From last week, cntinues the  narrative of how the minority question gave birth to the appointment of the Willinks Minority Commission and its relevance to the Niger Delta which has always been considered a special area in Nigeria. 

Although the commission did not recommend the creation of states as strongly advocated by the minority ethnic groups, especially the Ibibio, the Ijaws, the Calabars and the Urhobos it, however, accepted the fact that genuine fear of domination existed among the minorities. 

The sitting of the Commission was to demand for the creation of Calabar-Ogoja-Rivers, COR, State, in a bid to bring succour to the marginalised minorities. 

At the 1957 Constitutional Conference held in London, the leaders of the COR State Movement held a private meeting with the British Secretary of State for the Colonies, Mr. Lennox Boyd. Also present at the meeting were the then Governor-General of Nigeria, Sir James Robertson, as well as the Governor of the Eastern Region of Nigeria, Sir John Stapledon. The Secretary of State for the Colonies assured the COR State advocates of the sympathy of the Colonial Office on the issue of the creation of states. Eventually, at the Conference, the decision to set up the Minorities’ Commission of Enquiry to look into the fears of the minorities and the means of allaying such fears, including the exercise of the creation of states, was reached. 

Sir Henry Willink was named as the Chairman of the Commission. Other members of the Commission were Gordon Hadow, Philip Mason, J.S. Shearer and K.J. Hilton who served as the Secretary. On September 26, 1957, the Commission was inaugurated with the following terms of reference: 1. To ascertain the factors behind the fears of minorities in any part of Nigeria and to propose means of allaying those fears, whether well or ill-founded; 2. To advise what safeguards should be included for that purpose in the constitution of Nigeria; 3. If, but only if, no other solution seems to the Commission to meet the case, then as a last resort to make detailed recommendations for the creation of one or more new states, and in that case: a) to specify the precise areas to be included in such state or states; b) to recommend the governmental and administrative structure most appropriate for it; and c) to assess whether any state recommended would be viable from an economic and administrative point of view and what the effect of its creation would be on the region or regions from which it would be created and on the federation; 4. To report its findings and recommendations to the Secretary of State for the Colonies. The Commission began its work in November 1957. Its sittings were held in all parts of the country. It sat in Calabar for seven days in January 1958. 

The COR State Memorandum to the Willink’s Commission defined the Calabar-Ogoja-Rivers, COR, area to embrace 15 administrative divisions, seven of which were located in the administrative province of Calabar, three in Ogoja and five in the Rivers Province: 1. Calabar Province – Abak, Calabar, Eket, Enyong, Ikot Ekpene Opobo (Ikot Abasi) and Uyo. 2. Ogoja Province – Ikom, Obubra, Ogoja and Obudu. 3. Rivers – Ahoda, Brass, Degema, Ogoni and Port Harcourt.

As a result of the Willink’s Commission report, the Federal Government refused to create states for the minorities. Instead, the then Prime Minister Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (December 1912 – 15 January 1966) created the Niger Development Board which was an acknowledgement of how important the Niger Delta was to Nigeria. 

Section 159 of the 1963 Constitution states that: “(1) There shall be a board for the Niger Delta which shall be styled the Niger Delta Development Board. (2) The members of the Board shall be – (a) a person appointed by the President, who shall be Chairman; (b) a person appointed by the Governor of Eastern Nigeria; (c) a person appointed by the Governor of Mid-Western Nigeria; (d) such other person as may be appointed in such manner as may be prescribed by the Parliament to represent the inhabitants of the Niger Delta. (3) A member of the Board shall vacate his office in such circumstances as may be prescribed by Parliament. 

To be concluded