By Nnedinso Ogaziechi
Espying, Independent Newspaper
More than a decade ago, I had written about the time bomb that the Nigeria Delta was at the time. The poverty, the environmental degradation, the illiteracy and militancy that was brewing then had its prognosis and researchers, writers, poets, and artists of various hues had used all styles to address and graphically paint the bleak picture of a future in the home of both the goose and the golden egg.
The Adaka Borro agitation for the welfare of the people of the Niger Delta met with death. Then Ken Saro- Wiwa and many others stepped in and they too were killed during the military leadership of late Gen. Sani Abacha in 1995.
Paradoxically too, the black gold that is the source of death and life to different groups of the Nigerian state has been in steady supply thanks to the efforts of multinationals and successive Nigerian governments that have kept the exploration, exploitation and exports of oil and the derivatives going.
The situation of the region however has not improved dramatically even as the global outrage coerced some governments to create the Oil Mineral Producing Development Commission (OMPADEC), the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and even a whole Ministry of the Niger delta. Like they say in Nigerian social parlance, the owl continues to cry. These agencies of government have had billions of dollars allocated to the agencies for the provision of infrastructure and the general welfare of people of the region but the human and environmental devastation continues unabatedly.
Curiously though, most of the presiding officers of the agencies and Ministry have come largely from the region. It is therefore shocking to the world that as they say in Nigeria, the goat eats its own leaves. People expected that being ‘sons and daughters’ of the soil, they would be in a better position to help address the problems of the Niger Delta but alas, the allocations to those agencies seem to have turned out like the proverbial drops in the ocean not from the source but allegedly due to the mismanagement of the resources.
Late President Umaru Ya’adua initiated the Amnesty Programme under which special funds were made available to rehabilitate most of the youth of the region that had been either involved in armed militancy or who had been unemployed or underemployed and finding life very difficult.
There was a carrot and stick style that saw most of them given scholarships to go study abroad as professionals with the NDDC picking their bills. This the government saw as a worthwhile investment in the future of the youths of the region and for some years it was yielding dividends as most of the beneficiaries graduated in different courses and returned as change agents.
The destructive militancy that affected the production and export of crude greatly reduced as the government battled the remaining militants with the Niger Delta military task force. It has been a cat and mouse deal ever since but then, the loss to the country has not been as bad as before the amnesty programme. Even though there had been rumours and allegation of fraud in all these agencies, the lid seems to have finally blown off given the recent probe by the National Assembly committees on the Niger delta on the petitions on alleged corrupt practices in both the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs and the NDDC.
The drama exposing the sleaze started with the allegations by the former acting Managing Director of the interim board of the NDDC, Gbene Joi Nunieh that the Minister, former governor and Senator, Godswill Akpabio had allegedly tried to coerce her into the mismanagement of the NDDC funds and that some funds had been mismanaged. The Minister has denied the allegations and instead indicated he was heading to court to sue the former MD for libel and defamation of character having equally been accused by Nunieh of allegedly trying to sexually harass her wherein she stopped him with a slap.
Even when the whole country wished the Minister could step aside while the allegations against him are thoroughly investigated, that has not happened and the drama seem to have gone a notch higher as the Minister Akpabio appeared before the house with the new acting MD of the NDDC, Mr. Pondei who fainted on being interrogated. Minister Akpabio on giving his testimony alleged that some of the NDDC contracts were given to some National Assembly members amidst being hushed to put off the microphone and stop talking by a member of the panel.
- As the world watches in outrage, from across the world came protests and appeals by some NDDC-sponsored students bemoaning their fate of being abandoned by the commission as regards their financial requirements for years now. The question is, how come these shenanigans are coming from those who ought to know where the shoe of the Niger Delta people pinches? How sensitive can we expect public officers to be not only in the region but in Nigeria? Again, what does the country expect from the highly paid legislative arms? Answers anyone?
***LEAH SHARIBU AND OTHER ABDUCTED WOMEN ARE STILL IN CAPTIVITY.
©Nnedinso
July 23, 2020.
