Before the Niger Delta Special Summit By Maxwell James
If there is any region in the world today in which social disequilibrium, dissonance, pillage, poverty, misfortune, neglect, sadistic disdain, and outright injustice reign supreme, then it is the Niger Delta region of the federal republic of Nigeria – the region that oils the economic wheels of our dear country. To be candid, commenting on this troubled region like Nigeria herself has become increasingly burdensome following what I found out to be a conglomeration of vested interests that benefit immensely from the misfortune of others in Nigeria – they are called ‘the Niger Delta Stakeholders’.
After dozens of widely published articles on the Niger Delta question that has seemingly defied answer, my ink will never dry nevertheless as far as I live and work in a region that ordinarily should have no business or whatsoever with lack. While Nigerians wait anxiously for the convocation of this all important dialogue that will determine President Yar’Adua’s administration’s commitment to deal resolutely with these problems that seem intractable, we must bear in mind that all possible suggestions and recommendations have been made. Talk shops concerning the region dates back 1958. It is rather disheartening that a struggle that started as a peaceful negotiation as observed during the run up to Nigeria’s independence, the Lancaster Conference and various Constitutional Conferences in Nigeria could degenerate into a hydra – headed problem of unimaginable proportion.
The history of the region shows that since the Willink’s Commission, the issues have always been the same – minority rights, self determination social and economic justice.
The violent dimension to the struggle historians say became crucial during the Isaac Adaka Boro’s era following government indifferent attitude towards the people’s demand. The arms struggle embarked upon lately by Alhaji Asari Dokubo merely consolidated the Boro’s era.
In our previous comment on the Niger Delta issue entitled ‘As Leadership Changes Hand in the Niger Delta’. We cited failure of leadership across all levels of our national life as the bane of the region. We also gave example of challenging moments in many countries and how their leadership rose to the occasion. We extensively discussed how Augustus Caesar clinically transformed Rome into a city of marble from its bricks status, how Frederick Roosevelt gave America the New Deal that exterminated the Great Depression, how Konrad Adanuer and Friedrich Ebert piloted the German Post War Economic Renaissance with human capital development as their driving force. Our leaders have simply refused to learn from great men of history. How else can one describe the ‘leadership sabbatical’ in our clime? Here, our leaders have consciously refused to inspire us with the legitimacy of their vision. While we all accept the classic failure of our leadership to effect positive change perhaps because of greed, we will still look at the manner in which the leadership compounds our problems by dealing with armchair ‘stakeholders’ that the only thing they have (the so called stakeholders) to their advantage is the ability to deploy their enormous gift of subservience genuflection to any government in power to divert the people’s will.
In Niger Delta, for instance the word ‘stakeholders’ has been so bastardized that this class of people operate as a trans – tribal cabals of highly placed rogues whose love for their private pockets is paramount than the miseries of their brothers and sisters. Among these classes of people we have quite a number of them that have shifted their so called rights agitation to Lagos and Abuja. Niger Delta problem today is discussed more in cozy and rosy Abuja hotels and conference centers while the inhabitants are left in penury in Nigeria’s crude politics of elitist contrivance. In all the dialogues concerning the Niger Delta that I have witnessed, there existed this grand orchestrated make-believe, flamboyantly designed and carefully managed to gullibly hoodwink the local populace in full agreement with their elites otherwise known as ‘stakeholders’ to keep their attention – span engaged to the effect that the government and these selfish politicians are working towards effecting a change. But underneath and beyond our gaze – we see monumental visionlessness, anomie, and bizarre incompetence plus selfish aggrandizement – classic of a Nigerian manipulative statecraft.
I became fascinated by the Niger Delta struggle when the likes of Maxwell Oko the immediate past Special Adviser to Dr Edmund Dakoru former Minister in charge of Energy held sway as the central zone Chairman of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) after the Felix Tuodolors of this world, debuted the youth pressure group. At that point, eating on behalf of the local populace was prohibited. Today, go to major pepper soup joints in Abuja, the people in charge are ‘the Niger Delta stakeholders’.
Bringing his experience as a widely traveled man to bear, it is cheering however that Governor Timipre Sylva – Sam of Bayelsa state has boldly accepted that the sing song about the region difficult terrain is a leeway to nod off from bringing the much needed development to the region – citing more difficult topographies that were conquered by the will to deliver real developmental agenda as examples. The next step that will bring hope for an average Niger Delta inhabitant is for the Governors as they send their state delegations to get rid of these incurable pedestrians that have practically relocated to Abuja to agitate for their pockets. Also, as this administration seeks to dialogue with the view to finding a holistic solution to the Niger Delta problem, Abuja must put all effort in place to avoid this conglomeration of expired brains and frozen moralities that call themselves Niger Delta stakeholders.
Being a development worker in the region, after facilitating Town Hall Meetings in 20 local governments in Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers states that were considered volatile, it became very clear that the elected officials are not in tune with the happenings around their constituencies as they prefer to be operating from developed environments like Abuja or Port Harcourt. This is a great source of concern as these are the same individuals that will rent a marmot crowd of unemployed youth to applaud them as they make spurious and bogus presentations about their developmental strides in their various capacities – you see why they would not like the youth to be gainfully employed?
In fact most of them loathe development. Some examples will illustrate this point; after spending so much money and energy to make the findings of the Town Hall Meetings, Needs Assessment and Job Creation Researches public through a well publicized communiqué in both local and national dailies, efforts to get the government (both state and local) to partner with international development agencies – primarily to harness the opportunity of government/community/CSO partnership for development were frustrated by these inglorious characters. How could such people think development in the region when they enjoy the comfort of good roads, posh cars, health care facilities, hazard – free area and jolly jolly girls in their new found home – Abuja?
Finally, if truly the idea behind the postponement of the dialogue was to give room for proper preparation, excellent! But looking at the caliber of individuals that I was reliably informed were given verbal invitation to attend the dialogue, I became worried by the fact that the era of wrong approach may perhaps not be over yet. That the Niger Delta people have not risen in mass revolution more seismic and catastrophic than the 1789 French Revolution against their elites is not a testament of their satisfaction with their contrived circumstances nor an approval of their present sorry state but their avid propensity to endure evil coupled with their hospitable nature which the federal government and oil companies have refused to catch – in.
Simple suggestions to end with, local government administration has been left for charlatans and ‘political area boys’ in the Niger Delta. Hiding behind the constitutional clause that gives room for a near illiterate the opportunity to vie for elective offices in our country should be reviewed constitutionally. This clause has been maximally utilized albeit negatively by these political jobbers. This is evident as their first mission after assuming office is to travel with a retinue of not less than 50 friends to Abuja for sight seeing.
Also, as part of thorough preparation if genuinely conceived, all the invitees’ credentials and antecedents should be scrutinized. This can easily be achieved by going to the various communities or organizations they claim to represent. Nigerians will be shocked as I did that 99 percent of the pressure groups in the region merely exist in the pages of newspapers – making bogus claims with carefully edited position papers to accord themselves cheap popularity.
As regards the Niger Delta Master Plan to be facilitated by Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), all that is needed is the will and fresh approach to solving the problem as all previous ones have failed. We must stop playing politics with NDDC. As far as the agency remains a contract disbursing machine for politicians, nothing good will come out from the Master Plan’s implementation. It is sad however, that the tragedy of the region remains that these ‘stakeholders’ remain an alliance of poor men with so much money and access to the corridors of power.
Maxwell James Port Harcourt, Rivers State |