By: Israel Umoh
South South geo-political region is seen as Nigeria’s major treasure trove. Such thriving natural resources as crude and gas deposits are abundantly harvested in the area. So, aggravated or otherwise conflict in the region could have adverse consequences on the country’s economic and political configuration.
Like a beautiful bride, the region is courted by many. After the ENDSARS protests that rocked the country and snowballed into near-economic and political conflagration, the Federal Government saw the need to meaningfully engage some critical stakeholders to forestall re-occurrence of the unfortunate incident.
As welcome as the initiative was, the Presidency had reached out to the critical mass of Northern extraction and did same to those in the South-West Region. It would not have been hullabaloo if the Presidency had kept a date with South South leaders on November 17. Angered by the absence of the high-powered Presidency delegation to them, the leaders demanded an apology from them to assuage for the botched consultative meeting. The Presidency obliged and apologized.
At the resumed parley, Governors, traditional rulers and some leaders of socio-cultural organizations from Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Edo, Delta and Rivers alongside a high-powered Presidential team congregated in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital for the talk show.
Nigeria’s Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo; Professor Ibrahim Gambari, the Chief of Staff to the President; Deputy President of the Senate, Ovie Omo-Agege; Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, who is the Chairman of the South-South Governors Forum; Governor Nyesom Wike (Rivers), Governor Ben Ayade (Cross River), Governor Udom Emmanuel (Akwa Ibom), Governor Douye Diri (Bayelsa), and Godwin Obaseki (Edo) graced it.
Ministers included Godswill Akpabio (Niger Delta), Timipre Sylva (State for Petroleum), Goddy Agba (State for Power), Festus Keyamo (State for Niger Delta), Osagie Ehanire (Health), Lai Mohammed (Information and Culture). And the National Chairman of the Pan Niger Delta Forum, Air Commodore Idongesit Nkanga, and former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Onueze Okocha, and President, Ijaw Youths Council (IYC), worldwide, Mr. Peter Igbifa, among others were not left out.
It was like homecoming event. The attendees hugged themselves. Some pumped others’ hands. Others churned out hilarious jokes. And they laughed. They rolled in the coziness of the venue. They drank and supped together. Yet, they appeared in different attires. As their faces looked different so were the contents of their hearts. Their agenda was to themselves but their loyalty to the power-base that will sustain them in the political acme.
At the end of the meeting, the regional leaders churned out a seven-point demands among which were restructuring of the country to ensure “true federalism” and guarantee peace, security and stability of the country, relocation of the headquarters of all subsidiaries of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to the region, revitalisation of the region’s Calabar, Port Harcourt and Warri ports, and immediate privatisation of the nation’s refineries in Warri and Port Harcourt to make them functional and boost the economy of the region.
They also demanded immediate implementation of the consent judgment entered in the Supreme Court Suit No: SC/964/2016 to enable the South-south gets its share of $55 billion shortfall of collection on deep offshore and inland basin production sharing contracts, reconstruction and rehabilitation of the region’s major seaports in Port Harcourt, Calabar and Warri to enhance the economic development of the region and privatization of two refineries in Port Harcourt and Warri.
Okowa, the Chairman of South South Governors’ Forum and Delta State Governor remarked “the geopolitical zone desires a federation where its constituent units are constitutionally empowered to create their own structures like local government areas, manage their elections and control their judiciary.
He said: “We are all aware of the huge endowment of this country. As such, it is imperative to stress that with a little bit of efforts, imagination, hard work, sacrifice and leadership, every state of the federation as of today, has the ability and capability to contribute to the national purse. This should be encouraged rather than the whole country depending substantially on a region of the country.
“What is worse and even more painful in this ugly situation is the deliberate lack of understanding, empathy and the uncompromising attitudes of some Nigerians, who have refused to understand the challenges of the South-south region of the country, especially, the degradation of the environment and our waters. As a result, most of the demands of the region have remained unattended to while the resources of the region have been used continually to develop other parts of the country.”
Gambari, a professor of International Relations, pensively listened to the terse demands and, like a good messenger he was, promised nothing except to channel them to the appropriate quarters for answers. And the meeting ended.
Though the parley ended, it has curried some blues During the first botched meeting, the President of the Ijaw Youth Council, Peter Igbifa, almost headlines on his speech. Talking fearlessly and courageously, the average-height Igbifa called on the governors and other leaders of the South-south to take strong actions against President Muhammadu Buhari over the botched meeting between Nigeria’s presidency and the leaders of the region.
He said the governors of the region should reject the statutory 13 per cent derivation fund and the monthly revenue allocation from the federation account, to express their grievances against Mr Buhari and the federal government.
Mr Igbifa, who spoke in pidgin English, raised his voice throughout his address to the governors and other leaders of the region.
“Dem dey dash us money wey dem dey call 13 per cent derivation, una dey take. E don reach after this meeting, make una reject all those offers, even allocation self, make una no collect,” the Ijaw youth leader said.
“We need to inconvenience ourselves to get results. Make una no collect anything from them again.”
Mr Igbifa accused the governors of being weak and advised them to stop taking President Buhari’s call, “for, at least, within the next 24 hours”.
He lashed out on federal appointees from the region who were not present in Port Harcourt for the botched meeting and said the appointees were only after their 2023 political interests than the collective interest of the region.
“Everything about Niger Delta na joke. We cannot be taken for granted all the time. See East-West Road, dey rotten dey go, people dey die every day,” Mr Igbifa said.
Mr Igbifa said a message should be sent to Mr Buhari and his chief of staff, Mr Gambari, that the Niger Delta youth would “rumble” Nigeria’s economy in just a few days. Enough of the insult.”
However, he made some salient points which dig into the attitudes and actions of the leaders.
To complicate a seven-point demand by the regional leaders, a coalition of nine militant groups, under the auspices of Reformed Niger Delta Avengers, RNDA, asked the Federal Government to throw away the request until the governors start releasing 13 per cent derivation fund directly to the oil-producing communities.
They also asked the governors to account for about N50 trillion derivation funds they had so far received from the federal government. The Commanding Officer of RNDA, self-professed “Major General” Johnmark Ezonebi, aka Obama, in an electronic statement accused the governors of under-developing Niger-Delta.
“If anything, and if at all, the governors should first of all come out openly to give proper account of the over N44.9 to N50 trillion that these South -South governors have collected from the federal government as 13 percent derivation fund through the Federation Accounts all these years without any tangible meaningful people -oriented human capital development to address the sufferings of the people of the oil rich region.
“This is why the oil and gas producing communities’ demand that the federal government should stop, henceforth, paying the 13 percent derivation fund to governors. The governors are owing debts to the tune of over N2 trillion. Records from the Debt Management Office shows the South-South states alone is indebted to the tune of N1.4 trillion,” militants said.
This could be seen as an aberrant behavior by the militants. They made some key points, but that did not give them the effrontery to rubbish the regional leaders’ demands in the court of public opinion. It is unspeakable that some militants would make damaging statements, no matter how truthful, on leaders who dignified and gave them the space to fly.
An Akwa Ibom proverb says “The song is not sonorous and the drumming does not blend the rendition.” Honestly, the leaders and militants are birds of the same stock believing not in the holistic development of the region but are keen in lining their pockets for self-aggrandisement. The militants came as freedom fighters, but they have turned big-time businessmen with dizzying empires and investments across the country.
– To be continued
