By Braeyi Ekiye

Credit must be given to former President Olusegun Obasanjo for his desperation in finding ‘lasting solution’ to the festering crisis in the Niger Delta. In spite of being the economic and financial muscle of the Nigerian State, since 1956 when petroleum was found in the region, the Niger Delta has remained underdeveloped.

When he assumed office on May 29th, 1999 as the democratically elected President of Nigeria, he was faced with restiveness by the youths of the region, manifesting in their clamour and protest for resources ownership and control, mitigation of environmental degradation and a more equitable, participatory and just administration of the Nigerian State.

The youths anchored their grievances against the backdrop of a skewed oil and gas wealth distribution, marginalization, colossal ecological damages and lack of opportunities open to them in the petroleum industry.

The ensuing unrest in the region, which witnessed blockages, attacks on oil facilities and kidnap of oil workers sent a very strong signal to the federal authorities that the youths of the Niger Delta meant ‘real’ business, this time around.

President Obasanjo therefore, saw this disturbing situation as most opportune time to make a marked difference in re-writing the narrative of the unpardonable underdevelopment in the region.

With military dispatch, Obasanjo engaged critical stakeholders in the region, to wit: leaderships of the Ijaw National Congress (INC), the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Traditional Rulers and Chiefs, and opinion leaders to find an enduring solution to the crisis which was already having a devastating effect on the economy of the Nigerian State.

Arising from the far-reaching consultations, the President set in motion the process of establishing the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) through the National Assembly. Subsequently, a law creating the NDDC was signed by President Obasanjo in the year 2000. The sole mandate of the Commission was the sustainable holistic development of the oil-rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Chief among the mandates: The physical and socio-economic development and tackling ecological and environmental problems that have arisen from the exploration and exploitation of oil mineral resources in the region, and the urgent need to take pragmatic steps for the prevention of oil spillages and control of it, and if it occurs, the prompt mitigation of these offensive environmental challenges. The mandate also sort to address serious health hazards, food insecurity and girl child abuse, among others.

Twenty years after NDDC’s creation, can we frankly say that the Commission has creditably dispensed its mandate? The answer is no. It is not that those saddled with the responsibility to actualize this mandate since its creation, 25 years ago, lacked the commitment and will, and the expertise to galvanize the work force to attain set goals, but the centralization of the command structure of the commission in terms of directives and supervision from the central and other powerful arms of government, including politicians, have all combined to make the NDDC’s performance profile uninspiring and a negation of the mandate assigned it. And this has gone on unchecked.

This is why the public perceives Chief Executives of the Commission, overtime, as lame ducks, with little or no authority to exercise their key or core mandate, especially in areas of promoting physical and socio-economic development, such as infrastructure, flood and erosion control, health care, education, food security, and environmental management. This makes the Chief Executive’s power of regulatory command of no effect. It is a known fact that the NDDC has been used overtime, for purposes other than the advancement of the underdeveloped region and her poverty stricken people. Have we forgotten so soon, Senator Godswill Akpabio’s marathon ‘Forensic Audit’ of the NDDC which documented a total of 133, 777 contracts for projects and programmes awarded to contractors and consultants in the Niger Delta states from 2001 – 2019, with a total value of 3,274,206,032,213.24 naira?

Akpabio further said that the auditors also interrogated funding gaps, irregularities, mismanagements, and due process violations/conflicts of interest, among others, while presenting the Forensic Audit Report to former late President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House on 2nd September, 2021.

The fact that the Federal Government still sits on the audit almost four years after, piques the mind. For whatever reasons, the Federal Government, from Buhari’s to the President Tinubu’s administrations silence on the report demonstrates insensitivity to curbing disturbing glaring corrupt practices identified in the Commission, particularly in the aforementioned period – 2001 to 2019. It would be recalled that the present Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, himself a son of Niger Delta, had come to lament on 30th of October, 2019 at the inauguration of the Interim Management Committee of the Commission, and I quote: “I think people were treating the place (NDDC) as an Automated Teller Machine (ATM), where you just walk in there to go and pluck money and go away. I do not think they were looking at it as an interventionist agency”.

Viewed against this backdrop, one must give credit to the commitment of the present administration of the NDDC under the leadership of Dr. Samuel Ogbuku. From the grapevine, we are told, business is no longer as usual in the commission. To discerning minds, the Board and Management has so far, shown a commendable measure of accountability and performance bond with the people of the region and their environment, albeit a lot more need be done to give the Niger Delta the development stature it deserves considering the enormous resources from that region accruing to the Federal Government, and the 36 states including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Worthy of mention of the achievements of the Ogbuku administration are one, its legacy project, ‘Operation Light the Niger Delta’ which has received accolades, even though many more communities in the vast Niger Delta are yet to benefit from it. Also, the commission’s attempt at roads and bridges construction and other infrastructural projects, including youth empowerment drive through skills acquisition and award of scholarships needs to be commended.

But, let me say, that the core mandate: The holistic physical and socio-economic development and tackling of ecological and environmental problems in the region are yet a far cry and need pragmatic and accelerated intervention.

This is where the recent President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s reaffirmation of the significance of the Niger Delta region to Nigeria’s economic prosperity rings a bell.

The President, in a message at the 25th anniversary celebration of the NDDC described the Niger Delta as “the goose that lays the golden egg”. And the submissive, patient and longsuffering goose has continued to lay this egg ‘unabated’ for the past seventy years, and still in counting. If equity and justice were to prevail in resources ownership and control and a sane and acceptable revenue allocation formula were in place, would the Niger Delta region still remain ‘poor, neglected and backward’, as the 1958 Sir Henry Willink Commission Report Alluded?

The President in his message also directed the Board and Management of the NDDC, through the Minister of the South-South Regional Development Commission, to complete and deliver abandoned critical projects in the region. President Tinubu also expressed confidence that the legacy 750-Kilometre Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway will serve as a viable alternative to the East-West Road. In his opinion, the flagship project will foster trade and connectivity across the region while opening up new investment prospects in the growth of eco-tourism and blue economy-based industries in the region.

There is no doubt that these projects, when completed would foster accelerated socio-economic growth and development and enhance speedy and safe transportation of men, goods and services in the region. Government’s move in this direction is therefore, commendable.

While we await these legacy projects to be completed and put to use, the compelling need to squarely address the urgent socio-economic and infrastructural deficits of the region cannot be overemphasized.

A potent option in addressing the sorry state of the development profile of the Niger Delta is the opening up of the region through road and modern water transportation systems to vitalize the variegated economies and opportunities the oil industries provides in the region. It should be noted that while Lagos, Abuja and some other States are awash with modern infrastructure and huge economic and financial enterprises which are catalysts to accelerated socio-economic growth and development, the Niger Delta states are left gasping for such transformation. The Niger Delta case should therefore, not be different. This can be done if the political will is there, and justice is seen to be done.

It would be an herculean task for interventionist developmental agencies of government, which are at best, parastatals, to carry out such flagship or legacy projects for the urgent holistic development of the Niger Delta.

It therefore behooves the Tinubu administration to dramatically change the parlous developmental narrative of the Niger Delta and bring it in line with modern city states, bubbling with uninterrupted business and commercial activities for the sustainability of her citizens.

After all, Mr. President has in his sincerity, conclusively alluded to the fact that, the Niger Delta is the goose that lays the golden egg, and that without it, the economic, physical, administrative and political prosperity and advancement of Nigeria would have been a far cry.

The Niger Delta region, therefore, deserves more than being gifted palliatives such as the NDDC and the South-South Development Commission (SSDC) in her desperation to catch up with other regions of the federation, most of which contributes little or nothing to the coffers of the Federation.

What Niger Delta needs is a well-articulated perspective development plan akin to the 1948 Marshall Plan that was launched in Western Europe after the World War II aimed at rebuilding war torn economies and create stable markets. The Niger Delta region can be said to be at developmental war, so the Federal Government, IOCs, State and international development agencies should, as a matter of priority, collaborate in providing significant, visible and sustainable development of this petroleum-rich region.

Braeyi Collins Ekiye is Publisher, EnvironmentWatch/CEO, BRAEBI TV Services Ltd.
Email: icelimited2018@gmail.com/Tel: +234-09031594537 (Direct Line & WhatsApp).