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| Multinationals, Leaders and Niger Delta |
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| Written by Charles Ikedikwa Soeze, FHNR, CPAE | ||||||
| Sunday, 06 July 2008 | ||||||
     No doubt, Niger Delta is one of the world’s largest wetlands. It covers a large area of Nigeria and depending on the political, ecological or hydrological definition, of what constitutes the Delta, it now includes significant portions of Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, Ondo, Edo, Akwa Ibom. It is on record that World Bank report says Rivers and Bayelsa States cover two thirds (i.e. 62.3% of the Niger Delta whereas Delta State occupies another 15-20 percent of the Niger Delta. Oil production has been going on in the Niger Delta Region for over 50 years together with the flaring of natural gas. Understanding why this unsustainable practice has lasted for such a long time in the country entails the unraveling of the dynamics of the influence of multinational corporations over resource management in developing countries. It must be emphasized that the entire issues of curbing gas flaring or terminal gas flares boils down to one question: who manages natural resource exploitation in Nigeria, the government or Multinational Corporation. Despite the oil production in the region, the multinational companies have failed to liaise with the people of Niger Delta Region for sustainable projects and developments. Like Frazer Seitel (1987) as cited by Ajala, V. O. (1993) says “community relations involve orchestrating interactions with the host communities”. Additionally, Abraham Lincoln once said, “With public sentiment nothing can fail, without it, nothing can succeed”. In other words, every organization finds its equilibrium within the environment (host community) in which it resides in the same way that an individual co-exists within a family unit. It is abundantly clear that oil is the bedrock of the Nigeria’s economy. Succinctly put, oil is the oxygenated blood that energizes all facts of our national life. Therefore, oil/gas and allied industries are expected to use their professional and trained image managers or alternatively, the Public Affairs/Community Relations or Liaison Officers to interact with the host communities to know their basic and urgent needs that is sustainable projects and not the cosmetic types. Community relations is all about communicating in the various forms, personal contact, open house, recruitment exercises, training and retraining as well as being involved in community activities. From the over two decades of oil production in the Niger Delta, nothing to show on ground to bring out the people from their abject poverty. Today, the people of Niger Delta are tired of poverty, tired of suffering, tired of underdevelopment, tired of being oppressed, tired of being intimidated, and tired of being cheated. What the people want now is quick reverse of their bad, horrible and intimidating situation. It seems to me that the continued civil unrest and absence of equitable development in the Niger Delta, was as a result of the past governors and other political leaders over their abysmal failure to put the multi billion Naira federal allocations they collected on behalf of their people to judicious use in the eight (8) years (1999-2007) that they ruled. Our past leaders at the federal level have also helped to massacre the people of the region. Prior to 1960 Independence Constitution, derivation was 100 percent. However, that constitution took it down to 50 percent. At the end of the civil war in January 1970, Yakubu Gowon (Go On With One Nigeria) apparently looking for more money for the rehabilitation and reconstruction exercise in order to bring Nigeria one, which then was a “task that must be done”, put a sharpened knife into the derivation cake and sliced off five percent reducing it to 45 percent. In addition, he took the offshore component into the federal coffers. The Obasanjo’s junta in the 70’s took off 20 percent thus bringing the figure down to 25 percent. The Shehu Shagari’s democratic government, without putting into consideration the youths restiveness and aggressiveness that was beginning to brew in the region, resolved in 1981 to do as his predecessors did. He took 20 percent away and left five percent on ‘on-shore’ derivation. Muhammadu Buhari military government sliced 3.5 percent off the meager five percent and the whole thing was drastically reduced to a miserable 1.5 percent. When Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (the Maradona) came into the saddle, he reduced the derivation to one percent but three percent to OMPADEC for development of the region. Interestingly, it was also Babangida that decided in 1992, to abolish the dichotomy between on-shore and off-shore oil. This historical account shows our leaders policies over the years on the poverty-stricken, soot-enveloped and soil-ravaged Niger Delta. Obviously, these policies seem to have neither rhyme nor reason, and were by no means aimed at delivering equity or fairness in terms of general development or fiscal federalism. The immediate past governor of Akwa Ibom State, Chief Victor Attah clothes these flips and flops very glamorously as “capricious gerrymandering”. This flipperty-flopperty approach to the derivation issue was always intended to ensure a five-course meal for the big boys and just the crumbs for the small fellows. Probably, this was why the late Minister for Justice and attorney General of the Federation, Chief Bola Ige once said and I quote “All Nigerians are thieves, stealing the property(ies) of the Niger Delta. Nigerians have stolen the t reassure of the Niger Delta and if care is not taken, we will face the wrath of God because it is a sin to continue to plunder the resources of the people”. All these led to the agitation by the impoverished people of the region. The fierce agitation was once resisted by the military, which even led to events that took the life of a foremost Nigerian environmentalist, civil nights activist and playwright, Ken Saro Wiwa who was judicially murdered in November 1995 by the Abacha military regime. The youths’ agitation in the area has led to political crisis which cast the government in bad light. Even oil producing companies have lost substantial man-hours as a result of militant youth action which has also led to destruction of some communities as well as kidnapping and hostage taking It is a truism to say that the Niger Delta Region has suffered gross neglect and deprivation over the years despite its enormous contributions to the economic prosperity of the country. In view of this utter neglect, there is widespread poverty, complete lack of social and economic infrastructure and lack of basic utilities. There is high rate of unemployment and crime. This state of affairs has in turn bred a frustrated population, ethnic polarization, communal suspicion, anti-establishment agitation and hostility, all of which create instability and impede development. Politically, the Niger Delta people more than any other group, have suffered under political manipulation, intimidation, victimization, oppression and injustice, without due regard to their loyalty, support and contribution to the Nigeria nation. In addition, the states in the region have the least number of the local government areas in the federation in spite of sufficient reason to the contrary to create more. Local Government areas in the federation in terms of Land mass are instances worth of specific mention. This situation has denied the people efficient, effective, and adequate representation in government besides being oppressed when considering the sharing of national revenue, spread of infrastructure, federal goodwill and largesse. Again, obnoxious and unjust laws in the country’s status such as the Land Use Act (LUA) 1978, The Petroleum Act (TPA) 1969 (as amended), Land Title Vesting Decree (LTVD) 1993, National Inland Waterways Authority Decree (NIWAD) 1997 and the Mineral Act (MA), amongst others, have been applied to deprive the Niger Delta of its inalienable rights to its land resources. The said laws have frustrated the people and communities in the region, of their natural title to ownership and the control and management of their lands and resources among other negative consequences. Consequently, the people have not only been impoverished but have been left without the requisite economic empowerment. Despite poverty, environmental abuse and degradation are the greatest threat to the survival of the people of the Niger Delta. The unceasing wide spread gas fearing, oil spillage, corrosion and leakage from pipelines, flooding, erosion and salt water incursion have taken their ugly toll on the Niger Delta. Further, the uncaring and unsustainable pile exploration and exploitation methods adopted by oil companies in the region have resulted in a pandemic loss of biodiversity, ecological destabilization and substantial reduction in aquatic lives. In particular, the agricultural lands have been rendered unproductive while the fishing industry has been destroyed. There are several studies in this area which confirm this position among which are those of the Niger Delta Environmental Survey (NDES) and other experts. While concluding, it may be necessary to quote an American Philosopher, essayist and poet, Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1803-82), this quotation, I think and believe holds true of Nigeria at today’s date- “The true test of the greatness of a people is not its census nor in the size of its cities, not in its mineral resources, nor in its crops… no, no, no, but in the kind of man the country or society turns out as its leader at every stage in its organizational process”. In other words, this applies to the Niger Delta. It is true to say that we want leaders in this region who have a vision, a sense of value and energy to drive home their policies. This is because what we consider as ‘Black God’ that is crude oil is now ‘Black Death’ and finally ‘big curse’. Charles Ikedikwa Soeze, FHNR, CPAE, is a Chief Officer (Public Affairs) at the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI) Effurun, Delta State, Nigeria. This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  Quote this article on your site | Views: 507 | Print | E-mail
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