The Nation Newspaper

Category: Niger Delta

  • Clean-up Ogoni and other lands

    Neither the Federal Government nor its Ministry of Environment has shown any serious attempt to implement the United Nations Environmental Project (UNEP) Report on Ogoniland. This land, located in Rivers State, was home to the late author of Soza Boy and other books, Ken Saro-Wiwa, before the despotic regime of the late Gen. Sani Abacha hanged him and seven others for reasons not beyond their call for the Federal Government to give the Ogoni people their dues. The late Wiwa and his other comrades were not happy with the way oil giant Shell was polluting their area. They saw how their people were dying because their land had been deflowered by force. They said enough was enough. The junta went for their jugular and the rest is now history. Rather than go for the message, they went after the messanger. Unfortunately, the message has refused to die.

    The UNEP Report shows that Shell has done incalculatable damage to Ogoni people and its land. It shows that the wrong Shell did before the people chased it out of their land will take years and millions of dollars to right. It shows that the oil giant and the government pursued money at the expense of the people. It shows the people were secondary in whatever calculation the oil giant and its joint venture partner made. It shows how not to treat a people on whose land the country gets its wealth, with which its leaders fuel their needs and greeds.

    Quite significantly, when the Federal Government commissioned the UNEP Report, those who thought it was well-meaning must be gnashing their teeth in regret now. They must be cursing the day they invested their trust in a government that has redefined democracy to mean government of the few, for the few and by the few.

    It must be pointed out that Ogoniland is not the only land that the oil giants have polluted. Almost all the communities where they drill for oil has one bad imprint or the other.

    Just last week, Niger Delta Report led with the pathetic story of Odimodi, a sleepy town in Delta State, whose people discovered that Shell might have been clever by half by burying oil spills in the sand, instead of properly cleaning-up the spills.

    For days, Niger Delta Report pursued Shell spokesperson for its explanation on what happened. It was one excuse after the other. The reaction never came.

    Shell and other oil majors operate in other countries and record shows that no where but in Nigeria do they carry on with impunity. In Venezuela, the leaders made it clear to them that the oil belongs to Venezuelans and not one else and that guided the relationship between the government and the oil majors. Malaysia even took it a step further. It allowed the oil majors only five years to drill for oil under an arrangement which saw the oil majors transferring technology and other skills to Malaysians within the specified period. Through its national oil company known as Petronas, Malaysia has been able to turn around its fortune. Petronas does not only produce enough oil for the people. It has abundant to export. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), which is the country’s version of Petronas, has been unable to make the refineries work at installed capacity, not to talk of having excess to export. What the refineries produce is barely enough for a cosmopolitan city, such as Lagos.

    Shamefacedly, the country imports fuel from other countries to meet its needs. And to further show that shame does not exist in our lexicon, we allow oil majors to foul our land and people and yet cannot get them to do proper clean-up. Ogoni must be cleaned-up. So, should other areas, such as Bonga, where spills have occurred. The Niger Delta has been peaceful for some time now. Frustration can lead the people to take the laws into their hands and, like experience has shown, mob justice is usually difficult to control. What we must do as a country is to do the right thing so that things will remain under control. The time to do the right thing is now.

     

     

     

    either the Federal Government nor its Ministry of Environment has shown any serious attempt to implement the United Nations Environmental Project (UNEP) Report on Ogoniland. This land, located in Rivers State, was home to the late author of Soza Boy and other books, Ken Saro-Wiwa, before the despotic regime of the late Gen. Sani Abacha hanged him and seven others for reasons not beyond their call for the Federal Government to give the Ogoni people their dues. The late Wiwa and his other comrades were not happy with the way oil giant Shell was polluting their area. They saw how their people were dying because their land had been deflowered by force. They said enough was enough. The junta went for their jugular and the rest is now history. Rather than go for the message, they went after the messanger. Unfortunately, the message has refused to die.

    The UNEP Report shows that Shell has done incalculatable damage to Ogoni people and its land. It shows that the wrong Shell did before the people chased it out of their land will take years and millions of dollars to right. It shows that the oil giant and the government pursued money at the expense of the people. It shows the people were secondary in whatever calculation the oil giant and its joint venture partner made. It shows how not to treat a people on whose land the country gets its wealth, with which its leaders fuel their needs and greeds.

    Quite significantly, when the Federal Government commissioned the UNEP Report, those who thought it was well-meaning must be gnashing their teeth in regret now. They must be cursing the day they invested their trust in a government that has redefined democracy to mean government of the few, for the few and by the few.

    It must be pointed out that Ogoniland is not the only land that the oil giants have polluted. Almost all the communities where they drill for oil has one bad imprint or the other.

    Just last week, Niger Delta Report led with the pathetic story of Odimodi, a sleepy town in Delta State, whose people discovered that Shell might have been clever by half by burying oil spills in the sand, instead of properly cleaning-up the spills.

    For days, Niger Delta Report pursued Shell spokesperson for its explanation on what happened. It was one excuse after the other. The reaction never came.

    Shell and other oil majors operate in other countries and record shows that no where but in Nigeria do they carry on with impunity. In Venezuela, the leaders made it clear to them that the oil belongs to Venezuelans and not one else and that guided the relationship between the government and the oil majors. Malaysia even took it a step further. It allowed the oil majors only five years to drill for oil under an arrangement which saw the oil majors transferring technology and other skills to Malaysians within the specified period. Through its national oil company known as Petronas, Malaysia has been able to turn around its fortune. Petronas does not only produce enough oil for the people. It has abundant to export. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), which is the country’s version of Petronas, has been unable to make the refineries work at installed capacity, not to talk of having excess to export. What the refineries produce is barely enough for a cosmopolitan city, such as Lagos.

    Shamefacedly, the country imports fuel from other countries to meet its needs. And to further show that shame does not exist in our lexicon, we allow oil majors to foul our land and people and yet cannot get them to do proper clean-up. Ogoni must be cleaned-up. So, should other areas, such as Bonga, where spills have occurred. The Niger Delta has been peaceful for some time now. Frustration can lead the people to take the laws into their hands and, like experience has shown, mob justice is usually difficult to control. What we must do as a country is to do the right thing so that things will remain under control. The time to do the right thing is now.

     

     

     

     

  • Survivor will never go to the sea again

    Survivor will never go to the sea again

    THe survived three days in a sunken tugboat at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean and was hailed as a miracle survivor, but now the Nigerian faces nightmares and questions on whether he used black magic.

    Harrison Odjegba Okene, 29, has transformed his life since a diver fished him out of the sea. He never again wants to find himself in a boat galley, and has since started working as a cook on firm ground.

    Okene was the only survivor in a crew of 12 when the Jascon 4 capsized in May, and that still haunts him.

    He stayed alive by breathing from an ever-dwindling supply of oxygen in an air pocket of the tugboat. A video of Okene’s rescue in May was posted on the Internet more than six months later and has since gone viral.

    When recounting the rescue at his local parish, even the priest asked him if he had used black magic to survive.

    “I was so surprised! How could a man of God be saying this?” Okene said, his voice rising in disbelief.

    Okene spoke to The Associated Press at his modest two-bedroom apartment in the southern oil industry center of Warri, in his first interview with the international media since his ordeal.

    He didn’t go to the funerals of his colleagues because he feared their families’ reactions — Nigerians being generally very religious but also superstitious.

    “I couldn’t go because I didn’t know what the family will say, thinking ‘Why is he the only one to survive,’” said Okene.

    It’s a question that has shaken his steadfast faith. “Every week I ask (God) ‘Why only me? Why did my colleagues have to die?’”

    His rescuers from the Dutch company DCN Diving, were looking only for bodies and already had recovered four corpses when they came upon Okene.

    The chubby-faced cook by that time had almost given up hope, but then he heard the sound of a boat, a hammering on the side of the vessel and then, after a while, saw lights and the rising waters around him bubbling.

    He said he knew it had to be a diver, but he was on the wrong end of the cabin.

    “He came in but he was too fast, so I saw the light but before I could get to him, he was already out. I tried to follow him in the pitch darkness but I couldn’t trace him, so I went back.”

    When the diver returned, Okene had to swim through the dark waters to reach him and still he did not see him. “So I tapped him at the back of his neck, so he was afraid.” When the diver saw his hand he said “corpse, corpse, a corpse,” into his microphone, reporting up to the rescue vessel.

    “When he brought his hand close to me, I pulled on his hand,” Okene said of the moment that finally made the truth clear to his rescuer. “He’s alive! He’s alive! He’s alive!” he diver shouted.

    Still, the diver appeared to have a hard time believing he had survived, Okene said.

    “I knew when he gave me water he was observing me (to see) if I’m really human, because he was afraid.”

    On the video, there are expletives and exclamations of fear and shock from Okene’s rescuer, and then joy as the realization set in: There was a survivor.

    Until that moment, Okene believed his colleagues must have escaped. The tug was one of three towing a Chevron oil tanker in Nigeria’s oil-rich Delta waters, but on May 26 there was a sudden lurch and it keeled over.

    “I heard people shouting, I felt the vessel going down, going down, I heard a voice saying ‘Is this vessel sinking or what?’ … I was in the WC (toilet) and the WC fell on my head, things started falling on my head … My colleagues were shouting ‘God help me, God help me, God help me. Then after a while I never heard from them (again).”

    His wife Akpovona Okene, 27, said he still suffers nightmares. “When he is sleeping, he has that shock, he will just wake up in the night saying ‘Honey see, the bed is sinking, we are in the sea.”

    Okene said he made a pact with God when he was at the bottom of the ocean: “When I was under the water I told God: If you rescue me, I will never go back to the sea again, never.”

  • Pupils in all red for Christmas Carol

    Pupils in all red for Christmas Carol

    It was all red at Mary Virginia Nursery and Primary School Iriebe in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State last Friday as Archdeacon Brown Education Centre (ABEC), organised a one-day Unity Day/ Christmas Carnival Carol in Nativity Play, 2013.

    The event was colourful in every standard and well attended by parents, guardians and invited guests who were treated to intelligent and inspiring presentations by children and pupils of the schools. It was the end of the term/year activity of the schools.

    The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Dame Christie Toby, academic and administrative staff, pupils and students of the schools rolled out the drums to showcase how far they have positively impacted on the lives of the young ones and to thank God for preserving their lives and those of their parents in 2013 and also to pray for the years ahead.

    Dame Toby equally used the occasion to give account of what the schools have been doing in the past years, even as she explained what informed the event.

    “We have so many reasons to thank God this year and we are confident that He will continue to uphold us throughout this year and the years ahead. We thank God for His presence among us, especially in all we do and the excellent performances of our children in local, national and international examinations.

    “At Christmas time, we celebrate the coming of the Prince of Peace. Jesus took our place to give us His peace. Christmas is the season for peace. Jesus came to break the cycle of sin and blame by reconciling us with God by shedding His blood on the Cross of Calvary.

    “When we live in peace with God, we will be eager to make peace with our fellow mankind. Let us try to give and receive the gift of peace this Christmas,” she said.

    She also explained why she is investing on the ‘rejected’ of the society through the special/inclusive education.

    She said: “I believe in the saying that in Africa, there is no idiot. There may be slow learners. No doubt, we should give them a chance by giving them the right environment. Through this, we will get them there.”

    She, however, expressed regrets that some parents still lock up or hide their children and wards that have one form of challenge or the other, when they could give them a chance acquire education.

    The chairman Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) of Mary Virginia Nursery and Primary School, Dr Victor Okoro expressed his satisfaction over the standard of education in ABEC Schools and the level of knowledge being impacted in the children.

    “It is a thing of joy seeing these children’s performances today. When I look at these schools and what they have, I think above the sky is their limit; because these reminds me very well of my background at Government College Umuahia.

    “When I see what they are doing, it is of very high standard and compares to what we were having in those days in government special schools,” he said.

    Former Deputy Governor of Rivers State and husband of ABEC’s Chief Executive, Sir Gabriel T. Toby, said: “Our aim and vision is that the Nigerian child should be given the best in education. They should be made to be independent. There should be no reason for any sorting. There should be no reason for mal-administration in education. So, the children that passed through these schools are confident in themselves. But more importantly, we want them to be spiritually good. We want them not just to grow in knowledge but also in character, founded in Christ.

    “To us, this aspect is important because we believe that education without foundation in Christ will be meaningless. This is what drove us into this. Very importantly, we are not into this venture to make money; looking at the facilities we have and what we accept to raise these children.

    “The issue is, let the children get good and quality education; let the parents get the good of the best. We thank God that all the children that have passed through this school are getting admissions and excelling all over the World. They are making first-class in all their schools in the United Kingdom, Ghana and the United States, among others. This shows the quality of education we impart in the children.”

    Sir Toby, as he is fondly called proffered solution on how standard of education in the country and state could be raised.

    “I think Governor Chibuike Amaechi has started very well in terms of structures. The environments of these newly built schools are conducive to teaching and learning.

    “To have environment that is conducive to teaching and learning is good for both the teachers and students. It is the first thing to be done. The other thing is equipment. We have visited some of the schools. The equipment are right. Then you have to train the teachers and let them get committed. If you have good environment and the facilities to enable teaching and learning to be easy; with right and adequate instructional materials, there is no reason the children will not do well.

    “The issue now is the sustainability of this policy and also making sure that those who get into that system don’t get into it to make money and go away; but they get into it for the passion and the love they have for the children they teach,” he said.

    Also speaking, the Administrative Manager of Schools, Ifeoma Eucharia Alio, told the Niger Delta Report their motivations in impacting the right knowledge in the children.

    She said: “The first motivation in giving our best to the children is that our pay is very high. As you know, when they pay you well as a teacher, you won’t look back; you will put in your best.

    “Apart from this, there are some fringe benefits teachers and workers in the school enjoy. These make it both difficult for us to leave or think of leaving the school. Instead, we think of ways to improve on our jobs so that we could be retained.”

     

  • MOSOP orders mass action over UNEP Report

    The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has commenced peaceful and non-violent direct mass actions to protest the “callous” refusal of the Federal Government to implement the recommendations contained in the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) report on Ogoni land.

    The MOSOP President, Legborsi Saro Pyagbara, in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, expressed shock over the attitude of the officials of the Federal Government on the UNEP report, which he said was essential to transform Ogoni land.

    The UNEP’s environmental assessment in Ogoni land was initiated by the ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2006 and supported by the late President Umaru Yar’Adua, with the report submitted to President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja in August, 2011. The far-reaching recommendations are yet to be implemented.

    Anglo/Dutch oil giant, the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) was sent packing from Ogoni land in 1993, while the renowned environmentalist, Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni activists were hanged at the Port Harcourt Prisons on November 10, 1995, during the regime of the late Gen. Sani Abacha. The oil firm is yet to return to Ogoni land, 20 years after.

    MOSOP said: “The non-implementation of the recommendations contained in the UNEP report has made Ogoni an environmental wasteland and a dead zone.

    “We will like to re-affirm our position that the implementation of the UNEP report, in strict conformity to its recommendations, is non-negotiable.

    “Tying restoration of our environment to commencement of oil production in Ogoni, as being touted, is not only infantile, but also insensitive, most unfortunate and will be greatly resisted.”

     

     

     

     

  • Rotary Club donates books to schools 

    As part of its social responsibilities, the Rotary Club of Hilltop in Calabar has donated books, pens and pencils worth N300, 000 to secondary schools in Cross River under its 2013 literacy project.

    The benefiting secondary schools are Government Secondary School Henshaw Town, Calabar, and Government Comprehensive Secondary School, Adiabo.

    The President of the club, Dr Ani Etokidem said the donation was one of the ways through which the club supports education and to reach out to the needy in the society.

    Etokidem said the educational materials would help to upgrade the academic performance of the students.

    According to him, Rotary Club believes in educating the youth because they are the future leaders of tomorrow.

    “If our youths are educated and empowered, it will go a long way in reducing the rate of social vices in the country,’’ he said.

    Also speaking, Dr Charles Onianwa, South-South District Governor of the club, said one of the objectives of the club was to help students to achieve their set goals in life.

    Onianwa also said this can only be possible if the students are provided with adequate learning materials that will enhance their academic performance.

    He urged the students to make good use of the materials given to them, even as he advised the students to take their studies seriously.

    Mrs. Patricia Tawo, Principal of Government Comprehensive Secondary School Adiabo, and Mrs. Offiong Okon of Government Secondary School Henshaw Town, both thanked the club for its wonderful initiative.

    In the same manner, the Rotary Club of Tinapa, Calabar donated exercise books and other learning material worth N200, 000 to Special Education Centre Secondary School Calabar.

    The President of the Calabar-Tinapa Club, Mr. Stanley Nwosu, said that the donation was part of their literacy projects in the state.

    Nwosu further said the learning materials would go a long way in improving the learning ability of the students.

    The principal of the school, Mrs. Felicia Ufot, commended the club for the donation.

     

     

  • Cross River restates commitment to empower rural communities

    The General Manager of Cross River Community and Social Development Agency (CRSCSDA) Mr. Victor Ovat, has said the government has voted over N1 billion for the implementation of the Community and Social Development Project (CSDP) for next year.

    The project, which is a partnership among the World Bank, Federal Government and Cross River State governments, is designed to support empowerment of rural communities to develop, implement and monitor micro-social infrastructural projects; including natural resource management interventions in their communities.

    He also said the project which was supposed to be wound up this year by the World Bank had been extended to 2014.

    Ovat further said the state government had declared its intention to continue supporting the programme even if the World Bank eventually pulls out.

    “The governor has pledged that with or without World Bank funding, the project would continue. The Cross River State government has voted N1. 015billion for CSDP so that, with this, we can sustain the tempo of activities already started by the project.

    “Beyond that the World Bank has given an extension for the project by one year. We are expecting more money from the World Bank to support what we are doing,” he said.

    Ovat, who spoke during a training capacity workshop for beneficiaries of the project in the state in Calabar, lamented the poor culture of sustainability of projects in the country.

    His words: “We discover that we do not have a culture in Nigeria and Africa to look at projects post-completion. We look at projects only from the points of conception. So, once a project has been completed in terms of construction, we forget it. Nobody does anything about it. The effect is that, over time, we keep losing what we have done and keep looking for money to do new things. That is not a good way of going about life.

    “The developed world does not continuously replace but they always add to what they have because they have developed a culture wherein they try to manage to sustain what they have; such that the resources they have would be used to maintain and create additional infrastructure. But we have a culture of abandoning and doing new ones whether or not we have the resources.

    ”So, coming from this background, we want to drive this process that would bring about a change where people would now see or look beyond the completion stage of projects to after-completion. To do this, we know we need to engage the different stakeholders, create awareness and build their capacity. We want communities to set up committees that would manage their projects after completion. So, even after 10 to 20 years, the people would still be benefitting from it.”

  • Southsouth’s song

    Southsouth’s song

    I am blessed. I can say that again and again. I am also cursed. I can also say that again and again. But how can one be so blessed and yet so cursed? It baffles me once in a while. It does.

    My father, who Flora Luggard christened Nigeria, is also confused about how to deal with the challenge that I have become.

    I really did not start as a challenge to my father. No. As a matter of fact, my father was very happy with me when crude oil was discovered on my compound. My father was so happy that it invited oil majors from across the globe to come tap the goodies in my bosom. They were more than happy to rush in. Deals were cut. Many of which were not in my interest. But it was too early in the day for the implications of the corrupt deals to be obvious. It marked the beginning of that era when money was not my father’s problem but how to spend it.

    The crude oil on my compound was bringing so much that my father was donating money even to other people. To be sincere, the coming of the oil majors gave the impression that the good times were here. The swamps were bubbling. The creeks came alive. But the first shock that not all that glitters was gold first dawned on me when the oil on my first compound dried off. Before one could say Jack Robinson, the oil major drilling there left and it dawned on me that they were fair weathered friends. They left no development behind. It was all a legacy of dejection.

    Before the oil was discovered, the streams and rivers nearby were filled with fishes. The few lands around were also good for farming, which my people abandoned because of the free oil money. By the time the oil major left, the rivers and streams had become polluted. The farmlands were already contaminated and could no longer bring forth edible crops. In fact, many had even forgotten how to farm or fish.

    The evil wrought on the first area where they drilled did not stop my father from giving them the right to drill for crude on other lands we have. Then one by one, almost all our lands become polluted, leaving farmers and fishermen and women with no means of livelihood.

    With time, my people began to be creative. They discovered they could break the oil pipelines and steal oil. We thus entered the era of oil bunkering and, till today, no one has been able to stop it.

    My people did not stop at that. Another word was soon introduced into our lexicon. They call it militancy. We call it freedom fighting. Camps were opened in various creeks. Guns of all shades found their way to the creeks too. Don’t ask me how we got the guns. Anyway I will tell you. Many of them we got from politicians, who used some of my people as thugs during electioneering campaigns. We also get supplies from foreigners. You may wonder what foreigners stand to gain from supplying us guns and bombs. Wait a minute and I will tell you, even though I am not supposed to say it. But, this, for me, is the moment of truth when we must speak above whispers.

    In our camps in the creeks, we don’t just sit and smoke hemp or sleep with girls, we are actually in business. Yes, we are in the business of bunkering. The foreigners who supply us the dangerous weapons buy the stolen crude from us. It is a multi-billion dollar industry. We also have bases where we have illegal refineries where we use crude method to refine the crude oil. It is crude calling to the crude!

    I know someone might want to ask about kidnapping of foreigners and wealthy individuals for ransom. There is no need denying this. But, there is no need wasting time on this area.

    At a point, my father became scandalised at the rate at which I was becoming an embarrassment to him. Not only that, he was also scared that my activities were affecting what he was getting from crude oil sales. So, he came up with a carrot to buy me over. Before then, he had used the stick. My people met force with force and it became clear that force alone could not do it.

    My people were encouraged to bring out their guns in exchange for cash. The rest, as they say, is history. The violence has reduced, but the bunkering has not stopped. It has even increased of recent and dug huge holes in my father’s pocket. And my father cries every day. The international community, especially the American government, is also worried by my tendency for violence and daily comes up with ways to encourage my people to be like the late Martin Luther-King.

    I confess that I have given my father serious cause for concern. But, unless my father wants to lie, he has also been unfair to me. Of all his six children, no one brings more cash to my father like I do. If you call me the golden chicken that lays the golden egg, you certainly are not exaggerating. All you need to confirm this is to ask my father to bring out the account books and you will see clear signs of what I have brought to the table. Despite this, my father has chosen to spend more money on my siblings while I am the metaphor for lack and want. My people live in abject penury. They die young because their environment has been polluted. Strange diseases have taken over the environ.

    My father has also been deceitful. Or how do you explain what my father has done on a parcel of my land known as Ogoni? My father killed some of its leading lights, including Ken Saro-Wiwa. All because they insisted an oil major, Shell, was not treating them right. The height of the deceit was when my father got the United Nations Environmental Project (UNEP) to conduct a study on the oil spills in Ogoniland. It did and came up with far-reaching recommendations. When the report was submitted, my father promised action. Days turned into months. Months into years and still no action has taken place. And Ogoni people, my people, continue to bear the brunt of my father’s deceit. Activists shout daily on this matter, still my father pretends as though no one is talking.

    My heart is heavy, I must confess. I am disappointed in my father. He has messed me up. And to add salt to injury, my father says I am the devil. This is the same father who once called me blessed.

    At this stage, I have gone past the stage of respecting my father. He has not been fair to me. So, why should I be fair to him? So, when he said I was cursed once, I told him I inherited it from him. His eyes turned red when I said this and he threatened to slap me and I dared him to do his worst. After all, of what use is a useless father. A father who lies to his son, a father who shows preference for one kid over the other, a father who takes from one child and gives to the other and a father who, like politicians, lieS to his children.

    Help me tell my father, in case he does not read this lamentation, that once he remains irresponsible, the lure of easy money and the danger of extravagant lifestyle will continue to be stronger for me than any other thing. Materialism will continue to appeal to me and I will use any means available to pursue it. In the creeks, materialism will remain the lord and I will remain a child of pain to my father, except he plays the role of a father indeed.

    • A book by the wife of the Ekiti State Governor, Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi, “Speaking above whispers”, gave this column its name.

     

     

     

  • Anger in Odi over Fed Govt’s refusal to pay N37.6b compensation

    Anger in Odi over Fed Govt’s refusal to pay N37.6b compensation

    Eleven months after a court  judgment  ordering the Federal Government to pay the Odi community in Bayelsa N37.6 billion as compensation for the destruction of the community during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the Goodluck Jonathan administration is playing hide and seek, writes Mike Odiegwu, Yenagoa

    Pulverised houses, charred roofs and tombs of their loved ones grimly remind them of the sad day. Wounds of devastation have remained fresh in their minds 13 years after troops deployed by former President Olusegun Obasanjo invaded their ancestral land.

    It was November 20, 1999. Soldiers raped their women, mowed down hapless able-bodied men, shelled and bombed houses. The lively community was reduced to rubbles by the “marauding beast.”

    The people still recalled the fate that befell their late Paramount Ruler, King Efeke Bolou. The federal troops killed him and destroyed his palace. The palace, till today, is yet to be rebuilt.

    In climes where the rule of law works, Odi, a community in Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area of Bayelsa State would have been witnessing some degrees of reconstruction and rehabilitation. But Nigeria is a theatre of the absurd; a state where even the authorities, most times, show total disregard to pronouncements of a court of competent jurisdiction.

    Therefore, Odi, despite winning a judgment against the Federal Government, may have to wait till eternity for the enforcement of the court order. In fact, the disenchanted people of Odi are patiently waiting on the government to pay the N37.6 billion awarded them by the Federal High Court. Though no amount of compensation would take away their sad memories and restore the dignity of Odi Kingdom, the least the people expect the government to do is to honour the court judgment.A Federal High Court in Port Harcourt, in February, ordered the government to pay N37.6 billion as compensation to victims of the military invasion. The court categorised the damages to include special damages of N17.6 billion and general damages of N20 billion.

    It also gave a permanent injunction stopping the government and their agents from attacking Odi again. The suit No.FHC/PH/CP/11/2000 was filed on behalf of the community by Prof. Kobina Keme-Ebi Imananagha, Chief Ndu Gwagha, Chief Shadrack Agadah, Mr. Idoni Ingezi and Mr. Nwaka Echomgbe.

    Justice Lambo Akambi delivered the judgment and ordered the government to pay the money in the next 21 days. Akanbi described the attack on the people of Odi as genocidal, reckless, brutish and a gross violation of the rights of the victims to life and to ownership of property.

    Justice Akanbi berated the government for the “brazen violation of the fundamental human rights of the victims to movement, life and to own property and live peacefully in their ancestral home.”

    Making reference to various statements by government officials, including that of President Goodluck Jonathan, the National Assembly as well as video evidence of the invasion, the judge described the content of a government counter-affidavit as “worthless”.

    Lead counsel to the Odi people, Lucius Nwosu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), referred to comments credited to Jonathan that the soldiers did not kill any member of the gangs accused of killing the policemen but helpless members of the community.

    Jonathan said during one of his presidential chats: “It was only old men, women and children, who could not run, that were massacred in that military operation.

    “A situation where you turn guns and artillery purchased with taxpayers’ money against the taxpayers, is a call for sober reflection and a matter of serious concern. It calls for atonement for the dead and compensation for the living, for the trauma and loss they have been made to suffer as refugees and loss of their precious homes, loved ones, friends and objects of reverence.”

    Throughout the proceeding, the counsel to the Federal Government and the military did not make any formal appearance. The Federal Government’s lawyers argued that they did not get any invitation from the court. Court records show they actually received invitations but refused to honour them.

    In the spirit of the judgment, the government was supposed to have paid the money on or before March 13.

    But, in its usual show of disdain to court orders, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led government started playing to the gallery. Lawyers to the government began to bring spurious applications to the court in a bid to either frustrate the payment or stop it.

    Odi has on five occasions when such applications were brought before the lower and higher courts floored the government. Even at the Court of Appeal, the community won.

    Lawyers to Odi, Nwosu (SAN), Lawal Rabana (SAN) and Ifedayo Adedipe (SAN), have consistently taken their helpless colleagues in the federal team to the cleaners.

    In one of its failed applications for stay of execution, the government had pleaded with the court to grant its application pending the determination of their appeal on the grounds that it might be difficult to recover the money from the community should its appeal on the matter become successful.

    However, Lawal urged the court to disregard the plea of the Federal Government insisting that Odi people were not foreigners that could vanish after getting the money.

    He said: “You cannot say that because of N37.6 billion, your citizens, in whose land you explore crude oil, should be subjected to suffering. The Federal Government of Nigeria cannot go bankrupt or collapse if the money is released to the Odi community.

    “In the event that the appeal succeeds, the Federal Government can get the money back, as these people are not foreigners that will abscond. Odi will continue to remain an integral part of Nigeria forever.”

    As expected, the appeal failed. The dilly-dallying game continued and got to a point where the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) sponsored an application at the Federal High Court seeking to stop the payment of the money. Still, it failed.

    Irked by the delay, a faction of the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) had given the government a seven-day ultimatum to pay the money or face series of attacks against its oil installations in the Niger Delta region.

    Despite the threats, the government has remained adamant over 10 months after the judgement. There are fears that if the money is not paid before electioneering begins next year ahead of 2015, it may take divine intervention to honour the court ruling.

    A member of Odi Council of Chiefs, Chief Bruce Wilson, said the community had resorted to divine intervention through fasting and praying.

    “We have declared days of fasting and praying. We don’t know why the government is wasting time. They can’t say they are not ready because the money is there. We are waiting and we know that God will make it happen”, he said.

    There are, however, indications that the development may pit the community against their kinsman, President Goodluck Jonathan. The people are not happy that Jonathan had failed to order the enforcement of the judgment.

    A member of the Odi Legal Committee and retired Naval Commander, Koku Imanana, said the people of the community within and abroad had been ordered to come back home on December 20 to take a collective stand on the matter.

    He lamented the delay in paying the money and said it was unfortunate that “it is happening when someone from the state is the President of the country”. He insisted that Odi would speak against the system.

    “If the Federal Government cannot observe the rule of law now that our brother is the President, is it when somebody who is not from the state becomes the President that we will get this money?” He quarried.

    He continued: “If a Bayelsa man cannot pay us as the President, who else will become the President and pay us? We are going to take a stand on December 20th. We are not happy.”

    Another member of the Odi Council of Chiefs, Chief Michael Okringbo, appealed to the government not to waste further time in paying the money. He observed that government was always slow in obeying judgment awarded against it by the court.

    He said: “If the court had prescribed judgment against us, the government would have come down on us with anger. Now that the government is guilty, they are foot-dragging.

    “We are begging President Goodluck Jonathan to use his good offices to intervene and enforce this judgment. We are saying this because we know that soon the 2015 politicking will start and our matter may be relegated to the background.”

    Also, Prince Tari Bolou, the son of the late king, said Odi people were not happy with the government. He recalled being the first to champion the course for compensation when Obasanjo later visited Odi after the invasion.

    “We took the pains to institute a legal action against the government but l feel so bad that the government is wasting time to pay this money after we had won this case. Most of the people are still displaced. Let them pay the money.

    “The general Odi is angry including the monarch. President Goodluck Jonathan should use his good offices to intervene and ensure that the money is paid,” he said.

    Odi’s invasion was caused by the killing of 12 policemen by armed gangs based in Odi on November 5, 1999. A wide range of estimates have been given for the numbers of civilians killed. Human Rights Watch concluded that “the soldiers must certainly have killed tens of unarmed civilians and that figures of several hundred dead are entirely plausible.” Nnimmo Bassey, former Executive Director of the Environmental Rights Action (ERA), claims that nearly 2500 civilians were killed. The government initially put the death toll at 43, including eight soldiers.

    By Jonathan’s admission, the bombardment of Odi did not succeed in curbing militancy in Niger Delta. He said it worsened militancy in the region and attracted international outcry against the Federal Government.

    He said if the military action in Odi had stopped militancy, there would have not been any need for the amnesty programme for militants in the Niger Delta initiated by the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.

    He said the bombardment of Odi in retaliation for the killing of 12 policemen in the community only succeeded in killing old men and women, pointing out that no single militant was shot dead in the action.

    His words : “After the invasion, I and the governor entered Odi. Ordinarily, the governor and his subordinates would not have moved in at the same time. We entered houses and we saw some dead people. Most of the dead were old men and women, but none of the militants was killed. None. Bombarding Odi was meant to solve the problem, but it never did. If the attack in Odi had solved the problem of militancy in Niger Delta, then the late President Yar’Adua’s government of whom I was privileged to be his deputy, would not come up with the amnesty programme.

    That is to tell you that an attack on Odi never solved the problem of militancy, rather it attracted international outcry and many people began to say things rather than the attack on Odi.”

    But despite his belief, his government is playing hide and seek over the court order on the N3.7 billion compensation. And the question is: Will the Odi people ever get this money?

     

     

  • ‘Delta North has the right to rule after Uduaghan’

    ‘Delta North has the right to rule after Uduaghan’

    Clement Ofuani, a former presidential aide, former Delta State Economic Adviser and Commissioner, Economic Planning, spoke with OKUNGBOWA AIWERIE on the ambition of the Anioma people and sundry national issues.

    What is the purpose of the Lagos platform with Prof. Ephiphany Azinge and other politicians from Delta North extraction with regard to their suspected nursing of governorship ambition come 2015?

    I will repeat what I said that day when it was my time to speak. I told them that this was a coup that they had executed because they called me up and said Prof. Ephiphany Azinge the Director-General, Nigeria Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS) will be giving a keynote speech at its seminar on “Political Participation as Vehicle for Economic Development of Delta State” and they would like me to be one of the co-speakers to discourse the keynote speech. I said that if Prof. Azinge is involved in an event like that, I will definitely be there because I respect his intellect and he is my friend. I think he is also friends of eventually all the participants that came and we probably just came there on the strength of that friendship and respect for his intellect. It turned out that they had invited people perceived to have certain political interest to be co- speakers. So, just looking around with our sort of political sensibility, one could eventually presume that they were attempting to organise a mini- debate before a debate. They tried to modify some of the things to say. It is about the stakeholders not about aspir-ants or candidates, which was fair because I do not know anybody who has declared his real political intentions and they made the platform open for us to share our views and perspectives on how to drive economic development in our state. Each of the stakeholders or participants provided their perspectives and their viewpoints. It was left for the audience to take away something from just listening to each and every one of us either in terms of how you spoke, the marshaling of arguments, the sense you were making and your confidence level. There was no scoresheet to determine who came first or second. That, in a nutshell, was what happened.

    But could you relate your views on your strategies to drive the economy of Delta State through the focal theme of that day?

    First of all political participation is about your voices being heard and your voices are heard when you are able to be involved in the process of selecting the policy-makers and lawmakers in your direct relationship with them so that you can influence their day-to-day thinking in terms of economic development strategy. We all know that our economy is a largely agrarian one. In terms of physical structure, we are dependent on oil. So, we needed to discuss how we can move the fiscal revenues of the state away from over-dependence on oil sales to other contributors. I pointed out to them that contrary to what many people seem to think, agriculture today contributes 42 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Unfortunately, it contributes very insignificantly to government’s revenue. The reason these things happen is that the people practising agriculture are doing so at very subsistence level. So, they end up with annual net losses on which they cannot pay taxes. Two, they suffer from post-harvest losses which again, reduces their farming revenue. Then they lack access to market. By market, we mean processing industries; a linkage between agro and agro-processing and the reason there is not enough investment in agro-processing is the infrastructural deficit; which means that if we really have to untangle these economic conundrum, we need to deal with the infrastructure deficit that will drop the cost of doing business and make our industries more profitable. The industries will, in turn, create jobs and also draw along with it the higher demand for agric produce. Therefore, the demand will lead to higher prices and higher revenues for the farmers.

    The point I am trying to make is that there is not a single silver bullet that you will say once I do this it does this. It is a whole network of inter-related policies and legal developments that a leader and policy-maker should be able to envisage; linkage that exists between the policies you are pursuing and various outcome to be able to say this is the policy that will lead to a more perfect outcome for us. It is that capacity to think through the inter-relationships of outcomes and policies that we require.

    If you are saddled with the responsibility of leading the state, what strategy will you adopt as an economic blue- print to industrialise the state?

    Judged from what I have said, it would focus on giving agriculture the premium attention it requires. But it will not come by way of increased spending on fertilisers and farm inputs and small loan to small farmers. It is going to be something that will revolve around prioritising our infrastructural development in such a way that those critical infrastructure that will make our environment more business competitive will be targeted first. They will become the growth tools that will drive every other thing that we are going to be doing. First is setting appropriate priorities and I think that I have proved that I can do that in the past. So, it is now for the people to examine whether this is the kind of future they envisaged. The greatest challenge is power. Now that power is been repositioned through the power sector road map which the Federal Government has faithfully implemented. We expect that the new challenge would be in terms of attracting much power to each state. Now it is no longer a state responsibility to provide power; it is private sector-driven. So, you have to find the appropriate incentives to drive more investment from the private sector into the power sector for your particular sector. Luckily, for us as a state, we have what it takes to attract power providers in terms of power generation and power distribution in our state and we should expect that we can drop the cost of power in our state against other competing states like Lagos. There is no reason the cost of power should be the same around the country because some people are closer to where it is produced and these are some of the things that we must do.

    Then, we also look at the strategies of concentrated industrial development that will significantly drop the cost of doing business because you have common infrastructure for them. These are just policies that you will not directly think that link to agriculture. The truth of the matter is that these things boost industrial capacity and industrial capacity drives agricultural production and that raises farming income.

    The gubernatorial position in 2015 appears to have been ceded to the Anioma Delta North people, going by the comments from the leading lights of the party in the state. Do the Anioma people have a clear strategy for clinching power?

    I will say yes they do and if you look at the choices we have made in the past that would inform that kind of answer or response. First of all, the one political party that has provided us a road map to archieving that aspiration as Anioma people is the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). This is because power rotation is written into its constitution and so it enforces it. You observe that in 2011 election, there was no aspirant from Anioma area that ran for governor because it was expected that Delta South, having started its four-year term, will complete another four- year term under the platform of PDP and in 2015 the Anioma area will take a shot.

    Now the preponderance of view is that this is an equitable expectation of something that ought to happen for the stability of the state and for rapid economic development. This is because it will create a peaceful environment for that to take place. Now the issue will be how do you pick a particular candidate because it has got to be one person from the Anioma area to fly that flag and win the general election. Everything that is being done now is what needs to be done politically to achieve that. There is no time when a senatorial district in the last 14 years has come together to say we are presenting a consensus aspirant. Individuals will indicate interest, some will be convinced by other people that they have the potential. All of these are evaluated through a process that we have all been going through. At the end of the day, some sense will emerge of where the likely pendulum will swing and then one person will emerge. I have often heard that there will be so many aspirants of Delta North extraction as a result. It shows a lack of preparedness and ability to co-operate and co-ordinate. I will simply ask can you find out how many vied for the bye-election into the Senate in Delta Central Senatorial District on the platform of the PDP? It is the same everywhere. Individuals will have ambitions but one person will emerge from the plethora of aspirants. So, it is nothing peculiar to Delta North.

    The PDP has often been criticised for allegedly imposing unpopular candidates during its primaries. Do you share the concern that the best candidates may not emerge through this process?

    I think it will be quite wrong to accuse only the PDP of imposing candidates at any level. It is a phenomenon of a developing political system. The defunct ACN hardly even did primaries and now that they emerged into the APC, you can check what happened in the Delta Central Senatorial District bye-elections. APC did not have party, local government and ward structures and yet they produced a candidate. It is nothing peculiar. What we should seek to do is how to strengthen the workings of the internal democracies of political parties in such a way that they will produce viable candidates for the people to make their choices. First is to ensure that the general elections are largely free and fair because when this is so, any political party that imposes the wrong candidate would lose the election. So, political parties that do not want to lose an election will pick only candidates who they think will help them win an election. This decision can be taken by the party in general, by a caucus and by some leaders. This is how it will always work . Whatever process that is used to select candidates must ensure it produces visionary, viable and quality leadership at all levels.

    In the First Republic, Dennis Osadebay, an Anioma person rose to position of prominence and was Premier of that region. Do you think the present crop of Anioma have what it takes to come close to his achievements in Delta politics today?

    I thinks comparing apples to apples, it will be fair or fairer to ask do we have human capital or leaders or potential leaders in Anioma area that will provide quality leadership that would better what we have received from the other senatorial district in the present time? Osadebay was a product of a different era, a different politics, a different demography and face a different set of challenges. But as for whether we have people of the same intellectual development, with the same level of humane appeal, I think we do. We have several of them who can match him. I would urge people of Delta State to taste or to feel that we can do it. We can provide the same type of quality leadership that will drive Delta State in a direction that would make every Deltan proud.

     

  • Delta community leaders dare Uduaghan

    Crisis is brewing in peaceful Koko, headquarters of Warri North Local Government Area of Delta State over the leadership of the youth group, Koko Human Resources Development Council (KHRDC).

    The Chief Security Adviser to the state governor, Rear Admiral John Kpokpogri (rtd) and other government officials are accused of meddling into the affairs of the community, ostensibly to score political points.

    Tension rose in the Itsekiri town recently when Kpokpogri invited the 94-year-old traditional head of Koko, Chief Victor Nanna to a security meeting at the Governor’s Office, Warri Annex.

    Mr. Asupa Forteta, who represented Kpokpogri at the meeting, directed the Itsekiri leaders to re-instate an impeached former chairman of the KHRDC, Mr. Frank Olu (aka Ekpen) and extended his tenure by six months.

    Our checks revealed that the Council of Elders of Iweroko and Ameren (Ugogomeje Family of Koko), which is duly registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), is the only authority empowered to direct the affairs of the council.

    Confirming the report, Mr. Edward Daibo told our reporter that the council was appalled by the directive, particularly as it affected the 94-year-old Olare-Aja (Chief Nanna) who was invited along with other members of the council to Warri.

    He said: “The community’s legal adviser and other members went for the meeting with the intention of having a fair hearing on the said petition. But to our uttermost surprise, Forteta came out with a decree reminiscent of the dark days of military administration. Without allowing the community representatives a say or to be heard, he said he had installed the impeached chairman based on his power from the state government.

    “We wish to state that the issue at the Government House and the supposed re-instatement of an impeached chairman are aberrations and unacceptable to the people of Koko community. Apart from being beyond the powers of the people who did it, it has been overtaken by event because the executive, which Ekpen led, has since been disbanded on the expiration of its three-year tenure (February 2010 -February 2013),” Daibo added.

    He said that an executive council, led by Comrade Eyito Omajuwa (chairman), was inaugurated on November 2, 2013 with Alfred Oritsebemigho Asmah as Vice-Chairman; Emmanuel Uti (Secretary); Toritseju Samuel (Financial Secretary); Tonwe Tsola (Treasurer); Tesiro Ologhodudu (Organising Secretary); Harrison Tolu (Provost); Pristley Nanna (Auditor); Lucky Ukuenukun (PRO); Bemigho Amurun (Assistant Organising Secretary); Olomu Olome (Welfare) and Harrison Ayonuwe (Assistant Secretary).

    He appealed to the state governor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, “who is our brother and son, to intervene and call Forteta and his group who are using his name for infamous acts to order so that they would desist from such act forthwith. Their action is capable of causing mayhem in Koko community and bringing the governor’s good name to disrepute.

    “We also appeal to Governor Uduaghan to call his aides to order and stop the abuse of their positions as displayed by Hon. Ogwu in ordering our 94-year-old Olare-Aja to a meeting in Warri over a community matter,” he added.

    However, Forteta said sustaining the peace and ensuring security of lives and property in all parts of the state was government’s top priority, adding that the Delta State government would not fold its arms and allow any part of the state to be over-heated which is capable of putting the lives of people in such area in danger.

    He told the Koko youths council that government does not interfere completely in the affairs of communities but was bound to step in when there is crisis.

    Asupa, who is Senior Special Assistant to Governor Uduaghan on Security Matters noted that for the sake of peace, the contentious issue about the unseating of the chairman Comrade Frank Ekpen and his executive should be revisited, by allowing them to serve out their three-year tenure till June next year.

    He maintained that the Delta State government recognises Comrade Ekpen as chairman, even as he solicited the co-operation of all to move Koko community to greater heights.

    Also speaking, Ekpen said the state government should be commended for the swift intervention. He promised to carry everyone along in the affairs of the council.