Niger Delta and the inhuman condition

Isaac Adaka Boro started the agitation in the Niger Delta. His rather feeble force was promptly subdued by the federal might. He and other ring leaders of the rebellion were arraigned and sentenced to death but reprieve later came their way. In the political restructuring carried out shortly before the civil war, General Yakubu Gowon carved the oil-bearing areas into separate states. This was seen by Isaac Boro as the realisation of the objective of his struggle. He enlisted in the Nigerian Army and died fighting to keep the country united. He did not live to partake in the fruit of his struggle.

MANY years later, Kenule Saro-Wiwa, a writer and stormy petrel, emerged on the scene and pursued the struggle mostly from the perspective of a writer. He ended up, along with eight other compatriots, in the hands of Sani Abacha’s hangmen. The Niger Delta problem which was hardly noticeable in the days of Isaac Boro became apparent during the extensive campaign of Saro-Wiwa.

THE increasing exploration and exploitation of the region’s mineral resources without regard for the health and welfare of the inhabitants have resulted in considerable damage to fauna and flora. While continuous gas flaring has been polluting the atmosphere, incessant oil spillage has been causing serious ecological problems. The preoccupation of the political leadership was solely with the collection of the petrodollars. Little or no attention was paid to the environment, particularly under the nominal federalism of the military overlords. The military high command dictated how resources were to be allocated without regard for the interests and preferences of the people. There were no forums to gauge the people’s feelings.

THE return to democratic rule in 1999, in spite of its imperfections, has enabled the people of the Niger Delta, along with their sympathisers, to raise their collective voice in the quest for resource control, provision of basic amenities and an end to environmental degradation. The militancy of the groups of agitators, led by Dokubo-Asari, Ateke Tom and others, have, in recent years, added a new dimension to the struggle. The reverberations of their activities have been producing worldwide effects on price movements in the oil industry. Even if the objective of resource control has not been achieved, the agitations have compelled the Nigerian state to increase the region’s share of the revenue accruing from oil to 13 per cent. The general expectation that the increase would be utilised to address the decay of infrastructure and other deprivations has remained unfulfilled. The more the money that has flowed into the coffers of the various governments in the region, the more has been the people’s misery.

MEMBERS of Nigeria’s upper legislative chamber recently ended a five-day retreat in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. The senators took advantage of their presence in the state to undertake a guided tour of some creeks and assess living conditions in the area. Discussing their observations on their return to Abuja, the senators lambasted the leaders of the Niger Delta for being insensitive to their people’s plight. While some suggested a higher percentage of oil revenue to the region to address the glaring deprivations being suffered by the people, the others rose stoutly against the idea. The opponents argued that the leaders should justify the billions of naira they had received before pressing demands for further increase. They accused the political leaders of feeding fat on the resources that should have been used to improve the lot of their people. They also took a swipe at the oil companies which operations have been characterised by callousness and impunity.

ONE useful purpose that has been served by the senators’ choice of Port Harcourt for their retreat is that it has again brought the pathetic plight of the ordinary people of the oil-producing areas to the front burner of social discourse. The exploration and exploitation of oil go along with certain environmental hazards. In well-organised and efficiently-managed societies, the oil companies are bound by law to clean up the mess they create in the course of their operations. In Nigeria, the law, when it exists, is either full of loopholes or observed in the breach.

IT took some serious agitations from the people of Niger Delta before the Federal Government woke up to the responsibility of addressing the environmental problems in the area. And its first strategy was to approach the problem through direct intervention. It established an Oil Minerals Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC) and entrusted its management in the hands of supposedly responsible indigenes of the area. The mandate of the commission was the restoration of decaying infrastructure so as to bring about an improvement in the social and economic life of the people. Instead of using the funds at their disposal to embark on the tasks assigned to them, those assigned the task of managing OMPADEC effected upward adjustments in their personal lifestyles. They stole OMPADEC blind and it eventually collapsed. Under a new administration, the Federal Government established another body — the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). In spite of its interventions, not much has been done to solve the daily-aggravating Niger Delta problems. We, however, believe the NDDC under the current Managing Director, Dr. Timi Alaibe, will be different.

A major source of concern and exasperation of people within and outside the Niger Delta area is the widely perceived insensitivity of the political leaders of the area to the deteriorating living conditions of their own people. The governors, as pointed out by the senators, have been feeding fat at the expense of their people. The local government chairmen have been lining their pockets. The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Nuhu Ribadu, stated categorically some time ago that no local government chairman in the Niger Delta had less than N200 million in his personal bank account. The intermingling of politics with the anti-corruption crusade has, unfortunately, not allowed the culprits to be brought to book.

THE ordinary people in this area are today barely eking out a miserable existence because they can hardly fish or farm. Many youths have been dropping out of school to join the ranks of militant-cum-criminal gangs. In certain parts, also, many of their females are grandmothers by or before the age of 30. The essence of life is lost on them. The struggles of all those who have made the supreme sacrifice or put life and limb at risk in pursuit of the interests of the people have been rendered meaningless. This should not continue. The people of Niger Delta deserve a better deal from those who have been thrown up by circumstances to serve as their leaders. The inhuman condition calls for necessary attention.