THE Federal Government should be applauded for its amnesty for militants in the Niger Delta. The amnesty, however, needs more content to end the conflicts in the area.
Issues about the Niger Delta would always raise emotions. It is in the midst of those fiery exchanges that the points are massively missed.
What are the points? The Niger Delta needs to be developed quickly, before oil loses relevance. Laws that discriminate against the people in terms of their economic and social engagements must be dismantled.
Some of these laws are even constitutional, like Section 44 (3) of the Constitution which abrogates their rights to their land and other natural resources (without compensation), a right the same Constitution freely provides to other Nigerians.
The recent argument that militancy has made development impossible is a facade. Before militancy, why was the area neglected?
Amnesty for the militants is a good idea. However, the Federal Government must have the political will to muster resources for development of the area. Government so easily finds funds for peripheral matters on the Niger Delta and not the core issues.
Last April, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua said: “We have created the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs to champion the overall holistic development of oil producing areas.
This administration has been fully releasing full funds to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).” What holistic development of the areas is not in the unfunded three-year-old NDDC masterplan? Does government’s responsibility to the Niger Delta end with partial release of funds?
“The government has released enough funds for the JTF to acquire the proper capacity to be able to enforce law and order in the Niger Delta,” Yar’Adua continued. What did the JTF’s full force achieve?
Since the creation of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), the highest release of its funds, in relation to the approved budget was 39.7 per cent in 2002 when its budget of N28.4 billion had only N11.2 billion released, a shortfall of N17.1 billion.
The 2006 and 2007 budget releases of N17.3 billion (N80.2 billion allocated) and N26.1 billion in place of the allocated N97 billion were made.
These resulted in a shortfall of N326.23 billion as only N110.31 billion out of a budget allocation of N436.54 billion got to NDDC since 2002. Were militants responsible for these partial releases?
Militancy is the poor excuse for not developing the area. What would an amnesty offer kidnappers, who the police said, made $100 million as ransom in three years? Militancy is not the only problem in the Niger Delta. How will government ensure inhabitants of the area benefit from oil exploration, which has denied them other viable economic activity?
Government can do more about the Niger Delta. The release of Henry Okah, who was on trial and extension of the amnesty to other militants is a good first step.
The best amnesty is total development of the area and improvement of lives of its people.
It is very, very self evident that the FREEDOM FIGHTERS FROM THE NIGER DELTA must do some form of stealing, looting, and where necessary “kidnap” to raise funds to feed themselves, purchase arms and take care of their wounded or sick ones.
It is the beginning of wisdom for a Niger Deltan to understand this fact.
But everything has phases. The phase of kidnapping for ransome which has succeeded as the most means to sustain the revolution may have by this time been replaced by some other style or ways. For example, robbing banks, or operating deep into Nigeria, into Lagos, Abuja, or straight into the belly of the Mallams. This phase is a harder to-do phase, but for the the rational sustennance of the movement without alienating the ND citizens for whom the process was billed to benefit, it is very important to abort the FIRST PHASE. It has been used by the detractors (the Hausa/Fulani ) for almost genuine propaganda to make the struggle seem not worth its while, when in fact the phase of Kidnapping really worked.
The good thing about this kidnap is that it has been done without blood loss. Because there is no where else in the world where they kidnap for ransome that equaled the finesse employed by the ND freedom fighters. The ND kidnappers take ransom and return life. Great!
Except for those that operate in the name of freedom fighters, who are fake, and extort monies for themselves with no sensitivity to the true ND cause, – we expect that, and we know that there is always psychopants and dissemblers and fraudsters in every true endeavours.
That’s why the fight is still raging. Because truth will always outlast falsehood.
Let’s take this fight into the lands of those that are milking us dry., those that make us slaves; those that prosper and wish us death.
Let’s begin to raise funds to sustain this revolution from outside Niger Delta otherwise we will lose the sympathy and support of real people that want to see equality,fairness, and actualization of our rights from our creator if we still employ phase one.