Almost every Nigerian leader, has attempted to solve the problems of the Niger Delta region.
Some did by establishing bodies to ameliorate the problems of the region while some created more states for the region.
These attempts may not have been satisfactory to the people of the region though, but that is not to say that the leaders have not tried at all.
In 1960, for example a body known as the Niger Delta Development Board was established. The establishment of that board formed part of the 1963 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. According to section 159 of that constitution, it clearly states that “There shall be a board for the Niger Delta which shall be styled the Niger Delta Development Board. The members of the Board shall be- a person appointed by the President, who shall be chairman; a person appointed by the Governor of Eastern Nigeria; a person appointed by the Governor of Mid-Western Nigeria; and such other persons as may be appointed in such manner as may be described by Parliament to represent the inhabitants of the Niger Delta. A member of the Board shall vacate his office in such circumstances as may be prescribed by Parliament. The Board shall be responsible for advising the Government of the Federation and the Governments of Eastern Nigeria and Mid-Western Nigeria with respect to the physical development of the Niger Delta, and in order to discharge that responsibility the Board shall- cause the Niger Delta to be surveyed in order to ascertain what measures are required to promote its physical development; prepare schemes designed to promote the physical of the Niger Delta, together with estimates of the costs of putting the schemes into effect; submit to the Government of the Federation and the Governments of Eastern Nigeria and the Mid-Western Nigeria annual reports describing the work of the Board and the measures taken in pursuance of its advice. Parliament may make such provision as it considers expedient for enabling the Board to discharge its function under this section. In this section, “the Niger Delta” means the area specified in the Proclamation relating to the Board which was made on the twenty-six day of August, 1959. This section shall cease to have effect on the first day of July 1969”.
At the time the board was established, the Mid-Western region has not been created from Western region but its creation at that time was forgone conclusion.
On August 9, 1963 under the tenure of Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (1912-1966) as Prime Minister, the Mid-Western Region was created and the first Premier of that region was Chief Dennis Chukadebe Osadebe (1911-1994) from Asaba with Chief James Ekpre Otobo (1925-2011) from Uzere, Isako South in the present Delta state as deputy Premier while Chief Jerriton Samuel Marriere (1907-1971) from Enweren in Urhobo kingdom was appointed Governor and Chief Humphrey Omo-Osagie (1896-1977), the Iyasere of Benin Kingdom became deputy leader of the new region. At that time Asaba was part of the Benin province.
On May 1 1967, Chief Obafemi Awolowo (1909-1987) from Ikenne in Ogun state in his historic speech in Ibadan advocated for the creation of two states in the Eastern Region of Nigeria as a way of solving the then political crises in the country “It would be perfectly in order to create a Calabar state or a Rivers state by decree and without a plebiscite”, he pleaded on that day.
On May 27 1967 the then Head of state General Yakubu Dan-Yumma Gowon (80), an Angas from Plateau state split Nigeria into twelve states and created South Eastern states and Rivers state out of Eastern region.
General Gowon named Calabar the new capital of South Eastern state and appointed Brigadier Udoakaha Jacob Esuene (1936-1993), an Ibibio from Eket in the present Akwa- Ibom as Governor. He also named Port-Harcourt as the new capital of Rivers state and appointed the then Lt. Commander Alfred Papapreye Diete-Spiff (72), an Ijaw now the Amayanabo of Twon-Brass in the present Bayelsa state, as pioneer Military Governor. Through Government notice 955 as published in Federal Government gazette volume 46, General Gowon appointed Justice Darnley Arthur Raymond Alexander from West Indies Island of St. Lucia as Chief Justice of South- Eastern state. He later became Chief Justice of the Federation 1975-1979.
General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (74), from Minna in Niger state created Akwa Ibom state on September 28, 1987 and appointed Major General Jonathan Tunde Ogbeha (67) from Lokoja in Kogi state as pioneer Military Governor. On August 27 1991, General Babangida created Delta state with Asaba as the state capital and named Group Captain Luke ChijiUba Ochulor from Okpofe Ezinihitte Local Government in Mbaise in Imo state as the pioneer Military Governor.
In 1992, General Badamosi Babangida through decree 23 created Oil Minerals Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC) and named Chief Albert Korumbu Horsfall (73) from Degema in the present Rivers state as the pioneer chairman of the commission.
It was the commission that gave the first job to the present President as assistant Director, a position he held before he became deputy Governor of Bayelsa state in 1999.
On October 1 1996, General Sanni Abacha (1943-1998) created Bayelsa state with Yenogoa as the state capital and appointed Captain Phillip Oladipo Ayeni from Oke-Imesi in the present Ekiti state as Military Governor. Captain Ayeni has been bedridden with stroke since February 28 1997 and is presently at a dilapidated house in Apapa in Lagos state.
From the remnants of OMPADEC, President Obasanjo in June 2000 established the Niger Delta Development Commission (N.D.D.C.) and appointed an Economist/Journalist, Chief Onyeanma Ugochukwu (70) from Umuahia in Abia State as Chairman and Chief Godwin Omene, an Urhobo from Delta State as Managing Director. Section 14 of the NNDC Act stipulates that 15% of the Federal Government budget must go to NNDC. Last year the NNDC got over 300billion naira. The Executive Director Finance and Administration of NNDC, Pastor Power Aginighan said on August 3, 2011 that the NNDC got N561.9billion naira between 2000 and 2011. This year alone the National Assembly approved N322.6billion for the NNDC.
On September 10 2008, President Umaru Musa Yar’dua (1951-2010) created the Ministry Of Niger Delta and on December 9, 2008 he named my former boss Chief Ufot Ekaette (75) an experienced admimistrator from Ikot-Edor in Onna Local Government as pioneer Minister of the Ministry with Chief Peter Godsday Orubebe (55) from Ogbobagbene from Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State as Minister of State. In 2001, the Ministry got N51.2 Billion naira, in 2010 it got N82.6 Billion naira, in 2011, N55.2billion naira, in 2012, N86.2 billion naira,in 2013, N63.4 billion naira. Between 2009 and 2013, the Ministry has collected over 342 billion naira alone.
On January 25, 2009, the same President Yar’adua issued a proclamation acting on section 175 of the Constitution and pardoned all Militants in the Niger Delta. He then created an office called Presidential Amnesty Programme and appointed Chief NduTimi Alaibe from Opokuma in Bayelsa State as Chairman and special adviser to the President on Niger Delta. Chief Kingsley Kuku (44) from Arogbo Ijaw in Ilaje Local Government Area area of Ondo state, the man who succeeded Chief Alaibe, told the nation on February 17 this year that the PAP has collected over 234.1 billion naira since its inception. In March this year, the Senate approved another N34.8 billion naira for the PAP.
Added to all these are the huge monthly allocations for the states in Niger Delta. For example, the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (60) from Ogwashi-Uku in Delta state on June 1 at Babcock University in Ogun state announced that Akwa Ibom state with a population of 2.5 million received 260.1 billion naira in 2013 alone while Bayelsa received 173 billion naira, Delta 209 billion naira, Rivers 230 billion naira. Oyo State with a population of over 5 million received 82 billion naira during the period.
For the month of October this year Akwa Ibom received 17.3 billion naira, Delta state received 14.1 billion naira, Ebonyi-2.7 billion naira, Kogi-3.8 billion naira and Rivers- 11.8 billion naira while Osun received 2.3 billion naira.
Last year Obio/Akpor local government in Rivers state, where the former Minister of State for Education, Mr. Ezenwo Nyesom Wike once served as Chairman, spent 6.3 billion naira according to the Chairman of the Local Government, Prince Timothy Nsim.
Some of the former Militants have now become “big players” in the lucrative oil business, having been given monopoly in the policing of the marine coastline routes in the Niger delta- a statutory responsibility of the Nigeria Navy- yet oil theft is on the high increase on a daily basis.
Right now we have three bodies—NDDC, Ministry of Niger Delta and Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) simultaneously addressing the problems of the Niger delta. With one of them as the incumbent President, and with the wild and wide Presidential Powers at his command, the people of the Niger Delta have never been so blessed in their chequered history.
My long-time friend, Professor G.G. Darah will always insist that the money allocated to the Niger Delta cannot compensate for the destruction of the environment in that region by the oil companies. “Eric, just come to the Niger Delta and see the havoc that the oil has caused to our people” he once told me. The people of the region will always argue too that the oil money of Nigeria is their own and that they are doing us a special favour by sharing it with the rest of Nigerians. No doubt they have come a long way from the era of oppression and they still have a long way to go.
Eric Teniola, A Former Director At The Presidency, Stays In Lagos.
