MONDAY EDITORIAL
The Niger Delta needs massive infrastructural development
In the past few weeks, the Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo was in and out of the Niger Delta, engaging with the leadership and the people of the zone. The objective was to find a lasting solution to the crisis in the region. “What we now have is an unhappy cycle of discontent sometimes expressed by a resort to violence and vandalism and drawing in response a strengthening of security arrangements and a gamut of palliative measures,” said Osinbajo during one of his meetings with the people in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. “This vicious cycle cannot continue as it builds needless tensions and frayed nerves. We just have to take meaningful steps to bring about permanent peace and prosperity to the Niger Delta.”
Osinbajo is acutely aware of the reasons for the “vicious cycle” of violence in the Niger Delta. He acknowledged this first hand when he said that there was little evidence to justify the huge contribution of the area to the development of Nigeria. “No one can be proud with the state of development in the Niger Delta,” he said. “The Niger Delta we see today is an area of poor infrastructure; a few schools and hospitals. There are signboards of abandoned projects all over the place.” And like Osinbajo rightly observed, the unedifying lack of development and access to basic amenities is worsened by a disturbing lack of opportunities for those who can no longer carry out routine occupations like fishing and farming.
Ever since the current administration came to power in May 2015, the country has been experiencing increased resurgence of militancy in the Delta region with attacks on crude oil, products and gas pipelines. The bombings by militant groups targeted at oil pipelines marked a new level of violence in the latest struggle that almost crippled the economy. Mr. Shina Bankole, vice-chairman of the security subcommittee of the Oil Producers Trade Section of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry said recently that between January and November last year, the resurgence of militancy cost the nation over 130 million barrels of oil (approximately $4 billion) even at the base price of $30 per barrel. Osinbajo hinted on the enormity of the problem when he blamed the country’s economic challenges partly on the effects of pipeline vandalism. “One of the key reasons why we are in recession is the fact that we lost about 60 per cent of our revenue due to the vandalism of the pipelines on the Niger Delta and we lost almost 40 per cent of the gas,” he said.
Alarmed at the prospect, the administration, instead of tackling the problem head-on through dialogue and other remedial measures, launched an offensive by moving men and ammunition to occupy the Niger Delta. Osinbajo’s interactive session with the people of the Niger Delta is an admission of the failure of gun-boat diplomacy and the need to forge a partnership with the oil-bearing communities and fast-track development in the area. “We must convene an oil community’s intervention to work out what can be done in the short and medium term and in the long,” said Osinbajo. “We must focus on how to ensure that the people benefit from the wealth of the land.”
Osinbajo’s shuttles to the Niger Delta may not have achieved anything for now, but it has demonstrated the fact that the Buhari administration has finally realised that force alone cannot resolve the issue. Belated as the measures may seem, it would go a long way in helping to douse the current violence in the area. But a lasting peace to the “unhappy circle of discontent” would come through massive infrastructural development of the area and the people made to feel and benefit from the enormous wealth beneath their soil. That is the task before the Buhari administration.
