Niger Delta: Would Military Option Provide Any Solution?

By Soji Ajibola

Crisis in the Niger Delta region of the country can be dated back to 1958 when crude oil was discovered in commercial quantity in the ancient community of Oloibiri, then in the old Rivers State now in Bayelsa State. People in the region are professional fishermen and women. However, the tide of events began to change when oil was discovered in the region. At the initial stage, the community dwellers heaved a sigh of relief as they saw crude oil discovery in the region as nothing but an economic succour.

Instead of economic relief, however, it was economic hardship as the per capita income of the people in the oil producing region nose-dived with reported cases of water and air pollution, economic degradation, geometric rate of unemployment, erosion, to mention but a few. These and many other factors led to the Kaima declaration, whereby the teeming youths in the region converged calling for resource control as well as the increase in the sharing formula of the nation’s resources. The likes of Asari Dokubo and Barrister Oronto Douglas opined that for lasting peace to reign in the region, the people must have an unfettered access to their resources. The unyielding posture of the Federal Government was one of the factors responsible for Odi mas sacre where both the Federal Government troops and the various militant groups that participated in the struggle lost sizeable numbers of their men.

Seeing their communities as “the goose that lays the golden eggs”, the youths and elders in the region embarked on international media campaign to intimate the rest of the world about the happenings there. The agitating youths were able to draw the sympathy of the international community, but all the solutions proffered by the Federal Government and the respective oil companies operating in the region ended on the drawing board. The multinational oil companies are always accused of non-implementation of Global Memorandum of Understanding, or Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in whichever way it is applicable. Most oil producing communities, especially in Bayelsa State are under developed as people always complain of non-provision of social amenities. Sequel to this development, the state government compelled the respective oil companies to always involve it in the signing of MoU.

However, the call for resource control took a dangerous dimension of late as a criminal dimension, according to Asari Dokubo, had been introduced into the struggle. When the leader of the Niger Delta People Volunteer Force, was in detention, different militant groups sprang up, using his name to perpetrate all manners of criminality. Shortly after his release, five foreign oil workers working with Agip Oil Company were kidnapped, and the kidnappers demanded for N5m but Asari told them : “If truly the struggle was all about my release, the kidnapped expatriates must be released since I have regained my freedom.”

Resource control, according to the likes of Asari, Oronto and others is a just cause, but with the recent happenings in the region the struggle seems to have deviated. Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, then the Governor of Bayelsa State, now the Vice President, the Federal Republic Of Nigeria, apart from describing hostage-taking and vandalisation of oil pipelines as criminal acts, said it was saddening to note that some traditional rulers were also involved in the dastardly act. Calling on the youths in the region to always embrace peace, he advised that there are legitimate ways of fighting the course that would not hinder the economic growth of the country.

Many oil wells have been shut down in the region. A typical example is the oil wells of Ogoni land, Rivers State, despite the intervention of the Federal Government and the various committees set up by the successive governments in the region, there is yet to be an end to the crisis. Because of the crises in Warri, Delta State then, many oil companies shifted base to Port Harcourt, Rivers, thus crippling the economy of the former host state. Noting the economic relevance of the region to the country, President Umaru Yar’Adua included as part of his 7-point agenda, the Niger Delta issue, and to further show the seriousness attached, a Committee was set up, headed by Professor Gambari. Though his appointment has become a contentious issue, however Niger Deltans seemed not satisfied by the Federal Government’s approach as for the first time in the history of the militants’ operation in the region Bonga Oil Field being operated by the Shell Property Development Company located in the high sea was attacked and an American Captain, Jack Stone was kidnapped.

A statement issued by the spokesperson of the Joint Revolutionary Council, Jomo Gbomo and Cynthia White of the Niger Delta People Volunteer Force said the ceasefire earlier declared by the Council was no longer relevant as the Federal Government on its part had breached the agreement, and, therefore, called on all the militants to return to the creeks as war was declared on all the oil installations in the region. The group called for an open trial of Henry Okah who is secretly being tried in Jos, Plateau State, and other freedom fighters from the region held captive in various prisons in the northern part of the country. Disturbed by this development, President Yar’Adua was said to have ordered a military approach to the restiveness in the region.

However, in his reaction, a public commentator, Mr. Preye Okah, said “While people are trying to put the past behind them, it is surprising that Mr. President is calling for a repeat of Odi experience and Sarkin Biu. The only way out of the present logjam is dialogue, and such dialogue should take place in the Niger Delta region, not Abuja as experienced in the past.

“The people of the Niger Delta region are part of the Nigerian nation and if they are wiped out on the alleged order of Mr. President, the nation would be incomplete,”he said. The same view was shared by Mr Idowu Apapa who advised the Federal Government not to be tired of the various approaches, noting that the problems were cumulative ones. Saturday Tribune also got in touch with the top echelon of the military on a probable solution to the Niger Delta problem. Navy Captain Henry Babalola, Naval spokesman, said the military was not considering any military option because it did not have the power to do so on its own. He added that only the president could order a military option to strike at the militants. He said the actions were guarded by international laws, noting that the military was only concerned now about internal security. “The military at present is not proactive but retroactive. the criminal elements in the Niger Delta at present are only about two per cent.”

Niger Delta: Where Are The Multi-billion Naira Projects?

By Bayo Alade

A Niger Delta MilitantTHE Niger Delta area of the country has quite for sometime been a theatre of war and discussion on the killing of the goose that lays the golden egg. The Niger Deltans contend that since their land produces the oil that sustains the economy of the country, special attention must be given to it. However the much-touted consideration had been given to the detriment and disadvantage of the other states yet the region remains one of the least developed regions in the country.

Even the claim that their land is the honey-pot of the nation has come under attack, at least from the ex-president of the country, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. During one of the peace missions between the militant groups and the federal government, Obasanjo was reported to have said: “Even my Chief of Staff was wondering what I was doing with these small boys and I told him ‘let us listen to them.’ I served in that area during the Civil War and five of my guards were killed. I contributed my own quota to the development of that area.” From the days of Adaka Boro to Ken Saro-Wiwa to the present regime of the Dokubos and Atekes the agitations have remained the same but the strategies to achieve the aims have differred considerably. Mass unemployment and physical underdevelopment of the terrain have contributed to crippling poverty being faced by the populace.

Unfortunately, the educated ones among the youths who could not get a job to engage them have formed the bedrock of the militant groups. To them, the struggle must include economic power, personal economic power as opposed to a general economic empowerment of the region. In 1992, the regime of General Ibrahim Babangida introduced the Oil Minerals Producing Areas Development Commision (OMPADEC). The purpose was to develop the Niger Delta area with special consideration from the federal allocation. Ex-president Obasanjo followed it up with a master plan for the general development of the area in April 2007. The plan was endorsed by the African Development Bank (ADB) and the European Union (EU), while the United Bank of Africa (UBA) would partner Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to implement the plan. About $100 billion was going to be involved in the implementation which would span 15 years.

With this influx of financial input into the Niger Delta it is still a source of worry to discover that there is still complaints of neglect in the region. The militants who kidnap foreigners have deviated from nationalistic causes to personal ones. An indigene of the area who wants to remain anonymous said: “Before, they were kidnapping foreigners, now they have started kidnapping their own people. You can see that they have derailed from the real cause.” Meanwhile, financial input has not been in short supply. Twenty companies, both foreign and local in the oil and gas industry, contributed $362.24million to the NDDC between 2003 and 2007. It was a standing statutory provision for them to do so. The provison mandated oil companies to contribute three per cent of their total annual budget to the NDDC for developmental purposes. Though some of the companies defaulted, major oil cmpanies alone contributed N57 billion in the last five years.

In June 2007, the oil producing states shared N26.2 billion among themselves. Between January and October of the previous year they collected and shared N275.28billion. In July 2007, the oil producing states collected N47billion which was more than what the other states combined collected. The statistics are glaring enough to show that the Niger Delta area should not be complaining. Apart from their monthly allocation from the federation account which is far ahead of some states’ allocation, their oil windfall is quite something else. In 2006, Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta and Akwa Ibom got N80.6billion, N64.5billion, N51.4billion and N45.71billion respectively from the federal government. In fact, the allocation to Niger Delta states had risen geometrically since 1999. In that year, they got N15.8billion. The following year they received N108.6billion, while in 2001 they collected N168billion. It has continued to rise since then. Is it a coincidence, therefore, that most of the former governors who are currently facing trials are those of the Niger Delta area or South-South?