Category: Niger Delta

Bayelsa is no doubt one of the leading oil producing states in the sub-Saharan West African region. Aside the discovery of oil in commercial quantity in Oloibri community in 1956, the state is contributing in no small measure to the economic growth of the country. This, according to political analysts, is one of the factors responsible for its creation as a state in 1996 by the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha.

Aside oil and gas, the state is endowed with other money spinning natural resources which if properly harnessed will generate more income to the coffers of the state but the major impediment has been the inaccessibility of some of its coastal communities by roads.

On assumption of office, barely two years ago, the Pathfinder and the executive governor of the state, Hon. Seriake Dickson, made it as one of his cardinal programmes, the opening up of the three senatorial districts namely: Bayelsa Central, East and West. These road projects predated the present administration but because of his hunger for rapid socio-economic development and indeed economic policy of diversification from oil and gas sector of the economy, a backup fund was made available for the completion of these three major senatorial district roads.

In actualisation of his dream, he recently presented a back-up fund of N3bn for the completion of Ogbia-Nembe road to the management of Setraco Plc while he gave December 2014 deadline for the completion of Ogbia-Nembe and Sagbama-Ekeremor-Agge roads in the East and West senatorial districts.

During the presentation of the cheque, the governor said: “The Ogbia-Nembe road is leading to a very critical area of our state and country. That is the road that will lead us to Brass Island which is going to be the economic nucleus of not just of our state and geo-political zone but for the whole of this country and even for the West African sub-region.

“But you cannot get there unless you first get to Nembe. I know that some efforts were made to try and do a road from Nembe to Brass but the first thing to do by any pragmatic government is to see how you construct a road from Ogbia to Nembe before linking Brass Island. That is the practical way to go about it.”

While commending the efforts of SPDC and NDDC at breaking the fallow ground, the governor noted that it has become more imperative for the state government to intervene in order to alleviate the sufferings of the people in the area.

According to him, “I am aware that SPDC and NDDC have been partnering on that road and I want to commend them for that partnership. But the partnership that has been going on for so long is making our people impatient and rightly so because we need to at least drive to Nembe while waiting for it to get to Brass.

“When I look at the situation and hear the complaints from that area and saw the sufferings of the people from that area and how on daily basis, innocent law- abiding people suffer indignities and inconveniencies and sometimes attacks from sea pirates and other bandits who take advantage of the creeks and rivulets in that area, it became clear that the government means well for our people and must do something about it.

“While we appreciate the partnership from our development partners particularly NDDC and SPDC for what they have started on that road; it is a good thing and we encourage it but because we know of the hitches and the reasons why that road has been delayed up till now and because we are committed to the development of our state, whether it is Federal road, partnership or so, we have a duty to support and drive it to completion because it is for the benefit of our people.

“The government, therefore, has decided to make available the sum of three billion naira. Now, our partners have been notified that this is a back- up fund available because we want them to complete that road and put it to use next year.

“We will tell our partners to still feel free to contribute their quota to an account that we will designate for them.”

These various developmental projects when completed, according to the governor, will attract local and foreign investors to the state and in turn boost the internally generated revenue. The state IGR has moved from a paltry N50m as at 14th February to about N600m monthly.

Aside the opening up of the hinterland, work is nearing completion on the following road projects: Dualisation of Isaac Boro road, 6 high profile roads in Yenagoa, Dualisation of Sani Abacha-Igbogene road, Road Safety-Captain Amangala road, Toru-Ebeni-Ofoni road, State Airport road, Expansion of Eradiri road, Deep Seaports at Agge and Brass, construction of Bayelsa International Airport at Wilberforce Island and several public buildings under construction.

This wouldn’t have been made possible without adequate provision of security when one remembers the security situation in the state prior to the advent of the present administration. Noting that no meaningful development takes place in the atmosphere of chaos and rancor, Governor Dickson ably supported by his Deputy, Rear Admiral Gboribiogha John Jonah (rtd), whom he prefers to refer to as ‘my dependable ally’ swung into action with the formation of the State security outfit codenamed Operation Doo Akpor.

During the presentation of the 2014 Appropriation bill, the governor said, ‘it is a veritable fact that the spate of cultism as well as other crimes has reduced significantly in the last one year. This has been duly acknowledged beyond the shores of the state. At the recently concluded Economic Community of West African States, (ECOWAS) Security Award Ceremony, the state won the best performing state in terms of security.

To further consolidate on this gain in this area, the government has concluded arrangements to supporting Forward Operation Base at Agge in addition to supporting the security at the Forward Operation Base at Cape Formoso. These, when fully established, will provide adequate security in our water ways and stem the tide of sea piracy and crude oil theft in the state.

With the dream of turning the state to Dubai of Africa, the government’s huge investment in security has begun to yield dividend with the interest shown by notable foreign investors to set up their businesses in the state.

Involvement of the Organised Private Sector (OPS) will complement government’s efforts in decongesting the labour market. Recently, the government sponsored over 500 youths on Agricultural Development Programme (ADP) in Songhai, Port Novo while hundreds of others are on scholarship in and outside the country.

The governor added: “As a matter of fact, investment in education is not something that yields immediate results but in less than 2 years, do you know that we have about 137 to 140 PhD scholars from Bayelsa in various universities across the world? That is a record. We have over 300 Masters Degree students on scholarship in various universities across the world. Now, that does not take into account, the 250 primary school students who are on government’s scholarship in various secondary schools in this country.

“On top of this, you are aware that I just recently returned from Lincoln University in the United States of America and in two week’s time, the President of Lincoln will lead his officials here to begin the process of selecting the first batch of undergraduates that we will be sending to the United States.

“I am also in the process of identifying one or two other universities in the UK and maybe one in Canada because we want to flood the best educational institutions in the world with Ijaw scholars and we are bent on doing that .

“Do you know that we are in the process of completing and putting to use 40 secondary schools with boarding facilities? Twenty-five of them are Constituency Secondary Schools with boarding facilities. Construction of the classrooms completed in most of the cases; the dormitories are completed and refectories are being constructed. ”

In a couple of months, all those projects will be ready. A lot of work is going on in the model secondary schools in the local government headquarters and Bayelsans know what is happening because these projects are not only limited to the state capital and in the next one or two months they would be completed.

You got to first build the infrastructure. Merely making a pronouncement is not it; we have got to invest in the infrastructure. The infrastructure simply was not there. We are building a Teachers’ Training Institute from the scratch. So much is going on.

If you go to St. Jude’s Girls’ School, Amarata, for example, which is one of the oldest schools located in the capital city. Go there and see what is happening, let alone the building of the primary schools and the teachers’ quarters that are going on all over the state. I know how much I approved for the investment in education infrastructure.

If we have the policy, infrastructure and inspectorate unit of the Ministry of Education, everything will fall into place. Do you know that every morning there are people in every school who check attendance of teachers, what they teach and obtain statistics of students because all of these were not there. When I declared a state of emergency in education, I knew what I was doing but I also knew that I had to come up with the capacity to carry out policies in the sector through.

By the time we conclude the first phase of the projects in education sector, then I can assure you that in the next 10 or 20 years this state is not going to make as much as this investment again because we are overhauling the entire system. We are supplying textbooks, uniforms and so on.

The process of sewing these uniforms is on and we are doing it on local government basis. We have had governance all along. What we have been able to do in less than two years are there. So you assess because some of them had an opportunity to make a difference in four or five years and they did not and which is why we are in the present state of emergency, then people should ask questions. The point is that our programmes and policies are on course and we are committed to it.

By the first quarter of next year when the infrastructure is completed in all the schools, then we will move to the most revolutionary aspect of our educational policy. We start the process of incubating our young minds from Junior Secondary School Three to Senior Secondary One.

The students will be enrolled in the boarding secondary schools that we are building and then deploy our teachers to prepare them for three years. We will feed them because it is going to be a very revolutionary programme and by the time we do that, we would have changed the society. If we succeed in creating an environment of enlightened people, then we would have saved the state.

I have always believed particularly as one of the main proponents of the Freedom of Information Law that citizens of our country have a right to know issues about the management of our finances. We should encourage our partners and create an atmosphere of confidence. For me it is like an experiment that you are not sure of but you submit yourself to. I am the only governor who does that.

We are in a country where everybody is a leader and there is a lot of cynicism and negativity. I followed it up with a law because I do not want a situation where after my tenure, I do not want anybody that will take us back to those dark days again where people speculate about what comes in and what goes out of the state. Things are not done as business as usual anymore.”

The achievements of Mr. Talk Na Do Governor has endeared him to the hearts of the state as they trooped out en masse to welcome him to their various local government during his recently concluded Local government tour which has been described as unprecedented in the history of the state.

The journey which started in Brass Island terminated in Sagbama Local Government. Different titles were conferred on the governor in appreciation of his developmental strides.

With two years and few months to end his first term in office, people from all the localities have endorsed him for second term. After all, one good term deserves another. The slogan in the state now is ‘No vacancy in Creek Haven…a clear approval of his sterling performance.

•Soji Ajibola is the Special Assistant to the Bayelsa State governor on National Dailies

Nana Olomu (also spelled Olumu)(1852–1916) was an Itsekiri chief and merchant from the Niger Delta region of southern Nigeria. He was the fourth Itsekiri chief to hold the position of Governor of Benin River.

In 1851 the British Consul for the Bights of Benin and Biafra, John Beecroft, established the post of Governor of Benin River and gave it to an Itsekiri chief, Idiare. The governorship was intended to pass back and forth between two prominent Itsekiri families, the Emaye and the Ologbotsere. However, upon the death of his father, an Ologbotsere, the governorship was passed directly to Nana Olomu, instead of one of the Emaye.

In 1884 Nana Olomu, the fourth Governor of Benin River, signed a treaty on behalf of the Itsekiri, granting the British further rights in Itsekiriland. The relations between the two were peaceful until the Berlin Conference of 1884-85 and the ensuing Scramble for Africa, which led the British to try to bypass the Itsekiri middlemen so as to trade directly with the Urhobo people. A further complication was that because of technical improvements in shipping European traders could travel further into the interior than previously, ending their former reliance on the coastal chieftains as middlemen. Following this development the relations between the Itsekiri, led by Olomu, and the British began to decline. In 1892 and 1893 direct treaties between the British and the Urhobo further angered Olomu. In retaliation for the perceived bypassing of the Itsekiri, Olomu’s men attacked some of the nearby Urhobo villages which had been exchanging goods with the British. This led to the Urhobo halting their trading, and the British responded by cracking down on the Itsekiri. In 1894 several other Itsekiri chiefs signed a new treaty with the British, and soon after Olomu surrendered in Lagos. Following his arrest he was deported to the Gold Coast (Ghana.)

In Britain in 1899 the Aborigines’ Protection Society complained to the Foreign Office about “the arbitrary treatment” to which the chief had been subjected, the government’s failure to carry out “the searching investigation of his case which he had always sought”, and appealed for him to be given liberty to conduct his commercial affairs freely even if, for political reasons, he could not be restored to his old position. A letter from Olomu was also enclosed complaining his maintenance was inadequate for him to support himself and five other persons. In his reply the then Prime Minister the Marquis of Salisbury promised to look into the conditions of the chief’s maintenance, but ruled out the possibility of a return to his homeland. A month later the question of his treatment was raised in parliament and the government again stated it would be unsafe to allow his return.

The flag often referred to as the Flag of the Benin Empire, held in the National Maritime Museum in London, is one of four brought back from Africa by British forces involved in the late 19th century conflicts there. There is some uncertainty as to whether the flag is of Benin origin, or like the other three belonged to an Itsekiri ship loyal to Nana Olomu. One of the flags in the Museum’s collection certainly belonged to forces of Nana Olomu.

Olomu’s palace has been converted into a museum, the Nana Living History Museum, which chronicles his interactions with the British. It is located in Koko, Delta State.

The called it a privilege. Yes, it was; because it is a task for presidents and heads of government. So being chosen to perform such a task cannot but be a privilege.

Dressed in her customised ankara blouse and skirt, with headtie to match, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the bespectacled daughter of a traditional ruler, Minister of Finance and Co-ordinating Minister for the Economy, laid next year’s budget proposal before the National Assembly. She was running the errand for President Goodluck Jonathan.

The minister’s errand at the National Assembly last week qualified only as a footnote. There was something about the budget Mrs Okonjo-Iweala laid before the law makers for consideration. It is smaller than this year’s. The 2014 budget is $29 billion. The 2013 budget is $29.3. The minister explained that the reduction was as a result of oil theft, which has reduced money available to government.

Since the middle of this year, the country has had to contend with oil theft. Don’t get me wrong, oil theft did not start this year. It has been with us for as long as oil itself.

The Amnesty Programme, through which the Federal Government is training and paying ex-militants, is a child of the oil theft and other forms of militancy in the Niger Delta. Until this year, key ex-militant leaders, such as Ateke Tom, Tompolo and Boyloaf were rewarded with contracts to protect oil pipelines. The contract was worth N5.6 billion.

A breakdown shows that Mujaheed Dokubo-Asari got $9 million a year to pay his 4,000 workforce to protect the pipelines; Ebikabowei “Boyloaf” Victor Ben and Ateke Tom got $3.8 million a year each to guard the pipelines; and Government “Tompolo” Ekpmupolo got a $22.9 million a year contract to guard some pipelines.

When the deal was first made public by New York Times, many shouted blue murder. They wondered why such huge amount would be given to ex-militants all in the name of pipeline surveillance. They argued that it was just meant to settle them for submitting their guns.

The outcry was so much that the government had to stop it. Of course, the beneficiaries called for a renew of the contract.

The arrowhead of the Amnesty Office, Kingsly Kuku, at a point, came out to explain that the contract was part of the amnesty deal reached with the ex-militant leaders. His clarification sounded more like a confirmation of the belief that the cash was to settle them for dropping their guns. Tompolo and others are still looking forward to a renewal of the deal, which gave them so much money than they were making as the lords of the creeks and swamps.

Some of them have gone ahead to invest in choice areas of the economy. Some have even gone offshore to invest. They argued that while the contract was on, oil theft reduced. They argue it has gone up now because those who understand the terrain have been left in the lurch. We need statistics to believe their claim.

The House of Representatives believes the contract sum could have been spent on men of the civil defence, whose constitutional job is to protect the pipelines.

Really, the problem of oil theft goes beyond ex-militants. Oil is not just being stolen from pipelines. Tank farms, export terminals, refinery storage tanks, jetties, ports and wellheads are other sources through which oil is being pilfered.

As international reports, such as the one by Chatam House, have established, the problem has international ring and is of an industrial scale. One, the people who break the pipelines to steal the oil are most likely people who have worked in the oil industry before and understand the workings of the pipelines. Two, the big vessels that take the stolen crude abroad are not owned by small fries. Three, the refineries abroad that accept to process the stolen crude are willing accomplices.

From researches, politicians, soldiers and many others play active roles in this. A source in the Niger Delta once told this reporter that with the way the region is policed by the army, it would be difficult for oil theft to go on without the knowledge of the ubiquitous soldiers in the area.

The whole thing is a big scam involving the high and the mighty, including foreign collaborators. And the blood money is laundered through shell companies and numberless accounts. So, the ex-militants are not to blame.

The seriousness of the problem has forced some oil majors to sell their onshore business and move offshore, which is less prone to attacks from vandals and oil thieves.

For the country, it has been disastrous. Between 300,000 and 400,000 barrels of oil are believed stolen daily. This is more than 10 per cent of the country’s daily oil production. This means conservatively some N250 million is lost monthly to oil theft.

The figures are huge and, no doubt, can destabilise the country. This is the time to cage the commodity traders, the international criminals and other network of people involved in this blood industry.

The thieves are not only in Nigeria. They are flung in different parts of the world, including the United States, Brazil, Singapore, China and the Balkans. The Chatam House report establishes that these countries house collaborators to the home-based thieves. This again goes to show that whatever the ex-lord of the creeks contribute to the problem is infinitesimal compared to the other ring of people all over the world.

The report also shows that officials and private actors disguise theft through metres’ manipulations and shipping documents.

The thieves also include those who supply guns to the men who attacks oil and gas facilities, shut down operations, kidnap staff and sabotage pipelines.

We must also not forget the role of the local refiners, who have turned the creeks and swamps into dungeons of illegal refineries, not minding the attendant environmental hazards to the people. If the ex-lords of the creeks, who are still working to get their contracts renewed, are found guilty of stealing what they were paid to protect, they should also face the music. For now, we can’t blame them for dropping their guns to get free cash. Can we?

 

I am really sorry for this country.