10 July 2009
Abuja — THE proposed N19 billion Petroleum Training Institute, PTI, in Kaduna is a provocative waste. The Federal Government's silence to mounting opposition to its establishment is instructive, and may be an admission it is wrong. Silence remains inadequate reaction to this matter.
However, the mere thought of this project is offensive, with or without the type of opposition lined up against it. Who conceived this latter day wrong against the Niger Delta? Is this project part of the efforts to correct the injustices against the Niger Delta?
What would be the use of such an institute in Kaduna, more than 300 kilometres from the oil-bearing Niger Delta? Did anyone consider the cost of the students travelling from Kaduna to the Niger Delta to have first hand experience of oil and gas production, which neither takes place in Kaduna, nor in any area near it.
More importantly, it is outrightly insensitive and creates the impression that government does not care how people of the Niger Delta feel. The decision insults the people of the Niger Delta. It makes them realise again that government thinks they are unimportant, irrelevant and inconsequential.
Should we not build a new veterinary institute in Bomadi? Would it be out of place to establish a leather institute in Oloibiri? What are the historical, economic or academic antecedents of Kaduna in oil and gas production to merit the location of the PTI?
The oil museum proposed for Oloibiri, site of the first oil well in Nigeria, is still at foundation level, 28 years after the groundbreaking.
At times like these, when government is preaching to the people its interests in the improvement of the oil producing areas, the location of institutions of the PTI, should be one of the carrots that government dangles before the people.
Kaduna cannot be the location of the PTI. There is no good reason for this decision that dares the peoples of the Niger Delta to express their anger.
Government should not repeat the mistake it made with the location of a refinery in Kaduna, which from the beginning was uneconomical as it depended on crude oil (mostly imported), piped all the way from the sea to serve the refinery.
The PTI in Warri is almost comatose from years of unimproved facilities and sometimes near abandonment. For a fraction of the amount proposed for the new PTI, the one in Warri could have been upgraded to provide the services of a new school.
If there is need for another PTI, it should have been located within one of the universities in the oil producing areas (to save cost) and as a special school to meet the manpower needs of the industry.
The discontent this issue is breeding is capable of washing away the gains government has made from its amnesty to militants in the Niger Delta. Government should act in the national interest by cancelling the PTI in Kaduna, while ensuring the one in Warri works.
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Here we go again!the Federal Govt against The Niger Delta.As an alumnus of the PTI in Warri,i feel this is uncalled for.The school needs to be given its pride of place and not a relocation.Upgrade the School,kudos for the efforts so far,but the snail speed at which the upgrade is going,one cannot but wonder if it isn't a downgrade of sorts.Take a look at the Oil and Gas Industry in Nigeria,despite marginalisation and utter disrespect for the institution in the scheme of things,our graduates have proved their worth,time and time again.Please i am urging the FG to stop this relocation. Given his alleged commitment to developing the Niger-Delta,the relocation of the PTI will rubbish all his efforts and History will always portray him in a bad light.Renovate the PTI,dislodge the present crop of administration who are supposedly the bane of the internal squabbles in the school and pump money into that school.Graduates of that school are the future of the Oil and Gas industry in NIgeria.A stitch in time saves nine!
An Edo adage says that the blind can feel the impurity in drinking water if so much, despite the blindness. Bring social and educational amenities to Niger Delta will be a genuine avenue of this administration to reduce the unemployment and engage the angry and exploited region again it is been politicized. This is what the militant should be agitating for as the true representative of the Niger delta since the Senators and Hon Members from the region are there to support motions and bills by their colleagues representing their selfish interest . This is a complete fallacy of federalism in practice. The Federal Govt should stop the proposed plan with immediate effect for genuine peace and the interest of the Niger Deltalite