The North & Niger Delta Oil

It has become a fad for Southerners to cast aspersions on Northerners as parasitic and lazy, obviously because the oil wealth that largely sustains this nation comes from the South, specifically the Niger Delta. Hearing these ethnic chauvinists, one could assume wrongly that the presence of crude oil in the region was due to dint of hard work by our illustrious compatriots in the South-South, rather than6 the serendipitous geological happenstance that took place millions of years before humans even existed. It's quite possible that some Niger Deltans think that their venerated ancestors used the supernatural powers of Owuamapu, Ohworhu, Olokun and other riverine spirits of the Niger Delta, to magically impregnate their corner of mother earth with sumptuous hydrocarbon deposits.


The truth of the matter is that, thanks to the visionless misrule by unconscionable kleptocrats that have presided over our affairs since independence, we are all parasites - Niger Deltans included! Hence, some of our South-South compatriots sabotage oil installations to deliberately cause oil spillage in order to collect huge monetary compensations and other pay-outs from oil companies for the self-inflicted environmental degradation, which is much more lucrative than tilling the land. Shell, Mobil, Chevron and other multi-national oil companies operating in the Niger Delta are responsible corporate citizens elsewhere around the world, but it is only in Nigeria that their activities regularly cause oil spillage.


To be fair, this sordid state of affairs is not at all the fault of our Niger Delta brothers and sisters, since government at all levels has repeatedly failed to deliver on development, in spite of the stupendous oil wealth accruing to the nation.


Thankfully, many Niger Deltans are now aware that corruption (not derivation) is the major obstacle to development of the region, as evident from a recent Daily Independent interview with Joseph Amberkederim of the South-South Elements Progressives Union:


"…The amount of money that has accrued to the South-South governors in the past nine years is enough, more than enough to transform the Niger Delta...If monies are being used judiciously and religiously, the monies that have come to the governors of the South-South today, we would not have the problems we are having in the Niger Delta. Do you know what one billion naira can do in a community? What are these people asking for anyway? Roads, water, electricity, school buildings and furniture for these schools…The corruption among the governors in the South-South is enormous, the stealing is enormous, and I have stood as a voice, even if I would be the lonely voice that would tell them, so be it…"


Living in the North with pot-holed roads, numerous beggars, high illiteracy, collapsed industries and massive unemployment amongst other obvious evidence of underdevelopment, one is at loss as to the "development" that has supposedly accrued from diverted Niger Delta wealth. This is the same North that the CBN report as being poverty-stricken, with Jigawa as the poorest state - while Bayelsa is the richest. A few mansions here and there in the North, owned by the thieving Nigerian ruling class, as can be found elsewhere in the federation does not constitute development.


Then there is the lame excuse of difficult terrain that makes road and other developmental projects in the Niger Delta expensive. This arguement holds no water, as even in the North, there are peculiar development challenges. Territorially, Adamawa, Niger or Borno states are each as large as all the South-South states combined. So when the Rivers State government budgets for 1km of road, Adamawa State budgets for 6km, not to mention the additional cost of providing social amenities and infrastructure to widely dispersed population over much larger territory - more transformers, wires and electric poles for rural electrification, more health centres etc - all without the help of oil companies or NDDC.


Consequently, the intelligence of Nigerians should no longer be insulted with the "difficult
terrain" tissue of lies, particularly as Rivers State collects more federal allocation than the entire North East zone - seven times that of Adamawa State.


If Niger Deltans persist in their unreasonable demand for 50% derivation, then we will have to re-open the Pandora box of such vexed issues as boundary demarcation and revenue from offshore drilling. International maritime law bestows the 200mile territorial waters on the Nigerian nation, not on any federating unit. So the offshore oil belongs to all Nigerians, not to any littoral state.


Of course corruption is not unique to the Niger Delta, but it is a national ailment that has under-developed the entire nation, not just the Niger Delta. It is only more poignant in the Niger Delta because the wealth that largely sustains this nation emanates from there. Hardly a week goes by without our sensibilities being assailed by media reports of billion naira / dollar corruption scandals at all levels of government - 16 billion dollars allegedly wasted on phantom power projects, the reported disappearance of 1.5 trillion naira NNPC funds, National Judicial Council 1.2 billion naira scandal etc


Thus, instead of this divisive ethnic sectarian bickering and North-South dichotomy, we the Nigerian masses regardless of ethnicity or creed should unite to dethrone the corrupt ruling elite that have ruined our nation in order to establish a new political order. The much talked about, but yet to bes realised Nigerian revolution. Until corruption is eradicated and the present cabal of kleptocrats are deposed, even 100% derivation wouldn't make much difference to the average Niger Deltan.

(Leadership Nigeria)