| The 46-member Technical Committee on the Niger Delta yesterday submitted its report, recommending open trial or bail for a leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), Mr. Henry Okah, as one of the keys to quelling the crisis. The Committee, which presented a three-volume report, also recommended that oil rich states in the region be paid 25 per cent of revenues accruing from their territories as federation allocation. This represents an increase of nearly 100 per cent over the current 13 per cent derivation paid to such states. President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua said government would study and implement those recommendations that it found “acceptable”. Addressing State House correspondents after the presentation of the report to President Yar’Adua, the committee’s chairman, Mr. Ledum Mitee, listed the areas the Federal Government should tackle within the next six months to include: increase derivation from the present 13 per cent to 25 per cent and dedication of additional revenues largely to new infrastructure and sustainable development of the region; open trial and bail for accused militant, Okah; and completion of the East-West Road with spurs to coastline. It also recommended payment of outstanding statutory funds owed the Niger Delta Develo-pment Commission (NDDC); disarming process for youths involved in militancy through creating the enabling environment and establishment of a credible Decommissioning, Disarmament and Rehabilitation (DDR) process; and the establishment of a Youth Employment Scheme (YES) that will employ at least 2,000 youths in each local government of the Niger Delta States. Mitee said: “what seems clear is that the reason why we are where we are has been failure of demonstration of political will to deal with those issues. The demonstration of political will in our view need to be expressed also in terms of improved effective law enforcement with integrity that ensures that all identified highly placed persons engaged in sponsoring of violence for economic and political reasons are dealt with according to the law.” Recalling recommendations made in the 1950s, Mitee said: “I think when Willink said many years ago and I quote ‘the region should not be so neglected and badly treated or oppressed to rebel so that troops will be required to quell such rebellion’. It was very prophetic that Willink had warned that troops might be required if you oppress the region so much. There were also views from across the country about the injustice to the region. But you see injustice can produce either of two reactions: it can produce a sense of remorse or it can produce what I call victimising the victims, saying they are the cause, they are the people who did that to themselves. “What we have tried to do is to focus the attention of Nigerians to the first option, that is let us have the sense of remorse and try to change the cause by trying to right the wrongs. “Although the problems existed and indeed were excerbated before the current administration, but having voluntarily chosen to make the holistic resolution of the Niger Delta problem as part of its cardinal 7-point agenda, the challenge before this government is to break with past attitudes, for the credibility and thus success of the administration will be measured by if and how this problem is tackled. The consequences of failure are enormous especially in the light of the downward trend in oil process. Thus, we have included some details of the economic and human cost of the crisis in the region which for instance some $20.7 billion worth of oil revenue were lost to oil theft and vandalisation between January and September this year alone. Needless to add that the nation stands to gain tremendously if we invest similar amount in the short run to guarantee peace and safer investment climate in the region.” On if the committee got the commitment from the militants during their interaction during the course of their work, he said: “One of the things I will like people to go away with from here is that this committee is not in a position to cast iron guarantees on behalf of anybody, but we can only tell you the indications we have had. You would have noticed that since this committee went into work, there has been a slow down in militant activities. Without claiming exclusive responsibility for that, this committee’s work has something to do with that. I mentioned earlier in my speech to Mr. President some of the regrets I have because there have been offers on disarmament which we felt those opportunities should be exploited. Clearly, they have given indications of what will happen. The fact that the militants felt free to send in memos and even we had to visit them, tells you that the situation is not lost.” On the caveat given Yar’Adua that government would only implement the areas that are favourable to implement, Mitee said: “my simple answer is that we did not put any recommendation which we did not think should be acted on.” Earlier at the presentation ceremony, Yar’Adua had while commending the committee, said the Niger Delta was a strategic problem for the nation, reiterating his commitment to tackling it headlong. “You have done a lot of work within a very short time frame and you have examined all previous reports and the methods you have followed within this short period available to you. I am certain which has resulted in a report that will take this process of resolving the problem in the Niger Delta successfully. I want to therefore assure you that this report will be examined by government and we will examine our recommendations and I have no doubt in my mind that your work will form one of those great efforts that will ultimately help this country to find a permanent solution to the problems in the Niger Delta,” he said. |
Dec22008