Daily Independent (Lagos)
Emma Gbemudu
9 January 2009
South South leaders have urged Aso Rock to quickly implement the report of the Niger Delta Technical Committee (NDTC), headed by Ledum Mitee, which had recommended that a White Paper be issued on it by January 1.
They made the call on Thursday, 24 hours after the United Action for Democracy (UAD) and Campaign for Democracy (CD) said President Umaru Yar'Adua's vacillation demonstrates his lack of "commitment, sincerity, and credibility to alter the status quo of giving the region what is genuinely due it."
The report, submitted late last year, recommended 25 per cent revenue allocation to oil producing states, a comprehensive youth employment scheme, and the demilitarisation of the Niger Delta, among others.
The South Southerners, led by Edwin Clark, repeated their agitation for a review of the political imbalance in the Constitution, and for Yar'Adua to adhere to the rule of law and be accountable to the people.
Clark listed these among other demands when he and others met with Northern leaders in Yenagoa.
He said a review of the Constitution would ensure the creation of more states in the Deep South and an efficient machinery for collaboration with other zones.
Those who accompanied him included former Edo State Governor, John Oyegun; former Transport Minister, Alabo Tonye Graham-Douglas; former House of Representatives Deputy Speaker, Chibudom Nwuche; and former Secretary to the Bayelsa State Government, Bolare Ketebu-Nwokeafor.
Among the Northerners were former Senate Leader, Olusola Saraki; former Nasarawa State Governor, Shaaba Lafiaji; Tanko Yakassai; Patrick Adaba; Idris Koko; and Kabiru Turaki.
Clark recalled that a meeting held between the two groups in Warri before the 2007 election saw the emergence of the North/South South ticket Presidency.
He added: "The promise is that the Niger Delta matter will be fixed during the life of this administration. There will be genuine and sustainable development. Adequate compensation will be paid to those who are suffering the worst collateral damage from oil exploration activities, spills, pollution, environmental degradation, gas flaring and others.
"The agitated and angry youths would be rehabilitated, educated and gainfully employed.
"The gangs of poverty are severest in this zone of the country where the black gold that keeps the nation alive is located.
"If we examine our progress or lack of it on these issues, particularly in the light of our deliberations, we will find that there is a lot left to be desired.
"Yes, a Niger Delta Ministry has been created. But who has been brought to head it? Will the new leadership empathise sufficiently enough with the suffering of the Niger Delta man to know what to do?
"Even the ministry itself, what budget has been given to it to operate with? What of the huge sums of money being owed the NDDC (Niger Delta Development Commission)?
"We are sadly being led to believe that the political will to develop the Niger Delta and so correct the years of accumulated injustice and wrongs is still not manifest."
Clark regretted that the Ministry of Petroleum is not headed by a core Niger Deltan.
"Our son, who had been reporting directly to the President has now been down graded to the rank of a junior Minister who reports to another Minister. It is lamentable that the South South is marginalised in the affairs and management of the NNPC, NLNG, PTDF, and PPMC."
Saraki explained that "we are here to join you in your effort to find lasting solutions to the recurring crises of youth restiveness, environmental degradation and lack of development which have engulfed the entire South South and is threatening security and tourism in our great nation.
"As respected elders of the region and Nigeria, we have come to plead with you to talk to your restive youths so that the government can be given the enabling environment to address effectively the problems of the all important region.
"You will agree with us that if both the North and the South South people should allow the situation in this region to spill out of control and the government at the centre fails, we cannot absolve ourselves of blame. That means North and South South have to make sacrifices to keep the country together as one nation."
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