By PETER BIAKPARA

I FEELvery reluctant to write this piece because it may appear like pouring cold water on the euphoria of the celebrated “success” of the amnesty programme which apparently has moved the Federal Government to initiate or to promise development in the Niger Delta to the delight of many. The problems of the Niger Delta are marginalization, lack of infrastructural development and lack of political space. These problems gave rise to youth militancy. The Federal Government is in a hurry to stop the militancy for immediate gains of increased oil production but appears not to be equally eager to address the real problems of Niger Delta. As long as these problems remain, militancy will be a recurring phenomenon. That is where the fallacy of the present Federal Government amnesty programme lies.

The challenge is, how deep and how soon can the government initiatives address the nearly  50 years of economic and political neglect of the Niger Delta, and in such a manner as to immediately address the yearnings of the youths, who have risked their lives to take up arms, the non-armed agitators and the elders of the region whose dissatisfaction gave birth to the Tompolos, the Tom Atekes, the Boyloafs, the Asari Dokubos, the Henry Okahs, etc., just to name a few?  How far can the Federal Government go and how soon will the efforts assuage the 50 years of neglect in all its ramifications. How did we create the environment for militancy?  From 1960 to now, in an attempt to keep the country united at all costs and in absolute disregard for the tenets of true federation, some laws have been enacted, particularly during the civil war years and the Obasanjo military regime, that made the people of the Niger Delta on-lookers in the oil business.

I agree with John Owubokiri when he said in Vanguard of Tuesday, November 3, 2009 that “the laws which have made the oil and  gas in Niger Delta communal (Nigerian) property are illegal as they negate every international conventions and treaties Nigeria is committed to.”The oil that is found in the backyard of the Niger Delta people is appropriated and managed by external and internal forces. The rules of the game are set by these forces such that the locals are not found in the business of prospecting for the oil, the lifting and sale, and even in the employment of skilled and unskilled labour in the sector including the award of major contracts.

Some of the manifestations of neglect are deafening in their mocking silence and unspeakable in their comparative disparity with the other contending regions. Kano and Jigawa States (the old Kano State) have about the same number of LGAs as the four core Niger Delta states of Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta all put together. The federal institutions in Kaduna State alone outnumber the ones in the entire Niger Delta. The leadership positions of federal institutions, including the oil industry, are never in the hands of Niger Delta people. The only federal road that traverses the Niger Delta, that is the East-West Road, is deplorable and is just about getting attention. Who are the Nigerian oil sheikhs? Anywhere in the world, the oil sheikhs are made by virtue of being born in the area where oil is found. There is hardly any oil sheikh from the Niger Delta. This situation created a mass of unemployed and unemployable youths who live side by side with the wealthiest of the land – the oil mongers.

Prohibited business

Is it not easy to see why the youths were drawn to militancy? Is it not easy to see why the youths went to oil bunkering, either as petty bunkerers or as fronts for the big time bunkering barons in Abuja to support the struggle? This trade, like any other prohibited business, needs strong arm protection. Guns, therefore, started to flow in. Next came patronages by politicians and international crooks. With the JTF deployment, the stage for conflict was set and that is what happened in the various hot spots and recently in Gbaramatu. The militants fought back by hitting the underbelly of the Federal Government. Oil production was brought down to below one-half. The Federal Government was in a dilemma. Should they go ahead with the military campaign and risk a zero oil output? From the blues, an unsolicited amnesty was announced. This was an amnesty that was not negotiated and not sought for, an amnesty for a people not conquered, yet full of insinuations of threat and ultimatum.

When the Federal Government announced its intention to grant the militants amnesty, despite its short comings, the elders of the region embraced it and went ahead to plead with the boys to accept the amnesty. They also embarked on a campaign to tutor the boys on the appropriate ways of surrendering their arms in a way to portray them as true freedom fighters as we know them without compromising the ideals of the struggle. On the other hand, the intention of the elders was also to guide the Federal Government to use this opportunity to address the Niger Delta problems in a holistic manner. This move was thwarted by politicians who had plans to use the amnesty for political gains ahead of the 2011 polls.

The elders had barely risen from a meeting with Boyloaf, and in absolute disdain for the elders move, when there came reports of the celebrated meeting of the same Boyloaf with Mr. President, with Timipre Sylva as facilitator. Tom Ateke and Tompolo, led by Timi Alaibe, the newly appointed presidential adviser, followed in quick succession. All these were done without recourse to or the involvement of the leaders of the Niger Delta nor the Ijaw National Congress (INC) and other organizations like the MOSOP that have championed the Niger Delta struggle. They, in the case of Ateke Tom and Tompolo, made belated visits to Chief E.K. Clark in his Abuja residence after they (the militants) had consummated their deal with the Federal Government.

The whole drama was absurd. Fifty years of the struggle from Adaka Boro to Ken Saro-Wiwa, Asari Dokubo, Kaiama Declaration and Henry Okah, the exploits of the Prof. Dime, the Fumudohs, the Okokos, Biakparas, Ghomorais, and Obianimes, all of the Ijaw National Congress (INC); the invaluable contributions of Clark and other leaders; the contributions of the youth leaders, the Tuodolors, the Oronto Doughlas of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC); all these efforts and genuine contributions were now to be sacrificed on the altar of greed and political horse trading by a few over ambitious politicians. Some of our prominent sons engaged in a game to outwit each other in the delivery of repentant militants to Mr. President, who grudgingly promised to address the other core issues.

All these happened without consultation with genuine stakeholders. No attempt was even made to consult anybody except the hitherto arm-carrying youths. And that is where the Federal Government got everything wrong. When the history of the Niger Delta struggle is written, it may not be kind to these politicians. In less than 30 days, without consulting other stakeholders, they bundled our boys to Abuja to drop arms with only a promissory note, which does not guarantee that the situation of the Niger Delta will be redressed. At the time the amnesty was offered, it was obvious that the Federal Government was on the brink. That was the finest hour for Niger Delta in all the years of the struggle. But because of the hustling for appointments and re-election ahead of 2011, some politicians compromised the struggle, compromised our youths, sold out our gallant boys for their selfish interests.

So the resolution of the issues of the Niger Delta struggle contained in all the past reports, ranging from Gen.Popoola  to General Ogomudia, Ledun Mittee’s 49-man Technical Committee, and 50 years of loss of human lives were reduced to the charade we saw in Abuja in the last few weeks. Henry Okah put it squarely during his last visit to Mr. President: The resolution of the Niger Delta crisis does not end with the surrender of the militants and their guns. He advised the Federal Government to sit with the elders and other stakeholders of the region to fashion out programmes and policies for sustainable peace. …“the disarmament process will only come after the root causes of militancy and agitation in the Niger Delta have been addressed by the Nigerian government” -  MEND, p. 5 Vanguard, November 8, 2009.

The Niger Delta struggle is beyond guns. The resort to guns by our youths was only a means to an end. The soul and spirit of the struggle reside in the land and the earlier each group, i.e. the youths, the elders, organized bodies, know the limit of their contributions, the better for all. Government appointees are not exempted in this unofficial demarcation of duties. Let no one or one group feel that they have all the answers to the Niger Delta problems. The amnesty, with all its flaws, has taken us several notches higher in the achievement of our goals than we have ever been. One is, therefore, indeed, grateful to God and to those who have midwifed the process thus far. I must single out President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua  for his courage. The greatest courage of a leader is when he treats his followers with meekness despite the mighty sword he bears. Mr. President must be praised for the display of this rare courage by being meek in the deployment of his valour. We are also proud of our militants for making the Federal Government see the need to take positive action to address the Niger Delta issue. We have never come this far in our struggle.

However, let be known that nothing has changed. There is merely a temporary truce. It must be noted that militants throughout the struggle had not gone out of their way to attack government forces. All the previous blowouts have been due to misunderstanding  between JTF and the militants over local issues. It is only after the Gbaramatu episode, which also originated from a local issue, that the militants went after the Federal Government, and even then, it was against oil installations. I repeat once more, “nothing has really changed”.

The Niger Delta terrain is still a virgin territory. The militants are just a small fraction of the number of youths in the Niger Delta. The rest of the teeming youths, who are jobless, are just waiting to take over command from the Tompolos and co. unless government gets the post amnesty phase right. Within these two or three months of amnesty activities, scores of hitherto naive adolescent youth have come of age. They would not  require much prodding to take over the mantle of leadership from the repentant militants particularly if there is no significant change in the environment in the immediate period following the amnesty. I may ask again: How deep and how soon can the government initiatives address the core issues leading to the militancy in the Niger Delta? It is only a careful handling of the post amnesty phase that will determine the success of the entire programme. And that is not for the government appointees nor is it for the militants alone to decide. It is the involvement of a broad spectrum of stakeholders that would guarantee the success and therefore a sustainable peace in the region.

Post script. One intriguing feature of this amnesty programme is the sudden appearance of Chief Tony Anenih on the eve of the surrender at Tompolo’s camp and his being proclaimed as a chief contributor to the peace process. Well, just how far can they play politics with our lives?

*Biakpara, a retired wing commander and former vice president, Ijaw National Congress, IYC, lives at Plot 100, Tobi Crescent, GRA, Asaba, Delta State