All journalists like to receive articulate and respectful reactions to their articles or columns. Churning out thousands of words week after week sometimes feels like a thankless task. And thoughtful responses from readers who take the trouble to read what we write, then share their views with us (without being too long-winded!), are much appreciated, even if these readers don’t always agree with us.

I was pleased when some interesting opinions from  Attah Olaolu Adejo  ([email protected]) landed in my email inbox earlier this week. He felt moved to comment on the Sweet and Sour column that appeared on this page last week. It was about contractors who are exploiting my Ogoni people in Rivers State. Attah had this to say:

“As a human being and Nigerian, the Ogoni pollution story is something really painful to think off. I am not from Niger Delta but have always been sympathetic to it. The region is one of the most polluted ecosystems in the world (with no sign of an end).

It is also probably one of the most economically exploited, marginalized or cheated parts of the world!

I recall fanfare and promise the commissioning of Ogoni cleanup project by Professor Yemi Osinbajo some years back, the mention of $800 million as estimated sum for the job and the happiness on the faces of Ogonis and other Niger Deltans at the occasion.

However, the Nigerian in me was doubtful it would end in joy. Sadly, I and many others were proved right!    Funding inadequacies, bureaucratic bottlenecks, corruption, et cetera, seemed to have hijacked the process.

I must admit, sometimes I wonder why Goodluck Ebele Jonathan didn’t passionately and aggressively pursue pro- Niger Delta policies while in office.

That was the golden chance to right the wrongs his people suffer[ed]: he could have pushed for oil derivation review from 13 to 25%, more funding for NDDC and Ministry of Niger Delta, relocation of IOCs headquarters to the region and pressure on oil and gas firms to cut pollution to the minimum.

The gentleman might have felt being openly concerned about his zone’s plight could be viewed as narrow minded or sectional: well, his immediate successor (Muhammadu Buhari) from a region which brings far less ‘ingredients’ to the National Cake was less concerned about such sensitivities.

Buhari’s appointments, body language, direction of key infrastructure and government welfare packages didn’t leave any doubt he placed the North above others in his plans.

At the risk of sounding biased, I admit Jonathan gave substantial amount of sensitive or “juicy” appointments to Niger Deltans (particularly Ijaws) but not on the scale of his successor.

I lay some blame on Niger Delta’s political elite from 2007 to date (who seem rather docile): the activists, voices, governors, senators, federal representatives et cetera from 1999 to 2007 were a lot bolder, more demanding and focused in benefiting the region.

They got several results for their actions: establishment of NDDC, winning the onshore-offshore dichotomy suit against the Federal Government (which opened the doors to a lot more resources), some infrastructural development and destroying the stereotype of Niger Deltans as cooks, ‘houseboys and girls’, less stakeholders or second  class citizens of Nigeria.

I wish the current class in this… Republic would be more agitated!”

I was also struck by Attah’s thought-provoking comments about an earlier column in which I had focussed on Nigeria’s poverty problem.

“I have a habit that irritates a lot of people: I like to remind them GDP, having a large economy, etc, is very different from having a high standard of living, quality of life, Human Development Index, HDI.

Russia, India, Brazil, China, Indonesia, etc, have some of the largest economies on earth. There are also some of the nastiest places to live!

About one out of every four Russians (25% of the population) don’t have a toilet indoors; India is (in)famous for open defecation, water shortages, slums; Brazil has its endless favelas (slums) and crime; several Chinese cities are so polluted, people can’t see even in day time; Indonesia has hundreds of thousands of its females sexually exploited globally!

Most of the world: South Asia, Central and South America, South East Asia, The Caribbean, most Pacific Islands, parts of the Middle East, North Africa, South and East Europe are as bad or (in some cases) worse than Sub-Saharan Africa.

I like to annoy Twitter users and my secondary school WhatsApp group by reminding them there are more slum dwellers in South and South East Asia than Africa: more human and sex trafficking victims from South East Asia than Africa: Central America has more people dying violently than Africa (all these are verifiable from credible sources).

This is not to make Africans relax or feel there isn’t a stubborn and lingering poverty problem on our continent: I just wish to put it out there that nothing bad happening here is unique to us!

I feel we need to aggressively have a birth or population control plan for the continent: we have a high birth rate projected to keep increasing. We can’t improve standards of living with struggling economies, a culture of corruption, indiscipline and also people reproducing recklessly.

A struggling developing country with a high birth rate and/or huge population is like a sick individual dragging a rock up a hilly road: one of the understated reasons China lifted 300 million out of poverty and rose standards of living for hundreds of millions, was their aggressive ‘One Child policy’.

Africans need to reduce corruption: corruption destroys whatever good might come from a growing economy. No matter the amount made, a thieving culture will render it useless while despite a struggling economy, a less corrupt people can maintain average standards of living (examples were Cuba’s impressive education and health systems under economic sanctions and Burkina Faso under Thomas Sankara).

The oil and gas producing countries of Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Angola, have most of their citizens in unimaginable poverty in spite of their mineral wealth and relatively small population. Violence, indiscipline and corruption have made extremely resource- rich D.R. Congo, a poster child for almost everything wrong on earth!      

A dislike for maintenance, a fondness for suffering and a strange habit of letting foreigners exploit us are other problems I believe, hold most of African back.

DONU’S WORLD

I have a new YouTube channel. It’s called DONU’S WORLD.

https://youtube.com/@donukogbara?si=bBm_IPdFZ_wUyKYq

Check it out every Friday to watch me talking about my life and issues that interest me. And please “like”, subscribe and share!

Today, I’ll be complaining about the fact that the British prince, Harry, and his half-black American wife, Meghan – who are expected to visit Nigeria this month as guests of the Chief of Defence Staff – have upset his royal family and annoyed the hell out of ME!

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