Ijomah blames N-Delta crisis on FG
By Chidi Nkwopara
OWERRI—The persistent conflict in the Niger Delta has been blamed on the federal government’s inability or unwillingness to study and implement recommendations in the reports handed over to it over the years.
A member of the Niger Delta Technical Committee set up in 2008, by the federal government, Professor B.I.C. Ijomah, made the appeal in a paper, “Peace and Conflict Resolution,” at a workshop organized for Rotarians by Rotary International, District 9140.
“We have it on record that the federal government has received 10 official reports recommending how to solve the Niger Delta conflict. There is the report of the Niger Delta Technical Committee in which I served. It appears that it will never be released,” Ijomah fumed.
After giving a comprehensive roll call of the different reports, Professor Ijomah also lamented that in addition to the 10 reports, there were at least nine other reports from ethnic nationalities and communities’ petitions to the federal government, advising on what should be done.
“Among these were the Ogoni Bill of Rights 1990, the Charter of Demands of the Ogbia People 1992, the Kaiama Declaration of 1998, Resolutions of the First Urhobo Economic Summit 1998, the Aklaka Declaration of 1999 and the Warri Accord 1999”, Professor Ijomah said.
The other reports included the Ikwerre Rescue Charter of 1999, the First Niger Delta Indigenous Women’s Conference 1999 and the Oron Bill of Rights 1999.
He further lamented that instead of issuing white papers or implementing the reports, “the federal government, because it believed it had the power to crush any uprising, indulged in filibustering, making promises that were never implemented”.
He recalled with grief that while the Niger Delta Technical Committee was working out its modus operandi in 2008, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) submitted a memorandum to the federal government, recommending a ministry for the Niger Delta.
“It is also interesting that two years after the Niger Delta Technical Committee had submitted its report, the report would appear to have joined all other previous reports on the shelf of the federal government. There has been no official white paper, and so the report may never be implemented”, Ijomah fumed.
While saying that every society exists on some agreement on how things should be done, Professor Ijomah also reasoned that whenever the agreed means of interpersonal relations are violated, conflict boils over the society.
Speaking earlier, the District Governor of Rotary International, District 9140, and former Deputy Governor of Rivers State, Dr. Gabriel Toby, said that achievement of peace is a fundamental arm of Rotary business.
He urged Rotarians and government at all levels in the country, to aim at promoting peace and better friendship in the country, adding that there cannot be any meaningful development without peace.
