Nigeria�s well endowed oil and gas basin, the Niger Delta, has been on the front burner of national and international discourse in recent years. The reason for this is not far-fetched.
For the country�s treasure trove, it has been a sordid tale of squalor, neglect and underdevelopment in the midst of wealth and plenty. Successive governments and the oil exploring multinational firms in the last five decades have only made half-hearted efforts to tackle the endemic and mind-boggling poverty in the region.
Courtesy of the Niger Delta, Nigeria today exports about 2.4 million barrels of crude oil per day; it is Africa�s biggest oil industry, the second largest exporter of oil to the United States, sixth oil producer in the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the 10th among oil producing countries in the world.
But this statistics appear insignificant against the backdrop of recent anarchic developments in the region, which resulted in the country losing at least $13 billion monthly on oil exports, besides cutting oil production by a quarter. In the last 18 months or so, several armed groups have emerged to lay claim to greater control of the region�s resources and revenue. Oil platforms and installations have often been attacked and destroyed by such groups, whose members usually abduct foreigners to draw attention to their demands.
Other criminal-minded groups have also joined the kidnapping fray. These insurgents have extended their nefarious acts beyond abduction of only foreigners to women and toddlers and in return demand huge ransom before the hostages are set free. At the moment, it is difficult to say whether such acts have anything to do with the so-called political or liberation struggle in the impoverished region.
Several pundits believe past attempts by the government to address the problem have been tokenistic and aggravated rather than resolve the issues. From the days of the river basin authorities to the defunct Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC) down to the subsisting Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), the problem had always been that of poor funding coupled with corruption and the lack of political will.
The government had also tinkered with the idea of stakeholders and consultative fora as well as setting up of committees, with the latest being the Niger Delta Peace and Conflict Resolution Committee that was established in June by the President Umaru Yar�Adua administration to chart a new way forward. Although the Senator David Brigidi-led committee is yet to show any discernible direction and focus, analysts are pessimistic whether it would be any different from past groupings, whose assignment came to naught at the end of the day. At least, it is foolhardy to continue to do the same thing the same way and expect a different result.
As stakeholders and the NDDC grapple with how to bring sustainable development to the region, the fact remains that the persistence of gross underdevelopment and the escalating violence are enough pointers that previous attempts at addressing the issue have been futile or have not given enough succour. To such pundits, there is need for a change of tactics on the part of government. The reasoning is that it is high time the Federal Government threw the Niger Delta challenge to private initiatives or policy institutions like the National Think-Tank, which had recently volunteered on its own to find answers to some of the lingering questions in the country, including the Niger Delta question.
National Think-Tank coordinator, Steve Azaiki, in a paper entitled: “Momentum for the Niger Delta”, argues that there is no shortage of ideas on the way forward. According to him, there is a surfeit of proposals as various groups, individuals and stakeholders articulate their positions and proffer what they consider the appropriate template upon which to launch the region into a new and desirable era.
Some have even suggested a summit on the Niger Delta by the Federal Government. But the thinking among pundits is that such a forum organised by the government will be premature at this stage. The reason being that the government must move away from the habit of hurriedly getting on the driver�s seat without a dependable road map.
Even such a summit, by its conception, does not provide the best forum for brainstorming. How many days can a summit spare? A summit, more or less, is a rectifying forum where the final assent is given to a clean copy that was produced from all the hard labour of earlier negotiations, arguments and counter-arguments that had taken place usually before the summit.
However, the groundwork for a summit on the Niger Delta at this point ought to engage the attention of the National Think-Tank. Its membership, which is an amazing roll call of quality and diverse pool of talented Nigerians may never be readily available to a government-nominated committee that was charged with organising such a summit.
With the plethora of suggestions and multiplicity of stakeholders in the region, it only makes sense that a body like the National Think-Tank should distill and synthesise the various propositions, interact with stakeholders, research into the common denominators on the programme and projects to get the region on track. It should then be in position to present a working document; some invaluable intelligence will guide the preparation for the summit and implementation of the development of the agenda for the Niger Delta.
In Azaiki�s opinion, in rushing into a government-organised summit, especially on the Niger Delta, there is no way stakeholders will not raise as part of their demand the issues of resource control and fiscal federalism. But he says in granting such greater autonomy over resources and enthroning increased fiscal federalism are not matters of executive fiat.
These issues, he maintained, will have to be dealt with constitutionally. Besides, they are not matters that can be resolved in favour of the Niger Delta alone, as other constituent parts of the federation will, to a large extent, be affected by the decisions concerning such issues.
Other posers include: What is the best way to present or handle resources control and fiscal federalism issues at such a summit? What are the best ways of sensitising and winning over Niger Delta stakeholders, to realise the limitation of a summit or to pronounce authoritatively by way of a final solution on the vexed question of fiscal federalism? These and other salient matters are important for a think-tank to think through and present its recommendation on the best approach to maximise a summit on the Niger Delta.
But while the summit may engage in productively mapping out development strategies for the oil-producing region, it may find itself bogged down by the agitation for resource control, a situation that will command more headlines. Such scenario will send wrong signal and would heighten the propaganda that the Federal Government is unable to find answers to the needs of the peoples of the region. This may also lead to a fresh escalation of crisis in the creeks.
Azaiki, who is a former Secretary to the State Government (SSG) in Bayelsa State, believes Nigeria should strive to get away from the practice where the government is always at the forefront of everything no matter how genuinely concerned it may be. This is because in its haste to get things done or to be seen to be concerned, government misses out on the benefits that a more rigorous situation analysis and recommended course of action would provide.
For a lasting solution to the problems of the Niger Delta, let other actors, including stakeholders, brainstorm. Let them own the ideas, let them lay on the table what they need and what they would cherish. It is at this point that government as the trustee of the nation can step in to give its official seal of approval on what it can do either in the present or in the future, taking into consideration the vital interest of the other component groups in the nation.