‘My book sets the record straight about oil theft in Niger Delta’

One of the book reading sessions at the 23rd Lagos Book and Art Festival held last November featured ex-soldier, chemist, teacher, activist and Ibenanaowei of Ekpetiama Kingdom, Bayelsa State, King Bubaraye Dakolo.The monarch had earlier in the year released ‘The Riddle of the Oil Thief’ published by Purple Shelves. Literary enthusiast, Chioma Achalugo, engaged the king in a robust discussion about the work and his engagements. Excerpts:

IN one of the chapters, there’s a place where you said it’s taboo to be poor amidst plenty, and this was around an area where you very clearly talked about the importance of education. Were you a brilliant pupil right from the onset, or did you grow into knowing the importance of education?

My mother was a schoolteacher, and my father was also educated. All my older siblings are also educated. My elder brother was the first university graduate in my community. Growing up, I listened to a lot of music, and there’s one that says it’s just a bad thing to be poor, especially when you are wealthy. The case of the Niger Delta, Bayelsa State, Ekpetiama people, is the case of wealthy people who live like paupers. That’s the irony. You have the money; you are rich, but you are prevented from being rich. So, that’s the dilemma.

This prevention, would you say that it’s a result of the oil crisis and pollution in the Niger Delta region or a lack of personal motivation from some indigenes.

If it’s about motivation, you have more than an average supply in the Niger Delta. If you look around this country, Niger Deltans, young and old, have been at the forefront of development.  So, motivation is not the issue. We are well motivated.

If we also go down the memory lane, when the first few Europeans came to the shores of Africa, we hosted and then traded with them. So, we’ve always been rich, and we showed sufficient wit in terms of dealing with them too. After colonialism started, we were still doing well until 1956, when oil was discovered. We did pretty well until 1967, ‘69,when things changed, and have not gotten better till this moment.

When you were writing this book, did you think the need to make it? Or you wanted to document?

The motivation was to fill a gap. It was not money business. It was like filling this space lest we die and then regret it. Everything out there, it’s the story of oil by the transnationals, the government agencies responsible for oil and gas. The foreign governments have told a big lie, sustaining it so much so that sometimes if you are not careful, even though you are in the environment, you will believe it’s the truth. For example, most persons in Bayelsa may feel that we are poor, but that’s not true.

The objective was to fill that space with the facts; you may call it creative non-fiction. The reason names are not there in that sense is to avoid litigation. Otherwise, every single sentence in ‘The Riddle of the Oil Thief’ is true.  And if you have my type of background, you do not have a choice but to write this kind of book.

There’s a chapter where you said data is king; you noted that the amount of knowledge that we do not have is as a result of people not documenting.  I don’t know which is worse; not having documentation or the idea that we’re not even sure documentation maybe somewhere outside Nigeria. Hence, books like this need to be written and read, but what was your research like? Did you haveother texts like this to draw from?

No, I avoided texts like this. I have not seen a text like this. Now on the subject, we are dealing with, I have some credentials that I highlight now. First, I was born in Uta-Abaji, where the first oil well was drilled. After primary school, I returned to the Ogbia Kingdom, close to Shell’s pioneer operational base in Nigeria. Because of the war, the bustling base was abandoned, so the government started a secondary school there.  I was one of the privileged few who survived the war to live and school on the base. Because my mother was the pioneer matron, I had to live in the quarters, more like living in the place where Europeans used to stay. Now at that time, the atrocities of the oil companies were still fresh because I walked everywhere.

I am from the Ekpetiama Kingdom, where, as we speak now, about 60,000 barrels ofoil equivalent of gas is being siphoned every day. That is worth about N2 billion. I went to the Nigerian Army; I’m a member of the 38th Regular Course, I’ve also been an activist. After I left the army, I became very vocal.I’m a traditional ruler, I also live in the Ekpetiama Kingdom, and I’ve toured almost everywhere in the Niger Delta that has to do with oil and gas. I’ve also been to a bit of school, not much but sufficient to tell the story.

Moreso, what would you do if you were in my shoes, when someone says, you are the thief when really, he is the thief, and you know it. Thieves have been calling us thieves for so long but they are indeed the thieves. So, let’s correct this before it’s too late because very soon, perhaps the oil well will run dry.

Then, security agents come to the Niger Delta with the mindset of economic saboteurs, vandals, and oil thieves. Luckily because of my background, I meet most of them, I interrogate them, and then they realise that they come with the wrong mindset. This is recommended reading for every soldier, police, and security agent in this country as a first measure; otherwise, don’t come to the Niger Delta. When you read it, you will understand your duties. And you will understand who to consider as the enemy of the state; the enemy of the state is not anywhere around the Niger Delta.

There are many other mediums for documenting our story. You have written a book, but I want to know if you’re looking to any other medium, say, a documentary, because this is something people need to see. Are we somehow looking to have a documentary somewhere for people unable to read?

Yes, a lot of people have told me. The first young woman I gave this manuscript to; I don’t know if you cried, but she said she cried up to 20 times. Anyway, she’s from the Niger Delta; maybe that’s why she cried. She also feels that this book can make 20 movies, blockbusters at that. So, the documentaries, and films and all that will come. Still, like a friend, a cinematographer, said, it’s usually suitable for a book to be known in the market before the film comes, but some young people have talked about short films and documentaries as well. We are waiting for the right experts, and we’ll see how to get that done.  It’s essential because if you understand this book, you will understand why Nigeria is the way it is. And then you will also understand what to do to fix it if you want to. If you give me Nigeria now to handle, it will be a world power in three years. You’ll see everything there if you read it with that type of mindset.

You were in the Army, and a narrator in the book says that his wife was concerned about the uncertainties of Army life. Was this true for you? How was it managing that part of your life and marriage when you were in the military?

While I was in the military, I was not married. However, that’s true for every military man because depending on what duties you have and what postings you have, your wife, if not an army person, is not exactly like you. It is not easy, and I can feel some sensation now about this, for all my comrades in arms, irrespective of rank. It’s a big sacrifice that they are making for this country.

Unfortunately, the political class has not been able to properly fine-tune some of these agencies to do the job the way it ought to be. But long and short, every military person has this concern for family, moreso when you are always on duty. I wish that the policymakers will read this book, understand itand fine-tune the country. The police will be allowed to do police jobs, and the military is assigned to their duties because from the Civil War till tomorrow, the police has been emasculated. The military has been performing some of its roles.

In the Niger Delta, the palace and chiefs who manage communities have been identified as problems and why some youths take up arms, even against their people. The International Oil Corporations specialise in divide and rule. They go to the palace and settle the king, not caring about the community needs. How do you respond to such a charge?

There are many possibilities, but you must know that the oil and gas business has been with us for seven decades, and what you have today is essentially a creation of that industry. The industry has cleverly perverted the environment such that the structure is not exactly what it used to be. So, those compromises are possible. But if you ask me, am I going to lay blame? 

There were no crises from the 1950s until the late 90s. Why? What were you doing when you had a baby? You didn’t like school or groom him until he had grown horns on his head; that’s when you want to come and cut it. So, as accused, the Niger Delta communities are creations of the federal government of Nigeria, in collaboration with the IOCs and their governments to become what they have become. I have no blame for them because they are creations of the Nigerian state that did not want the people to have a life. The bandits in the North have never been to school. The government did not bother that there were people in these forests. They don’t bother us; we don’t bother them. Let them be there. Now they are bothering us. That is my answer.