We believe that a fair, thorough and holistic resolution of the crisis in the region will have tremendous impact on the democratic aspirations and yearnings for good governance. We have however taken upon ourselves the patriotic task of bringing to a close this rather sad and embarrassing chapter in our quest for stability, prosperity and good neighbourliness. – Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, when he was Vice-President
I stumbled on this quote while taking a voluntary historical excursion into the issues of the Niger Delta. I like the soundbites from it. Do not ask me how far the person who was quoted contributed to actualising what he said. He re-echoes the sentiments of many of us. At least, we must admit that he acknowledged how embarrassing that chapter of our history is/was and the urgent necessity to end it. Fair enough. Former President Jonathan actually made this statement while he was still Vice President. Some argue that as soon as he became President, either he became overwhelmed with the events in the polity or he had other priorities apart from the Niger Delta. But that is all history now. Many people from the region will argue that he did his bit but whether that bit was good enough is open to interpretation.
But seriously, it is important to carefully review and understand what went wrong with the region. We should somehow unpack and comprehend the undercurrents to the history of the neglect and try to decipher the reasons behind it. The fact is that unless and until we understand these issues, many other well intentioned interventions may just go the way of earlier ones. Like many issues in Nigeria, it appears to me that the challenges of the Niger Delta have been well studied and are fairly well understood right from the onset. However, there is a national attitude of creating an We vs. Them dichotomy, fuelled by virulent ethnic identification that seem not to allow many of us bother when other regions are concerned. There are probably more reports about the Niger Delta region than any other region in Nigeria. Starting from the “Henry Willinks Commission Report on the Fears of the Minorities in 1958” up till date. There was the General Ogbemudia “Special Security Report on Oil Producing Areas” in 2001, the “National Political Reform Conference Report of 2005”, the Belgore Report, the Poopola Report and the later day Niger Delta Technical Committee Report of 2008. What about the Ogoni Bill of Rights of December 1990 and even the Kaiama Declaration of 1998. The same issues kept re-occurring but everyone concerned conveniently looked in another direction and this is where we landed.
The issues and concerns of Niger Delta region is a product of our collective negligence. An example of our betrayal of that interconnectedness called nationhood that binds one ethnic to another in an entity called Nigeria. It is a sad reminder of the enthronement of the private over the collective… President Buhari has a historic opportunity that he cannot toy with. By cleaning up the Niger Delta, history will capture him in gold as someone under whom the vision of Kaiama declaration and the Ogoni Bill of rights were actualised. We must all now come on board to give him all the necessary support to do it quickly.
Curiously all these documents, both official and unofficial, highlight the utter neglect, suppression, marginalisation, ecological devastation and need to cleaning up the oil polluted environment of the Niger Delta. I was touched by the reference to the “unabated damage to our fragile environment and to the health of the people due to the uncontrolled exploration and exploitation of crude oil and natural gas” by the Kaiama Declaration. Imagine something that has been on since 1958! How come all of us kept quiet while the Niger Delta was going up in flames? Why? How come all these reports were basically saying the same thing and no one found it important to act on them? How come it was sustained for this long? How come we only see conflict and fragmentation as twin legacies in most of the communities that brought revenue that has fed our nation right from independence till date? How come every effort that has been made to remedy the situation kept failing? Who are those that benefited from this neglect? Where are they? What lessons can we learn from all that has happened so far?
These questions keep bothering concerned citizens as we expect the federal government to resume the clean-up of the region. From such a chequered historical background, the first response will be that of scepticism and suspicion. It is only natural to ask. Will this ever happen? Is this another public relations stunt by the Buhari government in collusion with the international oil companies? Will it not end up as one of those projects that remain in the pipeline for so many years. Will it be added onto the list white elephant projects that managed to get off the ground but remain abandoned as a drain pipe to guzzle and embezzle public funds? The truth is that there is a lot of suspicion and a need for a counter narrative.
How will government mobilise the required humongous funding under the current economic turbulence? How will they manage the multiplicity of stakeholders who may see this as another opportunity to siphon public funds? Finally, if the FGN manages to get the project off the ground, how would they ensure continuity and insulate the project from the vagaries of political manipulation?
The announcement of the project is a commendable one only if the federal government will learn to do things differently this time. Just a few days ago during his official trip to Kenya, President Buhari reiterated his commitment to clean up the hydrocarbon polluted sites in Ogoni land. However, many people have complained of his slow pace of action in fulfilling his electioneering promises. Could this be one of those? While we continue to applaud him, many citizens are beginning to get anxious and curious about when and whether the project will get off the ground promptly. Nigerians are yet to see the framework that will be used to ensure that the recommendations of UNEP report are implemented quickly but thoroughly, such that the livelihood of these fragmented communities can be restored? It needs to be part of an overall development strategy for the Niger Delta region. How will government mobilise the required humongous funding under the current economic turbulence? How will they manage the multiplicity of stakeholders who may see this as another opportunity to siphon public funds? Finally, if the FGN manages to get the project off the ground, how would they ensure continuity and insulate the project from the vagaries of political manipulation?
We all know that the Niger Delta was a population predominated by fishermen and farmers before oil was discovered. The uncountable creeks and streams have in the past provided habitat for wide variety of fish and aquatic life. With abundant rain and fertile soils, agriculture flourished. However, with the level of man-made oil pollution in the region, those occupations can no longer be practiced. If the ultimate objective of the clean-up is to restore the environment fully, then there is hope that those farmers who abandoned their farmlands can one day return to their farms and fishermen can resume fishing. More so with the global oil prices coming so low, the resource will one day dry up, forcing us to seek alternatives. Will this ever happen in our life time?
President Buhari clearly observed in Nairobi that the devastation caused by oil spill has destroyed many livelihoods and is clearly one of the several reasons many people in the Niger Delta region lost faith in government and resorted to many criminal activities that we are seeing in the region today. If he is right, then it means that the clean-up of the Niger Delta region may be the best way to achieve and everlasting closure to this history of pain and ecological catastrophe.
The issues and concerns of Niger Delta region is a product of our collective negligence. An example of our betrayal of that interconnectedness called nationhood that binds one ethnic to another in an entity called Nigeria. It is a sad reminder of the enthronement of the private over the collective. President Buhari clearly observed in Nairobi that the devastation caused by oil spill has destroyed many livelihoods and is clearly one of the several reasons many people in the Niger Delta region lost faith in government and resorted to many criminal activities that we are seeing in the region today. If he is right, then it means that the clean-up of the Niger Delta region may be the best way to achieve and everlasting closure to this history of pain and ecological catastrophe. For me, President Buhari has a historic opportunity that he cannot toy with. By cleaning up the Niger Delta, history will capture him in gold as someone under whom the vision of Kaiama declaration and the Ogoni Bill of rights were actualised. We must all now come on board to give him all the necessary support to do it quickly.
Uche Igwe is a doctoral researcher at the Department of Politics, University of Sussex, UK.
