Hell does exist. No doubt about it. On earth too. Believe me. If in doubt, go to the oil producing Niger Delta region of Nigeria. All your doubts will diappear. You will come face to face with hell. For the people of the Niger Delta region, in the South-South part of Nigeria, are living in hell. Oh, yes, they are truly living in bondage and in hell. You will see their suffering on their faces. You will see their anguish and frustration and disillusionment on their long faces and gaunt frames. You will see their hunger and poverty and confusion plastered like neon lights on their mien. Ironically, the people should be rich, but the reality is that they are very poor. Where has all the billions from oil exports gone? Theoretically, the Niger Delta people should be living in the laps of luxury, but the truth is that they are poorer than church rats. And yet the Niger Delta region produces the oil for which Nigeria is famous, or perhaps infamous. The only people in the Niger Delta enjoying the region's oil wealth are the politicians, government officials, the chiefs and elders of the communities, the oil companies, and the contractors and businessmen and women who have access to the corridors of power. If you are close to any of the ggovernors or first ladies or senior government officials in the Niger Delta region, then you are made for life. If you are not, like 99.9 percent of the population are, then you are finished, done for.
The majority of the population languish in poverty and squalor. Most of the communities and villages in the Niger Delta are islands, bounded by water, separated by water and only accesssible by water. Power, potable water, motorable roads, bridges, jobs, food, healthcare, schools and other basic infrastructure are a thing of the imagination. Successive state governments in the Niger Delta region have stolen the state blind in collaboration with chiefs and senior elders of the communities. They have worked hand in hand with the oil companies to keep their people poor and hungry.
In Bayelsa State, these former governors symbolized the decadence and corruption that has kept the state down: Oladipo Phillips Ayeni, Administrator, (from 7 October 1996 to 28 February 1997); Habu Daura, Administrator, (from 28 February 1997 to 27 June 19970; Omoniyi Caleb Olubolade, Administrator, (from 27 June 1997 to 9 July 1998); Paul Obi, Administrator, (from 9 July 1998 to 29 May 1999); Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, Governor, (PDP), (from 29 May 1999 to 9 December 2005); Goodluck Jonathan, Governor, PDP, (from 9 December 2005 to 29 May 2007); Timipre Sylva, Governor, PDP, (from 29 May 2007to 16 April 2008); Werinipre Seibarugo, Acting Governor, PDP, (from 16 April 2008 to 27 May 2008).
The present governor Timipre Sylva is said to be as corrrupt as the ones before him. Clearly, he is as corrupt, critics say, as his predecessor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, who gave corruption a flamboyant face. The former governor of Rivers State, Peter Odili of the PDP, was a very corrupt man, his critics charge. It was believed that he almost stole the state blind. For the eight years he was in power, his critics charge, he did practically nothing. Said an analyst: "There was no meaningful develoment during his tenure. Odili was busy stealing our money." Other governors before Odili were also blamed for doing nothing meaningful for the state.
In Akwa Ibom State former governor Victor Attah, gave corruption a new meaning and made nonsense of prudence and accountability. His avuncular posture was said to be a perfect cover for the plundering of the state's resources which took place during his tenure. He prospered, while the people of the state were pauperized. He was said to have stolen billions. In Delta State, former governor James Ibori's eight years in power, were years of pillaging, stealing and amassing of stupendous wealth. He, along with Odili, Attah and Alamieyeseigha, are said to be four of the richest men in Nigeria.
Cross River State did not fare any better. The present governor Liyel Imoke is sadly said to be a poster boy for corruption and graft.. His critics say that no meaningful development is happening in the state. It is said that Imoke is no different from those before him. Imoke's predecessors include: Uduokaha Esuene, Governor (28 May 1967 to July 1975) of then South-Eastern State; Paul Omu, Governor (July 1978 to 3 February 1976) also of then South-Eastern State, as the state was then known; Paul Omu, Governor (3 February 1976 to July 1978); M. Elegbede, Governor July 1978 October 1979; Clement Isong, Governor October 1979 to October 1983 NPN; Donald Etiebet, Governor October 1983 to December 1983 NPN; Daniel Archibong, Governor January 1984 to 1986; Eben Ibim Princewill, Governor 1986 to December 1989; Ernest Atta, Governor December 1989 to January 1992; Clement Ebri, Governor January 1992 to November 1993 NRC; Ibrahim Kefas, Administrator 9 December 1993 to 14 September 1994; Gregory Agboneni, Administrator 14 September 1994 to 22 August 1996; Umar Farouk Ahmed, Administrator 22 August to 1996 August 1998; Christopher Osondu, Administrator August 1998 to May 1999; and Donald Duke, Governor 29 May 1999to 29 May 2007 PDP.
The Federal government's apparent inability to stem the drift, spawned a resistance and activist movement, now led by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), which has snowballed into an armed struggle. Bands of angry, hungry, sensitized and unemployed youth are recruited daily into the violent armed gangs which have sprouted on the landscape, and are cashing in on a bad situation. Arms trafficking, smuggling, blackmail, violence and wanton kidnapping for ransome of foreign oil workers have become a lucrative business in the region, and a very popular one too.
Initially caught unprepared, the Nigerian authorities hace scrambled to tackle the crisis. But whether they are going about it the right way remains to be seen. Indeed, it took the authorities some time to come to terms with this volatine and combustible phenomenon, which was and is a direct challenge not only to is powers and authority, but indeed to the corporate entity of Nigeria. In many ways, the Niger Delta crisis and the rise of the armed struggle, unthinkable several years ago, brings back troubling memories of the Biafran struggle. At the root of that crisis, which snowballed in the 60s, were widespread feelings of disenchantment and disillusionment by the Igbo ethnic group in the Nigerian federation.
Some analysts have made striking similarities between both crises. Meantime, the Federal government has adopted a carrot and stick policy to address the disenchantment in the Niger Delta region, and the growing conflagration. It has made several concessions to the region over the years in revenue allocation and the appoitment of Niger Delta people to senior government positions. Recently, it has created a Niger Delta ministry as a deliberate instrument to appease the people, aand to facilitate development and inclusiveness. But the people have not been appeased. They say they want more, much more. Indeed, they are asking for control of their oil resources, which the auhtorities find intolerable, since it will upset the Nigerian apple cart. Clearly it calls into question the whole concept of Nigeria's federalism. Interestingly, opinion writers from the Niger Delta say that Nigeria is not practising federalism but a unitary system of government. Government spokesmen are quick to dismiss such arguements as a misrepresentation of the facts. Where does the truth lie?
Like other presidents before him, the late dictator General Sani Abacha, unable to put down the crisis, nor to understand for that matter the meaning of the militancy, confronted the problem in a typical military fashion, when he arrested and executed the writer and frontline Ogoni Rights activist Ken Saro Wiwa, who had brought worldwide recognition to the plight of the people of Nigeria's oil producing areas.
Government spokesmen are known to argue that there is nothing wrong with Nigeria's federal system, in which the federal government controls the nation's resources. They say the problem is not only greed and avarice, but also recklessness on the part of local politicians and leaders who have failed to maximize the resources accruing to the region from the federal purse for the general good. Analysts argue that this position has its merits as the cowboy mentality and widespread corruption among the rank and file of the region's politicians have shown. But Niger Delta indigenes say the problem is deeper than that.
In pursuit of its carrot and stick policy, the federal authorities have launched a vicious military campaign in the creeks of the Niger Delta to root out the daredevils and activists orchestrating the armed struggle. Meantime, ordinary people are caught in the middle, suffering casualities not unlike war time casualities. The BBC recently reported that thousands are fleeing the region to escape the fighting. Read more at http://www.xclusivenigeria.com.
For the people of the Niger Delta, oil has become a curse, not a blessing. Their lands and rivers and streams are polluted and poisoned from oil spillages and oil drilling activities; the marine life in their rivers are engangered and facing extinction; their farming activities are almost impossible to deal with. Their situation is dire. How has such a blessing turned into a curse?
