George Onah
12 January 2009
opinion
PRESIDENT Umaru Musa Yar'Adua,on assumption of office, had promised to tackle the seeming intractable problem of Niger Delta. He actually made it a campaign promise and, in fact, adopted it as one of his administration's seven-point agenda.
Yar'Adua complimented his words with actions by setting up Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs. Stakeholders had, however, expected a person from the core region to head the ministry. Not so with the president. He preferred a moderate and found one in Ufot Ekaete. The choice has been generating mixed reactions.
Former Aviation Minister, one time Minister of Youths, Ijaw Leader and Elder Statesman, Alabo T.O. Graham Douglas, bared his mind on this. He also spoke on the electoral system, dismissal of Mallam Ribadu, youth restiveness in the Niger Delta, role of the NDDC and Rivers Governor Rotimi Amaechi's performance. Excerpts:
Alabo Graham-Douglas
The appointment of Chief Ufot Ekaete as Minister of Niger Delta has generated a lot of controversy and condemnations from interest groups, like the Ijaw Youth Council and others. As an Ijaw elder and elder statesman, what is your reaction to this?
Well, I will be the wrong person to ask the question about Chief Ekaete. But if I am asked as an Ijaw elder, I would react to it because, knowing the area very well, I think that it is somebody from the core Niger Delta, from Ijaw extraction, that would appreciate the enormity of challenges that the office would face.
I have worked intimately with Ufot Ekaete in Gen. Babangida's administration. When I was the minister of social development youths and sports, at that time, he was the permanent secretary of that ministry. I can vouch that his efficiency, loyalty and assiduity are unchallengeable. He is a very humble person that can get on well with anybody.
I also worked with him when he was appointed Secretary to the Federal Government under Obasanjo's administration. He was, no doubt, a very experienced bureaucrat and a core civil servant. For anybody to work with Obasanjo for eight years without break, you must give him kudos, because he must be an exceptional breed. So, to that extent, I will not make any comment.
But his assignment as minister of Niger Delta is an entirely new and intricate challenge, which has to deal with peculiar circumstances, unique human beings and hazardous and harsh environment. His success will, no doubt, depend on his innate and deep understanding of the psyche and resolve of the people of the zone.
A mere academic and bureaucratic approach will not help. Hence, at the time, some of us, the Ijaw elders, campaigned that one of the sons, Godsday Orubebe, be given that office. But now that Ekaete is there, he has to work and depend on the people who know the terrain very well. The appointment of Orubebe as the minister of state can be the saving grace. This is because Orubebe is a highly respected, committed, courageous and very popular person in the affairs of the core Niger Delta politics.
I also believe that the Federal Government is going to demarcate their functional responsibilities, so that Orubebe would have his job to do and the minister would have his job to do. With the harmonious relationship between the two of them, the burden would be less for him. But, you see, the fear is that, is the Federal Government really sincere about the creation of this Niger Delta Ministry. So if you want to create the Niger Delta ministry the headquarters is very important.
Before we go to that, Ekaete came here (Port Harcourt) to say that he would employ youths, develop the place or community development and complete the East_West road to boost the economy of the area, do you think that is a good start for him?
That, I believe is not a fair start, there is first of all suspicion, there are restive youths and there is massive youth unemployment, there is a psychological problem here. You need to re_orientate the inhabitants, not only the youths but the adults as well.
The neglect by successive federal governments has created a situation of indifference and apathy by most people to promises of federal government. So, those promises of making the East_West road and employ boys, you see, you have to create the jobs before you employ people. Even the East_West has been contracted out to Julius Berger and so on.
What type of job are you going to do. What we want him to do is to carry out a critical examination of the problems; there are a number of literatures, a lot of documentations, where marine engineering in the days of the colonial masters, there was the inland waterways, ports authority, maritime authority, these are all the things that we want him to examine.
The starting point should be familiarization, analysin the problems and proffering solutions from the documentations that are available to government and kick start the ministry. Most of us elders that are conversant with the politics of the area are available; they should go round and ask us for inputs. He should not be in a hurry in kick starting anything. He should take time study the environment and get the confidence of the people to be able to move round. Port Harcourt is just one of these areas.
While in Port Harcourt, he said he would look at the N50 billion given in the budget for the ministry and see whether it would be alright or not and if it would not be he would run to the presidency to ask for more. Do you think he has started displaying his civil service mentality or bureaucracy already?
If you look at the 2009 budget viz_a_vis the 2008 budget, you can see that there is not sincerity in it especially when you marry that against the 2008 N400 billion that was set aside for security of the Niger Delta. What are you securing, if the people are adequately taken along.
If you invest that on industrialization, job creation, social amenities, building confidence, enlightenment, good healthcare, education and all the boys and women are engaged and all the social values are put on focus and people are engaged, you don't need that colossal amount for security.
When you look at the budget for the ministry and the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, I think it is just a child's play. Where does the minister start from.
By the time he sets up the ministry, personnel cost, office furniture, vehicles, movements, utilities, so by the time you go into those expenses, the sum of money you allocated this year would have gone. What are you going to devote for capital expenditure. I think that the starting point and small money is not realistic.
Do you see the NDDC functioning well under this ministry or will it still be there as just another parastatal that is independent of the ministry?
I think that the whole structural dynamics needed to have been examined. When Babangida took the development of Abuja seriously and was later followed by (Gen. Sani) Abacha, followed by (Gen. Abdulsalami) Abubakar , you would see that they created a minister of Federal Capital Territory, that minister was resided in Abuja. If you want to create a Niger Delta ministry the office first of all should move to the core areas of either Port Harcourt, Bayelsa or Warri.
I want us to distinguish between oil producing states of the nation against core Niger Delta areas that were defined by the colonial masters at independence, which is the migrant dwellers of the shores of the Nigerian coastal areas. If you put the ministry in one of those areas then the major oil producing areas can have offices.
I would have thought that when the ministry was created that it should have assumed the NDDC office. That is to avoid building offices in any of the places. The minister should move to Port Harcourt and assume the NDDC office as the nucleus of the ministry. Then there should be immediate set up of these other offices where the managing directors or general managers should function and operate. Those people should be coordinated by the operational minister of state. Staying here would give him advantage where he would have easy access to Bayelsa, Edo, Akwa Ibom, Delta, Cross River, Ondo, Imo and Abia that constitute the oil producing states of the country.
Will the movement of the ministry to NDDC premises not diminish the status of the NDDC?
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