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A Special International Report
Prepared by
The Washington Times
Advertising Department - Published on September 30, 1999
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Sponsors (1) Federal Ministry of Finance
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Finding a permanent solution
Experienced statesmen from the region have dusted off their business suits and moved to Abuja, where they stalk the Assembly lobby, talking to lawmakers and pressmen and making headlines.
The Niger Delta, a vast floodplain of sedentary deposits at the southern tip of Nigeria's Atlantic coast and the outlet of the huge river Niger that gave the country its name, is the richest part of the country in terms of natural resources. It accounts for most of the oil that has made Nigeria an important player in the world's crude oil market. It also has extensive forests, good agricultural land and abundant fish.
However, the region's potential for sustainable development remains unfulfilled. Its future, indeed that of Nigeria, is being threatened by environmental degradation and deplorable economic conditions that have turned its indigenes into groups taking up arms against the oil companies, the government and each other.
The present situation is the result of long years of exploitation by the oil companies combined with mismanagement, neglect and corrupt government. The president's new commitment to putting an end to the crisis has given the country renewed hope that the Niger Delta questions will be solved once and for all. Less than two weeks into his administration he visited the region to witness the destruction for himself.
"The responsibility and initiative for resolving the crisis rests with the government," Obasanjo said.
Special Area
The 1958 Constitutional Conference, which provided the legal framework for an independent Nigeria, considered the plight of the indigenes of the Niger Delta. At the time, it was proposed that the area be declared a 'special federal territory.' A consensus was reached: the region was designated a 'special development area,' and the Niger Delta Development Board created. The board never achieved its original development goals largely because of structural defects, lack of political will and a faulty revenue allocation formula.
With the collapse of the first republic in 1966 and the outbreak of civil war in 1967, the Niger Delta's problems were neglected as both sides of the conflict made concerted efforts to seize control of it. The indigenes of the area fought for the unity of the country, thereby incurring the wrath of the secessionists who looked upon them as saboteurs and subjected them and their land to a scorched earth policy.
By the mid-1980s, however, reality began to set in. Oil revenues declining because of international glut, the failure of successive governments to provide the basic necessities of life, the worsening effects of oil spillages on the ecosystem and pollution of the air by the freely flared gas made the indigenes increasingly restive.
The Federal Military Government led by General Ibrahim Babangida responded to these calls by creating the Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC). Huge sums of money were made available to alleviate the problems of environmental degradation in the Niger Delta region. Unfortunately, much of the resources were siphoned off into private pockets by corrupt officials acting in collaboration with local businessmen and traditional rulers from the area. By the time the commission was scrapped this year, it had done little to improve the standard of living of its intended beneficiaries, but had achieved a liability of well more than $5.5 million.
Remedies
In his inaugural speech, Obasanjo listed the crisis in the oil producing areas as his number one priority issue. He promised that "a bill would be forwarded within weeks of the inception of his administration to the National Assembly for a law providing for a much higher percentage of oil revenue to be used for ecological, infrastructural and other development.”
He also promised to set up a group to prepare a comprehensive development plan of the region and promote dialog at all levels with the real representatives of all sections of the oil producing communities to improve mutual understanding and communication.
The departing Abubakar did not have time to resolve the complex longstanding issue and the Ijaw and Itsekiri youths in the Niger Delta town of Warri took up arms to resolve the age-long disagreements of their forefathers.
Those disagreements had recently found vent in the local government creation exercise of 1996. While the state Military Administrator, Colonel J. D. Dungs, announced the creation of the Warri South Local Government with headquarters at Ogbe-Ijoh, a few days later the federal government nullified it by announcing a Warri-South-West Local Government with headquarters in Ogidigben. The confusion created by these conflicting announcements led to an intertribal war between the Ijaw and Itsekiri, who resumed their fighting early in the days of Obasanjo’s presidency.
That the ethnic wars in the Niger Delta were resumed so soon after the president promised to use dialog as a way of resolving the problems of the area is indicative of the difficulties of the Niger Delta.
Obasanjo presented in July a bill to establish the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to the National Assembly, in compliance with his inaugural pledge. The bill stated that the Niger Delta is composed of the following states: Abia, Akwa-Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Imo, Ondo and Rivers State. In a swift reaction, a group led by powerful individuals in the area, calling itself 'indigenes of the Core Niger Delta' organized a protest against the bill saying that such states as Abia, Imo and Ondo do not belong to the Niger Delta area. The lack of unity among the various communities, ethnic groups and states that constitute the Niger Delta often leads to communal clashes thus making it difficult for them to form a united front and fight for their rights.
Bucking Tradition
The established train of violence, nurtured by local traditional rulers and business elite, now makes it difficult for Obasanjo's policy of dialog to take root in the region. Posing as authentic representatives of the people, these groups have continually collected huge sums of money as royalties from the oil communities on behalf of the indigenes, which rarely make it to the people involved. This has, in turn, created an army of uneducated, unemployed and unemployable youths who have decided to take their fate into their own hands. They have no time for dialog.
The Niger Delta Commission is charged with identifying factors inhibiting the development of the region and formulating policies and guidelines. Its goal is to implement projects and programs for development in the field of transportation including roads, jetties and waterways, health education, industrialization, agriculture and fisheries, housing and urban development, water supply, electricity and telecommunications.
There is hope in that even the bill's critics do not condemn it in its entirety. Emeka Akamukali, a member of the South-South People's Conference says the bill should not be rejected. "Youths here are educated but have no jobs, even at the Nigerian Petroleum Corporation. Multinationals like Shell and Mobil, who exploit the resources in the Niger Delta, have their headquarters in Lagos, manned by foreigners. We see them coming from other places and taking our jobs. Until the Abacha Two Million Man March when we came and saw Abuja, we never knew that our wealth had been used to develop other places. Our eyes were opened."
Even as he spoke bitterly about past injustices, Akamukali said, with a number of amendments here and there, the bill could bring justice to the area.
Speaking in a similar vein, Chief Obetan Okon makes a case for higher contributions to the coffers of the commissions by the oil companies. In his words, it is not punitive but intended to address the devastation of the past years, such that the perpetrators will now operate under a regulated environment.
Civil servant Dennis Kilite from Bayelsa State thinks the bill should provide for 100 percent of the resources of the area to be given to the commission. He said the leaders of the Niger Delta were to be blamed for the plight of his people. "I blame my own people because we had a lot of them in government before. What have they done?"
But the problem does not rest solely in the hands of government. "The area was neglected for too long," says Delta Governor James Ibori. "Most of the joint venture partners have just been taking oil for the last 40 to 50 years without putting anything back."
Though some companies have for years implemented community projects, many feel their initiatives have been too little too late. Ibori has recommended they step up their efforts. "We recommend that in some areas they can extend basic services - electricity, water - into host communities," he said. "That way they can have a bond with the community."
He has also encouraged the companies to award contracts for development projects instead of funding specific groups. "Paying the host community directly only exacerbates the problem because it goes into a few hands and nothing gets back to the host community so it creates a lot of friction."
For his part, Ibori is not waiting for the bill to pass to take action. He just recently completed a tour and is concerned that development will require significant funding. He is anxious to receive assistance form the international community and the multinationals. "We have decided to take it gradually. We are building the first set of houses, hospitals - at least that will be a beginning." Once the bill is passed and the funds start flowing, Ibori says the government will continue to build up basic infrastructure. For now, he says it is important to put something on the ground to secure the confidence of the people in the democratic transition.
"People are gradually learning with democracy that they can trust the government," Ibori says. "They are now prepared to wait and see the government act. That in itself will change the face of things in the area."
The bill, presently under debate at the National Assembly, has attracted a variety of reactions: some favorable, others not so favorable; some civil and others not so civil, some informed, others based on ignorance. But the president's efforts represent a step forward in the long march toward a solution to the problem that has threatened Nigeria's economic and political foundations.
Emmanuel Yawe is editor of Crystal International news magazine in Abuja. Jennifer Barsky contributed to this story.
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Table of Contents (1) It's a new dawn over Nigeria |
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It began in the 1950s with the discovery of large deposits of oil in Nigeria's Delta area. The area gradually became an increasing source of tension during Nigeria's difficult years of independence, military rule and a series of coups that saw only ineffectual legislation to deal with the pending environmental crisis.
The groups, led by militant local youths, have hijacked aircraft operated by the oil companies and have embarked on interethnic wars that have rendered the region at times ungovernable and economic activities, particularly oil exploration, difficult - or at least less profitable.
The end of the civil war in 1970 brought further bad news. In 1973 the Arab oil embargo quadrupled oil prices. The federal authorities, who now enjoyed a near monopoly of royalties from oil companies operating in the area by martial decree, had no clear-cut policy on the ecological problems of the area. Nor did any exist to deal with the development needs of its citizens. The indigenes themselves, deceived by the immediate flow of cash, were lured into a false sense of security. They had little time to think about the long-term consequences of the exploitation of oil deposits on their land.
Widespread agitation got the attention of the oil companies, the government and the world at large to their plight.
The president’s bold policy initiatives suffered initial setbacks due largely to past problems. Two days before the exit of his predecessor, General AbdulsalamiAbubakar, Chief Edwin Clark, a leader of Ijaw ethnic group – one of numerous ethnic groups living in the area – pronounced that there would be bloodshed if the general did not resolve the Niger Delta issue.
The Council of the NDDC the president proposes to establish will derive its membership solely from member states of the region. The chairmanship, which will be held on a rotational basis among the member states, and the Executive Secretaryship of the Commission, shall similarly be held by indigenes of the area.
But even the militant Kilete has hope in this new democratic experiment and Obasanjo's efforts. "Democracy will help. We are all here now; we can speak our minds. It will help a great deal."