Hostage-taking is taking its toll on the political and socio-economic lives of Niger Deltans and oil companies operating in the area. Soji Ajibola writes on a recent kidnap of some indigenes of the Niger Delta.
The issue of hostage-taking is as old as when crude oil was discovered in commercial quantity in the ancient community of Oloibiri in the then old Rivers State, now Bayelsa State. The agitation for better conditions of living by the host communities has become an unofficial national anthem. Most rivers in the area are no longer good for fishing, no thanks to the environmental pollution from oil spillage and vandalization of the petroleum products pipelines.
The complaints of the people then were not taken seriously; hence, people in the host oil communities resorted mainly to kidnapping of foreign oil workers, a development which the governor of Bayelsa State, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, referred to as �a criminal act�. No doubt, hostage-taking has brought the region to more limelight, though in a negative form. People all over the world are now more familiar with what is going on in the Niger Delta region than before. The Federal Government recently severed its relationship with the Cable News Network (CNN) over its recent documentary on the perceived happenings in the Niger Delta region, which portrayed the country in a very bad light.
Recently, yet-to-identified people kidnapped three grown-up adults from Oluasiri in Nembe Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, travelling along the Abonema-Buguma-Port Harcourt route. Efforts by their relations and the entire community to trace the whereabouts of the abductors have proved abortive. Those abducted are Mr. Igbogimunapagamoye Yousou, 25-year-old, Mr. Eremieme Akanate, 26 and Mr. Tekikumo Richard Isaiah, 25. These people were said to have left their homes with the hope of returning to their famistation officer, Inspector Ayefinitei David, briefed him on the incident.
The station officer, who confirmed the incident, said it was officially reported at the station on February 3, 2007 by the councilor representing Nembe Ward 13, Honourable Kuro Alagoa and that investigation into the matter has since commenced. Inspector David, however, lamented that his men were handicapped in patrolling the waterways because of the absence of a patrol boat, adding that in cases of emergency, it was difficult to reach the Clan into confusion, stressing that people in the area were now living in fear.
The royal father also said the three young men, who were kidnapped, are dear to Oluasiri Clan. He then called on the Bayelsa State government to protect the lives of the Oluasiri people to avoid a breakdown of law and order in the area. It would be recalled that the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, in a motion, had condemned the kidnap of the three young men of Oluasiri Clan by unknown persons. Honourable Otobo Opusiri, representing Nembe Constituency III, brought the motion, under matters of urgent public importance before the House.
At the macro level, hostage taking has drastically cut down the daily production of crude oil, according to oil industry sources, by about 660,000 barrels. Even the few expatriates still engaged in oil exploration in the Niger Delta region live in fear. In the final analysis, the nation suffers, the oil companies are grossly incapacitated and the Niger Delta is further impoverished.
Whatever is the case, feuding parties in this tripartite conflict, the government, oil communities and militants/host oil communities, must revisit the roundtable and put an end to it.