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Babatunde Adenodi
Pharmacist
East Orange,
New Jersey
 USA

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At some times in the past, resource allocation was based on the principle of derivation with each state paying a federal tax. Gowon changed it and allocated to the areas 1.5 percent and later, a miserly 3 per cent of the revenue allocation.  And for this, Abacha killed Ken Saro Wiwa and 8 others! And we, yes, we had our soldiers, Abacha’s Northern Nigerian Army, occupy the area just like Gowon had the “Kill and Go” occupy the West in 1966-1967. Before Saro Wiwa, Isaac Adaka Boro had shown a precursor of what we are seeing today. He too was killed during the Civil war at the Port Harcourt front. Then Obasanjo changed it to 13 per cent.

 

Backing the Delta People to the Wall
 by Tunde Adenodi.
 

Normally, a sheep does not bite. But when you chase it around and back it to the wall, it would bite! This is a Yoruba adage. Collectively, we, all of us Nigerians, have backed the people of the Delta to the wall, and bite, they will. And if they bite, we shall all suffer the consequences.

Oloibiri, in Rivers State was the first place where crude oil was exploited. This was in 1958. I was privileged to visit the town on excursion in 1963. I went back there in 1985 or thereabouts. Nothing changed. And because the oil platform had been closed, the only sign that it was an oil rig was the eternal flame of capped gas and devastated surrounding vegetation.

I do not know how much oil was taken from Oloibiri. And I do not care! But for the purpose of argument, let us assume one million barrels of crude petroleum was extracted. At today’s USD 120.00 per barrel, it is reasonable to suggest that 120.00 million dollars (in today’s money) was realized from the people’s soil. There are hundreds of oil rigs in the whole of the Delta region for which a sum of USD 1.2 trillion has been realized in the last 40 years.

At some times in the past, resource allocation was based on the principle of derivation with each state paying a federal tax. Gowon changed it and allocated to the areas 1.5 percent and later, a miserly 3 per cent of the revenue allocation.  And for this, Abacha killed Ken Saro Wiwa and 8 others! And we, yes, we had our soldiers, Abacha’s Northern Nigerian Army, occupy the area just like Gowon had the “Kill and Go” occupy the West in 1966-1967. Before Saro Wiwa, Isaac Adaka Boro had shown a precursor of what we are seeing today. He too was killed during the Civil war at the Port Harcourt front. Then Obasanjo changed it to 13 per cent.

He who does not learn from experience will relive the experience! This is a universal dictum. Nigeria cannot be an exception to this dictum. We are now seeing the beginning of a major rebellion, the end of which no one is able to tell.

There are several phases to a struggle. Take the South African example. There are 20 million blacks to 6 million whites. There is oppression of the majority black. The oppressed object and fight back. There is violent repression, singling out the leadership of the struggle for more repression by the ruling Afrikaans. Then, the oppressed resign their fate to the “will of God” with prayers and supplication which hardly ever works. Then the children, (second generation of the oppressed) take over the fight. If lucky and if the fight is sustained, they will be emancipated. If not, the struggle continues in different forms of it until freedom is achieved. But the most important thing is that the oppressor never voluntarily desists from oppressing and the oppressed never ever stops resisting oppression!

It is not clear if Ojukwu’s rebellion was predicated on the control of the vast petroleum resources of the Delta.  It was, however, a major factor in his calculation. From Enugu, they exercised total control which people like Adaka Boro and Saro Wiwa did not like. They had seen early enough the treatment meted out to Azikiwe’s second in command (I forgot his name) after Azikiwe lost out as premier in the West. Azikiwe rushed back to Enugu to take over as premier before his deputy had any funny ideas about who he really was - a mere minority! They had also seen how almost all areas of Ikwere in Rivers State had been Igbonized to the utter chagrin of the local populace: Umomasi, Umo-Abassi etc. The people preceded these names with an “R” after the Igbo were driven out in the aftermath of the civil war: Rumomasi, Rumo-Abassi etc.

After the civil war, the conquering masters believed the coast had become clear to colonize the whole area for the elite few who were to dish out whimsically, the goodies that flowed from under the soil of the vast Delta. And since every Nigerian leader from 1966 to 2007 was from the North, except for Obasanjo and Ironsi, it is safe to assume that North or specifically northern leaders, followed closely by Western Nigerian collaborators were responsible for the condition of the Delta today. Any attempt to engage in some form of revisionism by those who hold Obasanjo totally responsible or the leadership of OMPADEC and NDDC (Professor Eric Opia who allegedly misappropriated USD 80 million and Albert Horsfall and Rear Admiral Omatsola) are doing injustice to the course of the Delta people. The truth is that everyone was responsible including the so-called leaders of the Delta people.

The Ijaw people, reputed to be the 4th largest ethnic group in Nigeria, along with the Ogoni of the Delta are the most cheated in terms of resource allocation. It is therefore not a coincidence that they are the most vociferous in their demand for redress. Until the state of Bayelsa was created, they formed parts of Bendel, Rivers, Cross Rivers, and Ondo States.  In every state, they were a minority. Consequently, allocations to their areas were handed to people who had no primary interest of the oil producing areas at heart. In other words, allocations fell into the hands of those who had compelling interests of the state majority at heart. Interest that runs counter to that of the state majority.

So, at some point in the past, the oil producing area formed 1/3 of Nigeria when allocation went only to the dominant majority of the regions of North, East and West. Then, Mid-West Region was created from the West. With further state creation, they became 2/12 of the country with allocation reduced to 2/12; then it became 3/19 and present day 4/36 or 4/37 if you take Abuja as if ‘IT WERE A STATE”. With increasing number of states comes corresponding diminution of resources allocated to them. It is akin to a family that started out as husband and wife who together have a fixed income of say – N10, 000. Without children, each person will have N5, 000 at his or her disposal.  With one child, each person will have to survive on N3, 333.33 and with 2 children; everyone will now have N2, 5000 to survive on!

If we factor in corruption of the leaders, it can be seen why half of the moneys allocated finds itself in the leaders’ pockets. We saw it with Abacha, Alamiasegha (former Bayelsa state governor), Opia and others who are standing trial for corruption all over the nation.

Yes, the people of the Delta Region have been backed to the wall. And they are biting: We were producing almost at capacity about 2.8 million barrels a day. However, sabotage of pipelines, kidnapping of foreign workers have brought down production by about a million barrels to 1.8 million daily. Consequently, oil companies are withdrawing their personnel from the danger- zone and foreign countries are advising their nationals not to go to Nigeria.

The response of our leaders, especially those of the Arewa Consultative Forum is to call them hoodlums, thugs and criminals. And the response of the president is to appoint a known enemy of the people of the Delta to chair a conference to be attended by leaders of the Delta!

In the history of the nation, this is perhaps the closest to executive power the people of the Delta are.  Aikhomu and Akhigbe, were just political figure heads for the governments they served in and were not in any way representative of the Delta area. Besides, they have been adequately compensated personally with barrels of crude petroleum.  Vice President Goodluck Jonathan is the first Ijaw to serve at such a high level. In fact, he should be the president and Yar’Adua his vice! He should be allowed, in consultation with all the leaders of the Delta, to proffer a long-lasting solution to the crisis in the Delta.
 

 

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