Says it is wrong to appease militants with contracts

Lawyer, environmentalist and social activist, Ledum Mitee was the pioneer vice-president of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People, MOSOP, and until recently, the president of the body.

Mr. Mitee who has also chaired several civil society groups was also until recently, Chairman, Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI.

Mitee in this interview in Port Harcourt speaks on burning issues in the Niger Delta, the killings in his native Rivers State and some other topical issues.

By Jimitota Onoyume

What is your reaction to the renewed insurgency in the Niger Delta?

It is a very unfortunate situation considering the economy, the security and overall situation in the country. To have a situation boiling as it is, does not tell well of us. Everybody of good conscience should know it is a matter that calls for concern.

People like us have a sense of concern, we have been here before, we have seen it, and we are coming back to the same situation.

I have advocated peaceful resolution of conflict all my life. Almost all who have been reading the Niger Delta can’t say they did not see this coming.

Since the day we submitted what people refer to as the Ledum Mitee Technical Committee report we made it clear that this is not the way to go. The government has thought of peace in the Niger Delta as when oil flows.

So as soon as in 2008 and 2009 we had a situation where our oil production dropped to between 500,000 and 1 million barrels of oil daily. It was a thing of concern.

The whole attitude of government then in spite of the issues and solutions we proffered was to go on an appeasement exercise, to appease the most violent segment of the community just to make sure oil flowed in the region. This was different from the solutions we raised and proffered.

Disarming process

Ledum Mittee

The amnesty thing as it is was not what we recommended. What we recommended at the level of the Niger Delta Technical Committee was that within six months, complete initial steps to support a disarming process for youths involved in militancy should be taken. The process should begin with some confidence building measures on all sides.

These measures include ceasefire on both sides, pull back of forces, open trial, and bail, with a view to an eventual negotiated release for Henry Okah.

What we looked at was that there would be an amnesty where you will negotiate, and that will bring about disarming of militant groups.

You will enter into an undertaking. We had detailed steps. What the government did was to run with amnesty as if it is a stand-alone thing. Even the important question of asking who a militant was for the purpose of the amnesty was overlooked. Have we collected all the guns from those who have the guns? So if a person had raped a woman and brought gun is that why he should be registered in the amnesty program and be paid.

Again paying people without work is not a step in the right direction. If you are going to pay people, then you have to tie it to a work. When they finish training, they look for work. You can say if you have a hotel, and you were taking three staff you can take six staff, and we pay the three.

The basic thing is that you get paid for what you do. But what we see are people paid for almost doing nothing. Contracts were given for what you call security to some which I think is not proper to do.

But will some employers of labour have wanted these ex-militants around them because it was an issue at a time?

Why not. If you actually defined who is a militant. Now our suggestion to government was that the programme should not just target only militants because there are many people who were involved in those struggles who did not go out to say they were militants

So when you called the programme a thing for militants some key people were left out, and many people were brought in who ought not to be there

Now if you target a youth programme, deliberately you involve everybody. To just say you are ex-militants, we pay you, does not integrate them. It still keeps them aloof.

But guns were collected at a time from the insurgents?

Did you not see where a governor with fanfare said they were going to collect arms from a militant leader. On that day the man brought 25 and the governor called it off, telling him he could do more.

The next day the man made it fifty. Are you sure it was only fifty the man had?

There was an occasion at a stage when I was chairman of the Technical Committee; there was a particular militant leader who called me that he wanted to hand over his guns, at that time they had not pronounced the amnesty.

Declaration of amnesty

He said he was tired, and all he wanted was that they should leave his boys alone. When he told me the number of guns, I was shocked. Myself and a few persons went round talking to people at the presidency; they said we should talk to the governor of Rivers State and when I called him, he said the militant was a very notorious person.

The militant kept on calling me yet I had no power to do anything. I was only on a committee to make recommendations. That person got frustrated that our Committee could not help he went to his king and told him the same thing that he wanted to hand over his guns. I understand the king got to the governor to say this was the person and what he wanted to do. What did government do? They arranged troops to arrest the man. The next day it was in all the papers. Not too long after, amnesty was declared. The man came back; now you did not get all the guns, but he got paid.

All these are instances that you can’t equate peace in the region to just the flow of oil. Militancy was not the problem of the Niger Delta. The problem was that people felt they were undeveloped, marginalised. The resources of their lands were taken to develop other places, they were living in poor conditions, basic necessities of life were not in their communities. These were their problems. They wanted affirmative actions to get to enjoy the basic comfort you find in other areas. There was also the environmental problem.

Now when we raised these issues, I and Ken (late Ken Saro-Wiwa) and others they killed us, threw us into jail. About 2000 Ogoni were killed in the military occupation of Ogoni. There was an uproar in the whole world, Nigeria was suspended from the Common Wealth, we became almost a pariah. Noting happened. So another group came up and said, this time, we are not going to wait to be killed, they carried guns reflecting the extreme expression of anger and frustration in the area.

The attitude of government to the whole thing looks like a situation where people protest over a bad road, cut a tree to block the road because government ignores them.

Situation in the region

The government comes to bribe them to remove the tree. So the road is not repaired but vehicles still allowed to drive through. This is the situation in the region.

With all the protest, agitation s of the past in the region nobody redressed the issues of Niger Delta; nobody touched them, they just allowed them. They just say let’s bribe them.

Now the problem has grown into many other ways, there is now a lot of illegal bunkering. a whole lot of illegal refining going on as part of the problem. People Now felt we can make money from the situation in the region. Now It got to a situation the price of oil came down. These are natural reactions people must be prepared to face.

How should the amnesty programme be strengthened to achieve more result?

There must be a very good conversation. There must be a honest study of what is happening, approach to the issues.   How many, militants are there, where are they, what are they doing, are there some already integrated? We must look at what can be done to make it better instead of it just being appeasement.

How can we make people work for what they earn? How can we see that government is not only rewarding those that carried guns because there are several people out there who are equally angry and have never felt the only option is carrying guns.

In so far as you continue to appease those who carried guns you are saying to others that the only way you can also benefit is to carry guns.

I believe that that conversation must be there which should involve key stakeholders.   There have been too much politicisation of issues in the area  that some very key elements have been sidelined or blackmailed into silence. I have not been amused by the level of engagements I see. You find out that after the election more of the Niger Delta states are controlled by the PDP and the federal government is led by the APC.

I do not see the engagement. I was amused the other day that it was a big news in the papers that Wike met with Buhari. Wike is governor of a very important Niger Delta State.   So it meant that the rapport that should exist between the state and federal government is not there on how to solve the problem.

You were absent at the flag off of implementation of the UNEP report by the federal government in Bodo, Gokana local government area recently. People have been wondering. Why?

I was not invited to the flag off. There have been engagements on the issue and I have not been invited.

Who should have invited you? The state government or federal government?

The process has been driven by the Federal Ministry of Environment. They have been engaging those they want to but I have not been invited.

Are you a member of any of the political parties?

No. The mere fact that I was chairman of NEITI under Jonathan some had said I was part of this or that. I am not a member of any political party. When I was chairman of NEITI we were accused of being too critical. My concern is that people should see my pedigree.

Bargaining for anything

I have been accused several times that we were overheating the polity. I did not bargain for anything. I was at home when I was announced for NEITI. But those things do not give me any worry. My concern is that at my age and position in life if people ask my view I should be clear about it.   People can see what I stand for.

Given that the UNEP report captures part of your struggles should you not be involved in its implementation?

Unfortunately, that is the problem I have, the misconception. Ken and let me say the Ogoni 13 were not killed because of UNEP report. They were killed because the Ogoni went out to say that the manner of oil exploration in their land was threatening their existence, that they were marginalised both politically and economically by the Nigerian state. And they made certain demand from the federal government.

Only one of such was on the environment. It was just around 2010 or 2011 that the issue of   UNEP came up by which time people had died. UNEP was not part of our agitation as Ogoni.

UNEP report

It is wrong to put the whole Ogoni thing in a match box called UNEP report which came just yesterday. I think it is most unfair to both Ken and all others to say that all we were fighting for was just UNEP  report. UNEP is good, but it should not be taken that that was what the Ogoni were fighting for.

Any passing comment on what happened in Bodo?

No comment. Even before that flag off, the Minister of Environment, had been coming here (Rivers state ) they never felt that I and several others had a view, they never asked for our comment on any of the issues.

Did you see any of the Wiwa’s in that place, was any of the Orages there (at the flag off) Go to Ogoni and ask communities directly affected if they have been engaged? Go and see how they are projecting the report to the ordinary Ogoni people in the street, telling them that they are going to get money,   money will be shared to them,   they will get contracts, there will be job for all, to the extent that the people   are being exploited, they tell you that   to benefit from UNEP come and buy a form  for one thousand five hundred   naira.

Now let’s look at the Niger Delta Avengers. What advice do you have for the federal government?

Government should not begin the whole process of appeasement all over again. Government should not provide divide and rule in the region, don’t pitch the former militants and the new groups because it will be counterproductive. Don’t politicise solution or conversation on the issue.There should be real conversation among some real key stakeholders in the region on how we can go forward if it means reviewing the reports of the past on how to redress challenges in the region. We should not stand on the premise as in the past like, let’s go appeasing people for the now.

Allocation of oil wells seems to be part of the issues on the front burner in the ongoing insurgency. What do you have to say about that?

I am not a great fan of oil licences and oil wells. The reason is that you are not allocating them to communities but to business men and elites.

Patronage contract

What I will call community identity theft, either some people will come and say my people want this, for us to be happy give us minister yet what you mean is give me minister. This does not solve the problem of the ordinary people. I am more concerned about what will get to the ordinary people.

When you do things that touch the ordinary people the community become actively involved in resolving the problems. When I was in NEITI we suggested that government should not do patronage contract.

You give contract to Mr A to guide pipelines he pays his boys peanuts. Then eventually they are not able to do anything. Use funds for   pipeline contracts to employ people in the communities and pay them living wages and then pay some things to the communities as well.

How do you react to the spate of violence in Rivers State?

My view is that part of the problem has political connotation. What I see that has been quiet nauseating is what I call the appropriation by politicians of crime and criminals. If a known criminal today is arrested, you find that one political party will issue statement saying our staunch member has been killed by the other party.

What this has done is that the criminals have been appropriated to the political parties.