MINISTER of State for Defence, Architect Mike Onolememen, spoke to a select group of journalists, last weekend, at Uromi in Edo State shortly after he was honoured by his people on his new appointment. Regional Editor, South-South, Emma Amaize, was one of his guests at the occasion and at the end of the day, he settled down with the newshounds for an interactive session. As expected, the journalists dwelled extensively on the Niger-Delta agitation. Despite the unclear signals to that effect at the time of the interview, Onolememen was insistent that the 24 Filipinos would be released in a couple of days, saying that the Delta State governor, Chief James Ibori, was on top of the situation. And true to his prediction, the hostages were released, three days after.
What astounded his interviewers was his mastery of the Niger-Delta problem within such a short space of time. He argued very persuasively that the Niger-Delta youths have a point in their agitation but that they were taking the struggle too far with the criminalization of the crusade for development of the region. His poser: How can any sane contractor mobilize to any community in the region to embark on any project when the militant youths would come and kidnap the expatriates that are working on the project? The answer, he said, was, of course, that no sane contractor would take such risk. In his opinion, that is what is militating against the development of the region. Excerpts of interview:
MOST Nigerians had thought that hostage taking in the Niger-Delta would go with 2006, given all efforts to stop it but it is continuing in 2007. What would you say is responsible for this?
Well, like you rightly said, we had thought that by now, the issue of militancy in the Niger-Delta would be a thing of the past but, unfortunately, it is still going on and I believe that a number of factors is responsible for this particular turn of events and this has to do with the perception of the relevant stakeholders, the major stakeholders, in this case, the host communities, government at the three levels- federal, state and local- and, of course, the multinational oil companies. The host communities feel that the government is not doing enough for them and they also feel that the oil companies are not doing enough, and the oil companies feel that the host communities are not sincere themselves, while the government feels that the host communities are not appreciative of the genuine efforts of the Federal Government to bring about positive changes in the state of affairs in the Niger-Delta. And I think that the government is right because, the President Olusegun Obasanjo administration, more any other government in this country, devoted a lot of energy and resources to the Niger-Delta issue. So, it is only natural that the government would expect the people of the Niger-Delta to, at least, show some modicum of appreciation.
But, the international community feels the government is not doing enough to address the Niger-Delta problems?
Let me tell you something. When Mr. President was elected in 1999, one of the first things he did was to create the Niger-Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and I know, as at date, that many billions of naira has been voted for the commission to develop the region. However, I expect the oil companies to be able to set up economic ventures that can replace what used to be the economic life wire of the communities, where exploration and exploitation of oil has affected. That is really the crux of the problem. The multinationals are not doing enough; the international community should rather re-direct their energies at ensuring that their multinationals embark on real development and programmes that will remediate the communities in which they exploit hydro-carbon in this country.
The regime of paying palliatives to community chiefs and leaders should be done away with. That is the problem and I believe the government shares that position because it is not enough for you to call a paramount chief in an oil producing community, give him some money and you think that the community is settled. It will not engender sustainable development for that community and, as long as there is no sustainable development in the community, the agitation will continue for a long time.
Can’t government put down some basic regulations on the development the multinationals must put in place in any community they are exploring and exploiting oil?
Yes, the issue of having a legislation to deal with that, I think the government is looking at that right now. But don’t forget that the companies are running the Joint Venture on behalf of government. Government is very unhappy with the way things have gone in the past. Just now, on the prompting of government, the companies are now made to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with host communities at the beginning of each budgetary year. All the stakeholders are invited and they sit down together and articulate the needs of a particular community. Projects are assigned, budgets are made for the projects and, as much as possible, we now have to insist and monitor the strict enforcement of the MoU and if this system is allowed to take root, I believe that some of the problems of underdevelopment and neglect of host communities will be a thing of the past.
Virtually every country is asking its citizens to stay away from Nigeria. Is the government bothered about this development?
Of course, the Federal Government is a responsible government and as a responsible government, government feels disturbed about these events and is doing all in its powers to ensure that the situation is redressed as quickly as possible. Some of the concerns, and as a matter of fact, that is the aspect that the agitation of the youths of the Niger-Delta is quite unfortunate- they have done a lot of damage to the international image of Nigeria. It does no one any good, not even the youths themselves.
That is exactly how I feel and I believe that this aspect of it is sheer criminality and they should be able to differentiate their agitation from such criminal tendency.
The militants are saying that the Obasanjo government has made a lot of promises and all of them are on paper. At least, for Okerenkoko, a school was promised last year, by President Obasanjo but nothing has happened.
The Federal Government means well in all its plans for the Niger-Delta but the problem is that there cannot be any meaningful development in an atmosphere of insecurity. The enabling environment must be created for meaningful development to take place. The current happenings in the creeks of the Niger-Delta and the entire region are not conducive for the implementation of any project. That is why I am advising the youths to think deeply and see how their criminality has damaged and restricted the fortunes of the people of the Niger-Delta. For instance, the Okerenkoko community you talked about in the creek, no sane contractor would want to go to Okerenkoko to do any project because the enabling environment has not been created. Not with the activities of the various militant groups.
They have to create the enabling environment first, the waterways are not safe, how can one move materials and human resources to the various sites you are talking about? It is not possible. The super highway the federal government is planning, for instance, starting from Warri through Patani to Port-Harcourt to Eket, it is a project that is capable of turning around the fortunes of the Niger-Delta, but the contractors are not being allowed to work. A contractor goes to the site with an expatriate staff, and some youths come and abduct them. No, that is not an enabling environment for that contract to be consummated. So the youths must understand that unless they create an enabling environment and allow unfettered access to contractors, including expatriates, into the nooks and crannies of the region to embark on development projects, we will be where we are, and we are not going to make progress.
What about allowing these militant youths to escort or work as coast guards? In one way, jobs would be provided for them and the security of these oil installations will be in their hands.
Well, no reasonable government will agree to the suggestion. The responsibility of enforcing law and order rests with the Nigeria Police. Of course, we have the army charged with the defence of our territorial integrity. There are some other ways the youths can be positively engaged in the development programmes. I have always said that the youths of the Niger-Delta are missing a very important opportunity for them to guarantee their economic prosperity for all times and I say this with all sense of seriousness. I believe that youths should be pre-occupied with how to equip themselves with the requisite skills and I also think that these multinational oil companies should embark on skill acquisition programme so as to be able to redirect their energy, so that they can become employable in most of the projects. Again, if they acquire the relevant skills, they can also key into the government’s local content policy in the oil and gas sector so that they can engage in meaningful employment that can, at least, put smile on the faces of their family members.
There are a whole lot of opportunities out there that they can even make much more than what they make from militancy if they acquire the relevant skills and key into the development plan of the Niger-Delta. Unfortunately, they are not interested. How many of them have applied for scholarship that are being offered, either by the oil companies or even the PTDF? Even when you do give to some of them, they sell the scholarship to other people, there have been cases like that, but without knowing it, they are damaging their future and it does no good to the future development of the Niger-Delta. So, they must have a rethink and make themselves available for the huge and unquantifiable opportunities that government is creating for them.
Involvement or otherwise of external powers in Niger-Delta crisis?
We don’t want to engage in unnecessary speculation now. We have nothing on ground to allude to that statement that external forces are fuelling the Niger Delta crisis but let me assure you that the Nigerian military has the ability and capability to defend the territorial integrity of this country at all times.
For you to be able to tackle militants in the volatile region, you must understand the modus operandi of the various groups, there is MEND, which does not kidnap for money but they want development for the oil communities and the other groups that are in it for money.
What do you know about the different militant groups and their mission?
Well, I believe that as far as you belong to the militant groups, as long as they constitute themselves into various groups and keep terrorizing people on our waterways and keep taking hostages, I believe that they are the same. I think the way they should go is to constitute themselves into a more civil group so that they can embark on a meaningful discussion with government, dialogue with the government and, incidentally, we have the president that is totally committed to using the vehicle of dialogue in the resolution of the Niger-Delta crisis and it is only when they constitute themselves into a civil group that they can sit down with government representatives and embark on free discussion on how to resolve all the issues involved in this crises. We will never make any headway if they don’t constitute themselves into civil groups to discuss with government. What I am saying is that the way to go forward is for them to do away with militancy posture because it is clear to us now that after several years of militancy and hostage taking, there is no solution on the horizon.
So, the way to go and the only way we can have meaningful solution to this crisis is for us to embark on meaningful dialogue. And we can only embark on meaningful dialogue when the youths organize themselves into a civil group and come out of the creeks, and sit down with the government, and discuss all the issues involved and we can arrive at an amicable solution of the crisis.
We are not talking about aliens here; we are talking about our brothers and sisters in the Niger Delta. That was exactly the message I preached during my recent tour of the Niger-Delta. I quite understand the issues involved in this crisis and I know that the youths from host communities are agitated that their places have been devastated by many years of exploration and exploitation and that nothing is being ploughed back.
These are issues that can be tabled and dealt with and, at the end of the day, there will be a lot of value added to their communities and that is the only time they can benefit positively from the government and the multinationals. It does no one any good if you go and blow up oil installations in the creeks like the way they have done and, at the end of the day, you deprive the nation of revenue that we even needed to develop your host communities. It makes no sense, you end up being the loser, and they should drop the garb of terrorism, militancy and hostage taking and come out as an organized civil group and dialogue with government. Mr. President is ready at any time, he has made the promise repeatedly, I believe that the way to go is to dialogue with him as a civil group but you can’t dialogue with the deaf man, you can’t dialogue with somebody cut off from civilization, so let them come out from the creek and sit down with government to see that these issues are tabled once and for all in the interest of the nation.
What you discovered in your tour of Niger-Delta?
Part of what I discovered is that militant youths of host communities are aggrieved, they are angry with their elders, they feel that their elders have cheated them, they are angry with the multinational companies because they believe that they made so much from their communities but have not ploughed enough back. Rightly or wrongly, they also believe that the government is not doing enough but I made a point a while ago that I believe the Federal Government is doing enough and that we are continuously improving on developmental projects in the area. But, I think they have a point because I believe that the various local and state governments have to do more than they are doing now, and, of course, the government also believes and the oil companies think so, too, that the youths themselves are not sincere enough. Many of them now see as a basis, you know, to demand huge sums of money and they get that money.
There is a little reprieve, as soon as the money is finished, they go back to the waterways again and unleash terror on people going about their legitimate duties. I don’t think that is right, that is why I said the resolution of the problem, from what I gathered from my tour of the region, will involve three major stakeholders: the government at the three tiers, the multinational oil companies and the host communities. Genuine representatives of these stakeholders need to sit down and really tell themselves the home truth so that we can have an amicable resolution of this Niger-Delta issue.
And like I have said, it is in our best interest as a people in the South-South, it is in our best interest in the host communities, it is in the best interest of the multinational companies, and, of course, in the best interest of government and I believe that is the way to go. But I want to appeal to the militant youths in the Niger-Delta that in as much as no one is saying that they should not embark on agitation, they should do away with the criminal aspect of the struggle, it is only then that they can begin to see real dividend of their agitation. As long as the criminal tendencies are still there, it will be very difficult to resolve this crisis.
What measures have your ministry put in place or are trying to put in place to enhance security in the country?
I want to assure that the Ministry of Defence is doing all in its powers to ensure that, as far as security is concerned, the interest of the country is protected and that the country is fully prepared at all times, the details of which you know are security issues and won’t be divulged to you. But I want to assure you that we are doing a lot and we hope that the measures we are taking right now will guarantee the security of the nation.