Issues
Participation In Petroleum Development …Towards Sustainable Community Development In The Niger Delta
Continued from last Monday May 24, 2010.
The book “Participation in Petroleum Development, Towards Sustainable community Development in the Niger Delta” by Eseme-Alabo Dr. Edward Bristol-Alagbariya is essential for key oil industry experts, administrators, scholars and students who wants to gain further insight on how the Niger Delta can benefit from oil exploration and exploitation. The Tide, beginning from this edition, run excerpts of the book. Enjoy it.
Part F Conclusions
Chapter 10
Key Issues, Findings And Recommendations
10.1 Key Issues
One key issue of this book is how community participation, considered as ‘community involvement’ (CI), is discussed as an aspect of public involvement (PI, ie, citizens’ or public participation (PP) in environmental decision making, so as to examine the role of corporate responsibility and impact assessment (IA) regarding petroleum development in Nigeria, in order to enhance sustainable community development (SCD) in the oil-rich ethnic minority Delta region.
Citizens of the Delta region, the main producers of petroleum resources in Nigeria, have for over five decades of the resources development operations in their communities been concerned about the adverse effects of these operations on the environment in the region, their welfare and the well-being of their future generations. One of their major concerns is the right to properly (ie, interactively) participate in Nigeria’s affairs, especially those that concern them directly, in a fair, just and equitable manner. They are aggrieved that the existing measures of CI in petroleum development are incapable of generating SCD in the region.
Based on continuing effort by the United Nations (UN) on the environment and development designed to achieve SD, which effort led to the Stockholm, Rio de Janeiro and Johannesburg (SRJ) Conferences, PP in environmental decision making is increasingly becoming a fundamental aspect of policy, law and state practice in global nations. Due to the ongoing worldwide ‘participation explosion’ (ie, the globally recognised need for PP, especially the need for PP in energy and major natural resources [oil and gas, and mineral resources] development projects), participation is increasingly becoming an accepted cost of doing business, towards environmentally-sound and socially-equitable SD in resources-rich developing countries. As a result of the adverse effects of petroleum development in the hitherto calm and peaceful communities of the Delta region, citizens of the region started in the 1990s to agitate against these effects on the environment, themselves and their future generations. Protracted community agitation, protests, conflicts, resistance movements, and so on, otherwise referred to as ‘crises’ in the Delta region, reveal that the neglect, marginalisation and oppressive measures being occasioned on the people of the region in the Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN) are associated with the fact that they are minorities who are not empowered to influence or direct decision-making processes in the federation. Consequently, bills of right, charters, accords, resolutions and other related demands, declarations and pronouncements are being made by various ethnic groups and communities of the Delta region. These pronouncements, which began with the Ogoni Bill of Rights of 1990, include the Kaiama Declaration of 1998, the Resolution of the First Urhobo Economic Summit, the Warri Accord, the Aklaka Declaration of the Egi People, Oron Bill of Rights, the Demand of the First Niger Delta Indigenous Women’s Conference for Women of Bayelsa State, the Declaration of the Ikwerre Rescue Charter, and the Declaration of the Niger Delta Bill of Rights. These pronouncements do not only express the environmental, socioeconomic and political concerns of the people of the Delta region regarding adverse effects of petroleum development; they also represent the views and aspirations of the people on how the FRN ought to be properly governed, especially regarding petroleum development in the region. Thus, whilst focusing on the true Delta region, this book identifies it as the South-South ethnic minority region of the FRN and thereby distinguished it from the artificial Delta region created by the Niger-Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Act, 2004 (formerly Cap. 6 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria [LFN] 2000).
The history of resistance movements in the Delta region dates back to the period of British imperial incursion in pre-colonial Nigeria. The British colonial era marked the beginning of the marginalisation and neglect of the people of the region in decision-making processes, contrary to those prevailing in the people’s traditional social systems identified in Chapter 4. The degree of neglect and marginalisation suffered by the people gave rise to resistance movements against the British colonial government and thus the reaction of the government against such monarchs of the Niger Delta as Dappa Pepple of Bonny in 1854, Jaja of Opobo in 1887, Nana Olomu of Itsekiri in 1894, Koko of Nembe (Brass) in 1895, and Overanwen of Benin in 1897. Other resistance movements of the Delta minorities at that time included such mass protests as the women’s riot at Igwenga (popularly called the Aba women’s riot) of 1929, and the Akassa Raid of 1895 spearheaded by King Koko. During the Nigerian regional era, from 1939 to 1967, when the will of the three major ethnic groups reigned supreme, resistance movements of the Delta ethnic minorities against the right to be heard in the Eastern region led to the formation of the Cross-River-Ogoja (COR) state movement led by the Hon. Justice Udo Udoma, and the movement for the creation of Rivers state led by the Rivers Chiefs and Peoples’ Conference (RCPC). There was also the eastern regional ethnic minority political party known as the Niger Delta Congress (NDC) established by Chief H. J. R. Dappa-Biriye, and the Isaac Adaka Boro’s 12-Day Niger Delta revolution of 1966. Thereafter, in the 1990s, dominant resistance movements against the adverse effects of petroleum development in the Delta region included the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP). Ongoing umbrella resistance tagged the ‘resource-control movement’ – a name coined from the deliberations and networks of Southern Nigeria Governors – has become the order of the day in the region. This umbrella movement, for improved PP or CI in the decision-making process of petroleum development in the Delta region is being championed by militant youth groups such as the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) and the Niger Delta Volunteer Force (NDVF). Although the resource-control groups do not have a common set of pronouncements, key among their demands is the enthronement of true fiscal federalism, enhanced by stable, transparent and accountable democratic governance, based on equity, social justice and fair play, between and among the diverse ethnic groups and citizens. The resource- control movement is, in effect, based on the fact that various constitutional and political development dialogues (from the 1953/54 Nigeria Independence Constitutional Conferences [NICCs] to date) have not sufficiently addressed the plight and predicaments of the Delta ethnic minorities; thus revealing the failure of such duly constituted dialogues in the country. Hence, as expressed in Chapter 2, there are calls by several citizens and citizen groups for a Sovereign National Conference (SNC), in order to decide Nigeria’s future.
As Africa’s largest oil-producing and the world’s eighth largest oil-exporting country, Nigeria’s economic back-bone is petroleum resources development, which accounts for 95 per cent of its export earnings and 80 per cent of its revenue. Considering the contributions of these resources to the Nigerian and global economy and as a source of huge profits to the multinational oil companies (MNOCs) operating in the country, the significance and consequences of the crises in the oil-rich Delta region cannot be over-emphasised. These crises constitute a great source of concern in Nigeria and the international community. It is obvious that Nigeria’s future is inextricably linked to what her governing authorities do or do not do to resolve these crises.
To be Continued
This is an open letter to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Chief Nyesom Wike.
Your Excellency,
Sir, ordinarily, I would not be writing an open letter to you, but like a wise man once said, “Silence would be Treason.” So I prefer to stay alive than face the consequences of silence in the face of crime. With each passing day, and as the socio-political tides continue to turn, it has become more pertinent that more people speak up in a concerted MANNER to prevent the death of our party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as we appear to be, in the words of W. B. Yeats, “turning and turning in the widening gyre” heading for an end where the falcon will no longer hear the falconer
It is unfortunate that since losing control of the Federal Government, with the loss of President Goodluck Jonathan at the poll in 2015, our party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has continued on a downward spiral. It is much more painful, that where it is expected that leaders within the party should rise to the challenge and put an end to this decline of our great party, some have instead taken up roles as its undertaker.
It will be hypocritical to claim aloofness to what I believe is your grouse with the PDP and I am not a hypocrite. It will be uncharitable on my part to discountenance the role you have played in strengthening the PDP from 2015 up until the last Presidential primaries of the party. It is my belief that your grouse against certain members of the party who you perceived worked against the party and abandoned it in 2015 and then came around much later to take control of the party, is justified. Also know that your decision to remain in the Party and stifle its progress on the other hand, as a sort of payback, stands condemned. For a man of your pedigree and stature, it is a dishonorable act, highly dishonorable and stands as testimony against all you claim to stand for.
At least, it can be argued that those who you hold this grudge against, abandoned the party completely and did not sit back while actively working to destroy it from within. But what then can be the argument on your own part, seeing that those you are currently working with against your party are the same people who set in motion, and executed surgically, the plans that not only ended our Party’s leadership at the centre, but ended up dislodging the first Niger Deltan to occupy Aso Rock as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. Is this not akin to “cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face?” That will be worse than folly. Let us not throw away the baby with the bath water because we do not like the soap used in bathing the baby. It will be a grave mistake.
Honourable Minister, sir, it is rather unfortunate that of all people, you have also decided to play the role of an undertaker not only for our party, but for our dear Rivers State.
I will like to take you down memory lane a little. Let me remind you of your emergence as Guber candidate of the PDP in Rivers State, against all fairness and justice in 2014. You will remember that despite the reality being that you as an Ikwerre man was poised to replace a fellow Ikwerre man in Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi in our multiethnic state, Rivers people overwhelmingly stood by you and pushed for your emergence as Executive Governor of Rivers State in 2015. I dare say that your popularity in the entire Niger Delta region was at an all-time high at this point.
I want you to understand why you were loved across board leading to your eventual emergence as Governor of Rivers State in 2015; it was because when it looked like all were against the second term ambitions of the first Niger Delta man to emerge as President of Nigeria, you became not just a pillar but a beacon of resistance by standing for Goodluck Jonathan. Rivers people, as grateful and rewarding as they can be, paid you back by ensuring your electoral victory against the incumbent All Progressives Congress (APC) led by your predecessor. On your emergence, where there were second term Governors in the region, you, a first term Governor, was seen by the people as not just the leader of the PDP, but the leader of the entire Niger Delta region. You earned it, and no one could dispute it.
In 2019, when your re-election bid was being challenged ferociously, Rivers people once again stood solidly behind you. Many were killed in the process of defending your votes. Do you remember Dr. Ferry Gberegbe that was shot and killed while trying to protect your votes in Khana Local Government Area? There are many more unnamed and unrecognised sons and daughters of Rivers State who sacrificed their lives so that you could emerge as a second term Governor of Rivers State.
In 2022/23, Honourable Minister, you oversaw a party primary across board that saw some candidates imprisoned and internal party democracy jettisoned for your wishes, leading to the emergence of flag bearers of our party all singlehandedly picked by you. You have on more than one occasion publicly stated that you paid for all their forms. Even those shortchanged in this process licked their wounds and continued to play their roles as party members to ensure the success of the party at all levels. In what will go down as one of the most keenly contested elections in recent Rivers history, with formidable candidates like Senator Magnus Abe of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Mr Tonye Cole of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the vibrant youth driven Labour Party (LP), PDP emerged victorious across board except for Phalga Constituency 1 that was lost to the Labour Party. (Not that you did not loose in some other LGA’s but let’s stick to the official figures declared by INEC).
It begs the question, why then do you want to burn down Rivers State, when everyone who now holds political office emerged through a process designed and endorsed by you? Is it that you do not care about Rivers people and you are all about yourself? If so, I am forced to believe that those around you are not telling you the truth. The truth being that in a state where your words were law; where houses and businesses could be demolished or closed down without any recourse to legalities, where Executive Orders could be deployed to stifle the opposition, that your popularity is now at an all-time low. Probably because they are afraid of you, or of losing the benefits they gain from you, they fail to tell you that what you might perceive as a battle against your successor, has slowly but gradually degenerating into a battle against Rivers State and Rivers people. You know, there is a popular saying that, a man can cook for the community and the community will finish the food, but when a community decides to cook for one man, the reverse is the case.
LEAVE FUBARA ALONE
You have gone on and on about being betrayed by Governor Siminalayi Fubara. You point fingers forgetting that some of those same fingers quick to spot betrayals point straight back at you. It is not Governor Fubara that has betrayed the PDP by working against it in the just concluded General Election, and working with the opposition at the State and Federal level to destabilise the party. It is you, Honourable Minister. It is not Governor Fubara that betrayed Rivers people by instigating a political crisis with propensity to escalate ethnic tensions in Rivers State. It is you Honourable Minister. It is not Governor Fubara that has declared himself God over all in Rivers State and has no qualms with burning the state to the ground to prove a point. It is you Honourable Minister. It is you Honourable Minister who told the world that the APC was a cancer and you can never support a cancerous party. It is you Honourable Minister who ended up facilitating the emergence of the same “cancerous” APC that has accelerated the economic decline of this country and further impoverished our people with no remorse. All so you can be a Minister of the Federal Capital Territory? The lack of self awareness is gobsmacking.
Some days back I came across a video where you talked about death and how you do not cry when you hear about the death of some people because you have no idea what might have caused it considering many a politician swear “over dead bodies” and still go back on their words. Those words made me think, and I could see the reason behind them. You see, in chosing to be God in the affairs of Rivers people, you have closed your eyes and ears to reason; you see nothing and hear nothing that can cause you to rethink on the path you have chosen. In your quest to “show Fubara” you have unwittingly united a vast majority of Rivers people behind him, so much that even those who despised him because of you, now like or love him, because of you too. In your scheming, I will advise you not to forget that “the voice of the people is the voice of God”.
Note that the war which you have or are waging against Governor Fubara, has gone beyond being merely political as you might see in your minds eye. It is now one that, fortunately for some and unfortunately for others, has evolved into a war against Rivers people. It is good to point out that no one has taken a stand against Rivers people and won. No one has gone against God and won. In your defiant characteristic manner, it will be unfortunate if you believe your own hubris and that of those around you on the possibility of you being the first to successfully go against Rivers people. It will be a needless gamble; one where if you win you create more enemies for yourself than you can withstand on your political journey, and if you lose, your legacy becomes an inglorious and irredeemable one in Rivers State, the Niger Delta, and Nigeria at large. For your sake as regards posterity, it is my greatest wish that you have a moment of sobriety and a deep reflection and introspection on this path you have chosen.
Honourable Minister, sir, what is left of your legacy is on the brink of being completely desecrated and relegated to the dustbin of our political history, and it will be a sad end to what I will say has been a wonderful political career that many can only dream of. The ball is in your court, and may God Almighty have mercy on us all and forgive us for our shortcomings.
Gabriel Baritulem Pidomson
Dr Pidomson is former Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt and former member, Rivers State House of Assembly.
In 2015, I made a conscious decision to invest my financial resources, my time, and energy into supporting Nyesom Wike’s gubernatorial campaign. I poured my heart and soul into ensuring Nyesom Wike emerged victorious even at the risk of my personal safety.
Again in 2019, I doubled down on my commitment. I invested a significant amount of money to procure campaign outfits for all twenty-three Local Governments Areas of Rivers State. I spared no expense in supplementing Wike’s election efforts in my own local government, and once again putting myself at great risk to safeguard the fairness and transparency of the electoral process.
However, despite my unwavering loyalty and sacrifices, I found myself abandoned and forgotten by Wike. Throughout his eight-year tenure, he failed to acknowledge my contributions or fulfill his promises and agreements. Even as a former Deputy Governor, Wike denied me my severance benefit.
My investment in Wike’s governorship was not just financial – it was a commitment of passion, dedication, and belief in a better future for Rivers State. Yet, his leadership style of dishonesty, greed, drunkenness and rash abuse of senior citizens brought me nothing but disappointment, misery and losses.
By the grace of God, today I speak not as a victim, but as a hero. I have accepted my losses, and I have moved on. And as I reflect on my experience, I cannot help but urge Wike to do the same and allow peace and development to reign in Rivers State.
Nyesom Wike, when you speak of investing in Governor Sim Fubara’s election, remember those like me who also invested in you. Remember the sacrifices I made, the risks I took, and the promises and agreements you left unfulfilled.
It is time for you, Wike, to let go of the past and allow Governor Sim Fubara the breathing space he needs to lead Rivers State forward. Allow him to focus on the challenges of good governance and the aspirations of the people. Spare him these unwarranted and ill-conceived political manoeuvrings founded on personal agenda and not for general good of Rivers State and her people.
I may have lost my investment on Wike, but I have not lost hope in the future of Rivers State. And together, we will continue to strive for a brighter tomorrow.
Long Live the Governor to Rivers State, Sir Siminialayi Fubara!
Long Live the Good People of Rivers State!!
Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!!!
Engr Ikuru is former Deputy Governor of Rivers State.
Tele Ikuru
