to be hampered by violence between militant gangs and the military, Delta State, under its governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan, has found a rare measure of peace. It has accomplished this not by fighting the militants but by drawing them into the government and making sure they are awarded valuable contracts from the oil companies, Chevron and Royal Dutch Shell, that dominate the oil business here.
"The state government has established favourable circumstances and has been very pragmatic," said a retired Nigerian general, Henry Clark, who has been following the situation in the Niger Delta and whose brother is a prominent regional leader. "The state governor is using the militants, he's buying them over. You give them positions in government and empower them, these are money-multiplying effects. The moment people see economic development, they come to your side."
While the relative peace has allowed for events like the 911 Resort opening, the means by which the peace was attained has attracted severe scrutiny from observers who feel that the local government is dealing with a ticking time bomb.
"It's not peace, it's just quiet," said Damka Pueba, of the delta-based Democracy Stakeholders Network, an advocacy group for delta residents and communities. "I don't think it's smart because at the end of the day things are going to spill over. They need to address the real, core issues. There's nothing sustainable about what the governor is doing."
Uduaghan, a former doctor who took office in 2007, has quickly risen to national prominence for his pragmatic approach to dealing with the militants.
Governor Uduaghan's most significant and controversial decision was to hand out government positions to militant leaders. One newly created office in particular, the Delta State Waterways Security Committee, is led by and staffed with many former militants, or "youth activists," as they are often referred to locally. Militants still active in the creeks quickly recognized the benefits of this approach and made concessions to the state government in return for financial assistance or contracts from oil and construction companies.
"Including activists is a necessity because one of the problems before was political exclusion, which has been resolved," said George Timinimi, a former high-level militant and now the commissioner for the Delta State Waterways Security Committee. "Development is a gradual thing. The oil companies are doing their best. It's not them alone. Once the people see that the developments are happening there will be lasting peace."
Uduaghan is troubled by the oil companies' willingness to deal directly with the militants, setting them up as powerful figures outside the state's control. "The trend that is dangerous right now is the oil companies' awarding contracts to militants," he said in a recent speech. "People of Delta State are entitled to contracts from oil companies, and I urge the oil companies to continue to give contracts to local communities."
This article was written by Will Connors and published in the International Herald Tribune.
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