With the current tenure hasting to an end and campaigns for elections intensified, the high level of degradation in the Niger Delta has been one of the major blueprints of presidential candidates. That the South-south geo-political zone of the country has become an issue in the comtemporary Nigeria, can by no means be undermined.
In recent times, the Niger Delta has been a thorn in the flesh of the government of this country. The zone has become a trouble spot in Nigeria. Since the inception of civil rule in 1999, series of clamours for a reverse of the status quo have continued to be on the rise. This rising agitation for a new life in the zone has culminated in the emergence of militants, protracted hostage taking, vandalization of oil pipelines and undue hostility of the people of the area to other people from other parts of the country as well as the continued engagement of military forces in gun duel.
The prevalent hostility in the zone stemmed from the indignation of residents who believe that the zone serves as the pot pouri of the nation because it is endowed with petroleum resources, which provide almost 95 per cent of the nation’s income. The residents are particularly aggrieved that the zone is the most underdeveloped part of the country.
It is against this backdrop that militants in the Niger Delta on the aegis of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) have vowed to make the area unsuitable for the operations of the oil companies and possibly make it a difficult terrain to govern. Hostage taking has become a recurring decimal in recent times, with hundreds of military men deployed to maintain peace in the area completely handicapped.
This recurrent hostage taking has no doubt been an embarrassment to the image of the country in the face of the international communities. This is moreso that victims are mostly expatriates. The aggrieved people of the Niger Delta have at different fora, protested the 13 per cent derivation that the oil producing states currently receive from the federation. Thus the elders of the zone walked out of the National Political Reform Conference conveyed by President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2005, having failed to grant the demand of the South-south representatives at the conference for an upward review of the 13 per cent derivation to 25 per cent with its graduation to 50 per cent in subsequent years .
Therefore, the militants are aggrieved that whereas, the country derives its mainstay from the zone, its indigenes have continued to be impoverished, with their water, which serves as their main source of income being allegedly contaminated by oil exploration.
It is against this background that politicians participating at the April 21 presidential polls, have made the restoration of values to the Niger Delta as one of their cardinal programmes. Major presidential candidates have continued to roll out laudable promises capable of assuaging the anger of the people of the zone. The Niger Delta affair therefore has become a selling point for the presidential candidates. It is the view of many that such presidential candidates who show insentivity to the plights of the people of the Niger Delta, might automatically lose the support of the zone in their quests.
Therefore, bright promises laden with hope have continued to occupy a sizeable portion of the policy documents of these presidential candidates. For instance, presidential candidate of the Action Congress (AC), Vice President Atiku Abubakar has promised to turn the zone into an eldorado if he emerges president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria come May 29, this year.
Atiku who unfolded his programmes for the Niger Delta in his policy documents for Nigeria and at different campaign grounds, adjudged himself as having the best policy documents for the South-south geo-political zone.
He pledged to put paid to the miriads of crises rocking the Niger Delta by giving residents a sense of belonging. This he promised to do by deviating completely from the style of incumbent President Olusegun Obasanjo, who until recently, has solely presided over the affairs of the Ministry of Petroleum.
Atiku pledged not only to appoint a minister of petroleum resources, but also ensure that an indigene of the zone becomes the minister overseeing the oil affairs of the country. Further to justify his theory of a sense of belonging, the vice president promised to make history by becoming the first president to create the Ministry of the Niger Delta and expectedly appoint an indigene as the minister.
This, according to him, will equate the Niger Delta with the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), which has a ministry overseeing its affairs. He explained that the FCT Ministry, now subsumed under the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) was created with the sole purpose of accelerating the development of the nation’s capital. He therefore, promised to accord the Niger Delta Ministry with the sole responsibility of developing the Niger Delta.
Atiku further said the Federal Executive Council under his leadership would properly monitor the activities of both the ministry and the minister with a view to ensuring that the arduos task of developing the Niger Delta is achieved.
Said Atiku: “I have one of the most visionary Niger Delta policies in this country. You know there is this thing they call a sense of belonging. I have said that I will appoint the oil minister from the Niger Delta.
Two, I will create a Niger Delta ministry for the development of Niger Delta just like the case in Abuja. As we created a ministry to accelerate the development of Abuja, I believe we will create the Ministry of the Niger Delta to accelerate the development of the Niger Delta.
“You know why? This is because when we create a ministry, we will have a masterplan. Then the minister will sit down with us in the council and because he will sit down in the council, we will also be subjected to monitoring what he does in the Niger Delta and what progress has been made.”
Atiku also said he has proposed a 3Gs syndrome to rehabilitate the Niger Delta. By this sydrome, the AC candidate promised to institute a working partnership among the three tiers of government operating at the zone viz: the Federal Government, the state and the local governments, with a view to ensuring that these three tiers of government deploy the resources at their disposal to the development of the zone.
He also pledged to float banks to guarantee the availability of funds for the development of the Niger Delta. Besides, he said his administration would set up a Coast Guard comprising mainly the militants who can explore the creeks meaningfully.
“I have proposed what we call a 3Gs partnership to develop the Niger Delta within a short possible time. What the 3Gs partnership means is that the Federal Government, state governments and local governments will come together to develop the Niger Delta. Niger Delta has one of the worst terrains in the world that I know of. Developing Niger Delta is a very big task.
Those of you who come from there know. For instance, those of you who come from Bayelsa, Yenagoa, know that to build in Yenagoa, you have to sandfill. The cost of even sandfilling can build about three or four houses else where. It’s a very difficult terrain. So you need the resources from all these stakeholders to be able to develop Niger Delta within the shortest possible time.
“Therefore there is nowhere the Federal Government alone can do it. It has to be a partnership. That is what I call the 3Gs partnership. Then I also propose environmental programme so that we can clean up the environment for them.
“Also, I propose the floating of banks to raise money for the development of that zone. I also propose to set up a Coast Guard. These militants can be bulk of the members of the Coast Guard. They will be well trained. With this Coast Guard, the Navy can go into the creeks. Right now, the Navy cannot go into the creek. They cannot go into the small rivers because they are not trained for small rivers. When you have a well trained Coast Guard that is well paid, well equpped, they can also protect the investment and the properties in the area. These are some of the programmes I have for the Niger Delta if I happen to be elected,” Atiku submitted.
In the same vein, presidential candidate of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and governor of Katsina State, Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’dua has promised to alleviate the agony the people of the Niger Delta. To this end, Yar’Adua said his choice of running mate from the zone was in pursuit of that plan. He added this decision was taken primally to impact confidence in the people of the area that his government will not be insensitive to their perceived unpleasant situations.
According to him, the major tool of effective partnership is trust. Hence, he said it has become compelling to first secure the trust of the people that he has good plans to better their lots. He emphasized further that picking Goodluck Jonathan, his vice presidential candidate from the South-south was the first factor aimed at securing the proclaimed trust of the people that they will not be left out of the good programmes of his administration.
Unlike Atiku who has already spelt out what to do in the zone, Yar’Adua who noted that the problems of the Niger Delta dates back to pre-independence Nigeria, promised to tackle the problem in the zone headlong by embracing the tool of dialogue with the leaders, various governments and stakeholders in the creeks zone. The outcome of the dialogue, according to Yar’dua, will now determine what project to execute and how it will be carried out. He argued that it has become paramount that the zone is given a face lift not only economically, but also socially.
“We have the Niger Delta problem, that is true.This is a problem that precedes independence. People forget that the Niger Delta problem is not new. But it has been growing in intensity. I have taken my running mate from the Niger Delta. And that is a deliberate thing between nyself, the party and the president.
“So, we think it is the first step of building confidence in trying when we come to office to get confidence and try to build trust with dialogue. We feel that with the Niger Delta problem, one needs to build trust and then we need to dialogue with the leaders. And jointly, with other stakeholders, ourselves, the state governments, the Niger Delta leaders, the oil companies to sit and dialogue on a blue print.
“This is what I mean by a blue print. Once this is agreed on, I assure that it is going to be implemented correctly and exactly and on time so that the trust can be upheld. You need trust and to generate hope.
Once there is trust, then they will be able to control their militants. We must fast track the development of the region socially and economically. Really, there is need for more massive investment.”
Also, former head of state, Major General Muhammadu Buhari, the presidential candidate of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) is not taken the back seat in the campaign for the restoration of the dignity of the human persons in the zone.
Buhari sees the deterioration in the Niger Delta as part of the alleged failure of the government of Obasanjo to address the decay pervading the rank and file of the entire country. For Buhari, if only the government has been a sensitive one, infrastructural decay, such as witnessed in the Niger Delta as well as all over the country, would not have featured at all.
“Over N1 trillion has been voted for roads in the country…Yet there is nowhere you can get a stretch of 200 kilometres of good roads. Instead, what you see everywhere are dilapidated roads full of potholes across the country. Nigeria has not known peace since 1999. Social conflicts everywhere, inter communal clashes, Niger Delta problems, armed robbery, all have not been looked into properly. This government has failed in her elementary duty to provide security, education, employment, yet it wants continuity.”
Therefore, Buhari who did not categorically state how he would solve the Niger Delta crises, only promised that conscious efforts would be made to alter the status quo in the zone. “We intend to make genuine effort to tackle the problems of Niger Delta in a realistic fashion,” Buhari said.
However, as juicy as the promises look, they have not elicited the expected joy by the downtrodden people of the Niger Delta. Responses to these promises thus far have cold. Perhaps they are viewed as parts of the usual glamour which usually charaterises electioneering campaigns at every transition period and the backlog of unfufilled promises by successive governments. What happens to the promise of the would-be winner therefore, remains an issue to watch out for.