For sustained dialogue in the Niger Delta

last week, the Muhammadu Buhari administration openly acknowledged that the Niger Delta zone had suffered neglect, promising to establish a road map for the development of the oil-rich region.  Its position was made known by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in Gbaramatu kingdom in Delta State during a fact-finding tour. Osinbajo, who met with leaders, youths and women of Urhobo, Ndokwa, Itsekiri and Ijaw ethnic nationalities at the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI) conference centre in Effurun, Delta State, said there was really no need for further dialogue with the region as the problems of the area had been well documented and presented to the Presidency by the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) led by Chief Edwin Clark.

According to him, what was needed now was action. “I’m here as an emissary of the president and I’m here as a citizen of the country and brother to you. I have come with a message and it is a short one. We must prepare for the future. The Niger Delta that we see today is an area of poor infrastructure; a few schools and hospitals. In the Niger Delta today, there are signboards of projects that are abandoned all over the place. The Niger Delta is a special region which we have all benefited from and should be treated as a special region,” Osinbajo said while observing that the Niger Delta must prepare for a better future devoid of the negative activities that characterised oil exploration in the region.

Given that neither the president nor the vice president had visited the Niger Delta region since the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led administration came into power on May 29, 2015, Osinbajo’s visit to the region is a welcome development, particularly given the extant challenges facing the region and the implications for the country. The administration’s position that all the stakeholders, including  the state governments in the region and the Federal Government, must dialogue and formulate a road map for its development and ensure a better future for the region also indicates a willingness to tackle the appalling conditions in which many are still trapped in the zone in spite of the valiant efforts of previous administrations. It is in this regard that the administration’s pledge to leave a legacy that all Niger Deltans would be proud of deserves commendation.

Indeed, that Osinbajo’s visit was received with warmth was captured by the spokesman of Gbaramatu kingdom, Chief Godspower Gbenekama, who noted that there were high expectations that  it would be a game-changer in the region. In his words, “We believe that this visit will truly build confidence of the people of Gbaramatu kingdom and the Niger Delta in the Federal Government to go beyond the hitherto frustrating rhetoric, not just in developing but according dignity and pride of place to the oil-rich region. Indeed, Gbaramatu Kingdom is rich in national oil infrastructure that enriches the nation but lamentably lacking in infrastructure that benefits the people.”

However, while, as indicated by Professor Osinbajo, concrete action is needed to solve the extant challenges in the region, it is our view that dialogue has a cathartic effect and should continue as new issues arise in the geopolitical zone. As almost every informed observer of developments in the region recognises, the dynamics of development, power and politics in the zone is not static, and challenges must be tackled as they arise within, admittedly, an overall strategy or road map for transforming the zone. It must be recognised that stakeholders are changing and even PANDEF does not have the consensus that the Federal Government apparently thinks that it does.

This fact was reflected during Osinbajo’s visit when a group under the auspices of the Transparency   in Petroleum Exploration Initiative (TIPEDI) called on the Federal Government to revoke all illegally acquired oil block licences in the zone. It specifically urged President Buhari, the security agencies, the petroleum industry’s regulatory agencies and the National Assembly to urgently scrutinise and terminate most of the transactions entered into by former Petroleum Minister, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Maduekwe. The group’s position was however contradicted by the Ijaw Youth Congress (IYC) which decried the singling out of the Malabu oil deal for probe, saying it was disheartening that while the other oil blocks awarded at the same time and through the same process were left untouched, the Malabu oil deal had been subjected to sustained probe because it was owned by a Niger Deltan.

Thus, if only for the sake of its potentiality to diffuse tension in the zone, the Federal Government must keep the dialogue framework going. It is our view, however, that a final solution to the problems of the zone lies in adopting the tenets of federalism, which would mean taking a hard look at the recommendations of the 2014 National Conference convened by the previous administration, particularly in relation to the zone. For as long as the people of the Niger Delta  have the feeling that they are not in control of their God-given resources, for so long will problems keep cropping up in the region. This is aside the fact that criminally-minded persons in the zone will always seek to profit from the government’s failures in the zone, committing atrocities and then turning around to ask for a dialogue with the Federal Government.ax