Daily Independent Online.
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Wednesday, July 07, 2004.
2007: Setting a South-South agenda
By Uduak Iniodu
Correspondent,
Uyo
Expectations
are high in the states of the South-South geo-political zone as a fall-out of
the governors and members of the National Assembly recent two-day meeting in
Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, to brainstorm on issues affecting the area in
recent times.
Although
it was not their first meeting since the country’s return to democracy in
May 1999, economic and political analysts believe that it is one meeting
expected to define the true position of the Niger Delta region in the emerging
political agenda of the country in the coming years.
Described
as the goose that lays the golden egg, the level of under-development and
poverty that pervades the Niger Delta area cannot be compared to anywhere else
in the country.
The
story line is always that of environmental degradation, gas flaring, oil spill
and pollution. These have individually and collectively contributed to the
decimation of both aquatic life and farm produce. Yet no pragmatic steps are
taken to address the predicament of the people of the region.
Against
this background, some of the people have resorted to militancy to put their
grievances across the counter. Thus, cases of hijack, kidnap and blocking of
oil wells have become the order of the day.
Reports
have it that many lives have been lost and property worth hundreds of millions
of dollars have been destroyed due to disruption of oil companies’
activities by aggrieved youths in the last five years. Yet, there seems to be
no end in sight. The recent murder of two expatriate oil workers around the
Warri Creek is fresh in the memories of Nigerians.
The
questions people are wont to ask are: What has the Niger Delta region achieved
since oil was first struck in Oloibiri in 1958? What meaningful development in
terms of infrastructure can be found in the region as a form of compensation
for the many years of sufferings the people of the region have been exposed to?
When
the present administration came on board in May 1999, it established the Niger
Delta Development Commission (NDDC). Before then, it was the Oil Mineral
Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC). The mandate of NDDC was to
develop the Niger Delta to the best of its ability by ensuring that adequate
infrastructure are provided to assuage the devastation being experienced by the
people.
But
how has the NDDC fared since it was established five years ago. According to
Etebom Efiong Eberefiak, Clan Head of Oku in Uyo Local Government Area of Akwa
Ibom State and Chairman, Conference of Village Heads in the state, much impact
has not been felt compared to the resources being taken away from the area. He
suggests that there should be more community involvement in the activities of
NDDC, so that the communities would have the opportunity to make their inputs.
“The NDDC in itself may not know exactly what the community wants. For
example, you may believe I need a car and you bought one for me, whereas my
main interest could be to build a house. It would have been proper if you asked
me what I need between a car, house or whatever,“ he explained.
For
Mr. Israel Umoh, Chairman of the Akwa Ibom State Council of the Nigeria Union
of Journalists (NUJ), the problem of the region is the mono-cultural economy
operated by the Federal Government, whereby everybody’s attention is
focused on a particular source of income at the expense of other fields of
endeavour. “We operate a mono-cultural economy that depends on one source
of income, and that is oil. This oil is explored in the Niger Delta area, yet
this same people do not get enough to show for the wealth they produce,“
Umoh told Daily Independent.
He
blamed the Federal Government for failing to adopt an acceptable revenue
sharing formula for the development of the region. According to him, the
Federal Government in 1999 failed to transform the dream of the South-South
people by bluntly refusing to implement the 13 per cent derivation fund which
was their bona fide right authorised by the Constitution.
Based
on the hue and cry about marginalisation, some leaders of the zone began the
agitation for resource control. The essence, according to the Akwa Ibom State
governor, Obong Victor Attah, was to use the resources to develop the region to
the satisfaction of those who daily suffer degradation.
The
move however pitched the zone against the Federal Government, claiming it was
an attempt to split the country. The April 2002 Supreme Court ruling
blacklisted some states from being beneficiaries of the 13 per cent derivation.
The
problem seems to have been settled with the onshore-offshore dichotomy bill
given assent by President Olusegun Obansanjo. But the question remains: To what
extent would it help the Niger Delta people?
On
the political front, the zone is not faring better. While other zones are
agitating for the country’s plum position in 2007, the leaders of the
South-South have kept mum, perhaps with the continued intention of playing the
second fiddle.
Chief
Press Secretary to the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr. Ise Akpaso, believes that
the time has come when the Niger Delta region should determine its economic
contribution to its sustenance. Some people have attributed this misgiving to
lack of political cohesion on the part of the leaders. Akpaso stressed that if
the people of the region cannot unite and have a common front as in other
regions, the issue of climbing to the top would continue to remain a mirage.
After
the governors’ meeting in Uyo, it is expedient that they begin the
process of setting an agenda to take the people out of the political and
economic woods they are in currently.
