By the accounts of the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, Nigeria loses up to 800,000 barrels of crude oil per day due to the activities of militants and vandals in the oil-rich Niger Delta.
Thus, from its projected 2.3 million barrels per day that the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) allocated to Nigeria, the country now produces less than 1.5 million barrels per day.
Coming at a time oil price has not been very favourable, the country is hard hit by the several attacks in the region by the Niger Delta Avengers, the Niger Delta Greenland Mandate and other militants and criminals hiding under their cover.
Last Saturday, the Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, said 3,000 megawatts were lost to insurgency in Niger Delta, leaving 180 million Nigerians with power output of 3,500MW.
“If we can get back the 3,000 we are losing in the Niger Delta, in addition to the 4,000 we are targeting, that will make it close to 7,000 megawatts.
That is why we are calling our brothers who are angry with us to sheathe their swords and allow production to go on,” the minister said in Awka, Anambra State.
The Federal Government has been making efforts to resolve the crisis in the area. It has accepted the 16-point demand of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), led by former Information Minister, Chief E.K Clark.
The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, recently visited the area on a fact-finding mission. He met with various stakeholders in the area.
“We must also recognise that the Niger Delta is a special economic zone and so we must treat it as a development zone,” Osinbajo said during an address in Gbaramatu Kingdom.
We believe that the vice president’s visit and comments couldn’t have been more apt, considering the issues on the ground.
The visit and the placatory comments are a demonstration of the Federal Government’s commitment to ending the violence in the region. But there is the need also to put words into action to assuage the feelings of the Niger Delta on some issues on demand.
The Clark-led PANDEF has laid the cards on the table and the Federal Government appear to have accepted the working document.
It is therefore important that the Federal Government moves to the next level of action. Nothing typifies the urgency of action on the Federal Government’s side than the Ogoni clean-up exercise which the government flagged off last year.
While the flag off effort is laudable, following it up with the actual exercise would give hope that the government is serious about attending to the needs of the region.
Since the flag off, nothing much has been done, leaving the people in endless complain about the damage oil exploration has done to its environment.
There is also the need to follow up with some level of deliberate investments in the region to give it a semblance of an area that lays the golden egg.
By the admission of Kachikwu, there was nothing on ground to justify the over $40 billion that has accrued to the Niger Delta in the past 12 years through various intervention agencies.
At a meeting held in Warri, Delta State involving prominent leaders from the coastal states, including representatives of the various ethnic groups, Isoko, Ijaw, Urhobo, Itsekiri, Ibiobio and others, Kachikwu said the money came mainly from oil companies, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), 13% derivation and other intervention funds.
But by the same token, to whom much is given, much is also expected. PANDEF and other Niger Delta leaders, along with aggrieved youths in the region should also give peace a chance.
We believe that it is only when dialogue is allowed to triumph over violence that effective development could be achieved in the region.
Provocative statements, threats and outright damage to oil installations do no good to the genuine cause of the region.
Rather, it would make the genuine agitation look like blackmail on the Federal Government.
Like the Vice President pointed out, resolving the Niger Delta crisis is a collective responsibility. State and local governments in the area, oil giants and leaders in the area all have different roles to play to restore the glory of the region.
We believe that resolving the Niger Delta issue is a win-win situation for all sides. For the Niger Delta, the sense of marginalisation would be gone.
For the governments at all levels, the sense of guilt and threat to national economy would also be gone.
Nigeria is facing a lot of challenges and we are of the view that it can do without the problem of the region, which has impacted negatively on the nation’s economy. We make bold to say it is only dialogue that can guarantee peace.
