Niger Delta Summit: Contention vs. Compass

Before now, our stand on the pro-posed Niger Delta Summit was that it should be scrapped. Our position is that the best option at the moment is to action real deliverables not tokenism distilled in past summits, town hall meetings and big consultative meetings whose recommendations are gathering dusts somewhere. Specifically, the East-West highway should be the fulcrum of massive investments in infrastructure in the Niger Delta. And the full environmental cleansing should begin. Thereafter, the summit can come up with an agenda on the next critical steps and consolidation of the initial efforts.

Nothing new has happened even after the hyperactive reactions that followed the Bonga attack, including fast forwarding the summit, to warrant changing our stand. Rather, as more events unfold by the day, we become more convinced about the way to go; action before talks.

At the moment, however, the issue is not whether the summit will hold or not but when and where, not minding that the very idea of the summit is heating up the polity; raising a lot of contention instead of providing a compass on the way forward for an enduring solution to Niger Delta crisis.

Continued underestimation

One obvious fact that has emerged in recent times is the continued underestimation of the issues and situation in the Niger Delta by the duo of the government and the oil companies. First, the race for offshore platforms was to get away from the reach of the militants and re-duce, if not eliminate completely, production shut-ins as a result of restiveness and production disruptions. And to prove that they are being underestimated, the militants went for the farthest off-shore facility; the 120km deep offshore Bonga. Another instance to portray underestimation was proposing Ibrahim Gambari to chair the summit. Government’s initial insistence to go ahead with Gambari in spite of the outright rejection of his headship of the summit by the Niger Delta people is nothing but the extent of disconnect and underestimation of the Niger Delta issues. Days after the resignation of Gambari himself to head the summit, the Vice President’s office was still churning out rationales to justify the choice Gambari.

Same of the Same?

A lot of people have been drawing parallels between the proposed summit and Obasanjo’s National Political Reform Conference. The danger therein is the forecast of the same result for the proposed Niger Delta Summit as the National Political Reform Conference; over-bloated contracts for glossy brochures, accommodation and probably a forum for formation of new political parties with no actionable result from the gathering.

And history keeps repeating itself especially in the area of legal framework and funding. Since no budgetary provision was made for the Niger Delta Summit in the 2008 Appropriation budget, any expenditure on the summit by the federal government will amount to an illegal exercise. On the legal front, it is mandatory for Mr. President to seek a law of authorization from the National Assembly to constitute the summit in pursuant to Section 4, 1999 Constitution. The law by the National Assembly would also spell out the establishment of the summit, its composition, funding and the entire structure.

Lighting the Candle

The fixation by the government on the Niger Delta Summit might mean a positive outcome but we can hardly see that coming without proper legal framework, funding legislation and proper structuring. If Yar’adua succeeds here, it is an opportunity to etch out a legacy where preceding administrations have failed. The way is to light the candle for development in the Niger Delta. There are specific ways it can do that.

Putting People First

It is high time we realize that policy direction on Niger Delta should be first and foremost about people and not the quantity of crude oil exported or circumventing production shut-ins without putting the people first. We should also stop measuring progress on the budgetary allocation to the region but on delivered projects and initiatives. And this requires a true synergy among the federal, state and local governments.

Intensive Development Agenda

In addition to the NDDC, we want to see intensive and massive infrastructure development intervention warehoused in the presidency and since the Vice President is from the region, he should be in direct supervision of that and should also be held accountable for all actions and inactions. Just like the power emergency, we expect to see the government declare development emergency for Niger Delta and that should not even wait for the Summit. Yesterday is even too late for that intervention.

If Tomorrow Counts

There should be well-thought out prioritization of options for funding. Besides massive infrastructure development; education, health and employment should be given attention. Education and employment are inter-linked and they also have linkage with restiveness. The kids clad in torn clothes all over Niger Delta region are potential militants of tomorrow and the earlier they are channeled to school the better their prospect of securing employment tomorrow. Health is directly linked with the environment, thus, no amount of health intervention initiative can be meaningful in the Niger Delta with- out dealing with issues of gas flaring, spillage and general environmental degradation.

Intelligence reports vs. Military action

After the attack of Bonga, government’s reaction was predictable; dispatch war ships. That is the typical mindset of past governments and the product of the military era. The implication, however, is that while government thinks only of military options, the people develops military mentality in their bid to outwit each other. The real option for government is to concentrate on proactive intelligence report on how to re- solve the crisis and a sincere security report should also contain government obligations, not just who is planning to blow up a pipeline.

All Inclusive

All parties to the conflict must be carried along for meaningful resolution to be possible. And it is high time we realize that state and local governments in Niger Delta does not necessarily represent the people when it comes to resource management. Otherwise their development initiatives, going by past resource allocations, ought to be a soothing balm to their people instead of fueling the embers through arrogant display of wealth by government officials in and out of office.

Definitely, the proposed Niger Delta Summit has etched up some mind share and tons of newsprint but it is an unnecessary journey. Action first, then the talks can follow.

DOZIE ARINZE

The piece by Dozie Arinze (doziearinze@yahoo.com), was first published in July 2008 by Nigeria Energy Intelligence and hereby reproduced with permission due to its relevance to the renewed insurgency in the Niger Delta region.