The attention of members of the Centre for the vulnerable and the underprivileged, (Centrep) have been drawn to the bitter feud between the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) led by Chief Edwin Clark and the Pan Niger Delta Peoples’ Congress (PNDPC) headed by the former National Chairman of Traditional Rulers of Oil Producing Communities of Nigeria, (TROMPCON) and Paramount Ruler of Seimbiri Kingdom, His Majesty Charles Ayemi – Botu for the control of the Region and we condemn same in no mean terms as the said feud speaks volume of the extent to which the Niger Delta Struggle have been commercialized and hijacked by some persons we compendiously refer to as “Niger Delta Merchants”.
It is indeed sad to note that none of the members of the above bodies and their ex-militant apologists live in any part of the creeks of the Niger Delta Region but in big cities of Abuja, Lagos, Port-Harcourt, Yenogoa, Warri to mention but a few. We are not oblivious of the fact that life in the creeks of the Niger Delta Region is unbearable as modernity is far away from its inhabitant who have no pipe borne water to drink, electricity, motorable roads, hospitals, schools e.t.c. whereas the creeks of the Niger Delta are oil sea beds from where the Nigerian Nation earns foreign exchange from crude oil exports but are neglected and abandoned.
Inhabitants of these creeks which we term as the Niger Delta within the Niger Delta lives on make shift houses erected on water, defecates on the water they drink and bath with. The creeks are polluted and the entire environment degraded and rendered unfit for human habitation owing to the activities of oil prospecting companies without any meaningful development by these oil companies and host Government.
The 13 percent monthly derivation fund that comes to the Niger Delta Region are mismanaged, looted and siphoned by State Government Officials with the tacit support of these so called Niger Delta Leaders and stakeholders through interventionist bodies set up by them. A recent report published by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) put the 13 percent derivation money received by Niger Delta States since June, 1999 till December, 2016 at over 7 Trillion Naira without any meaningful development in the Region to justify the above whopping sum of money.
The Federal Government have not helped matters as they have been sleep walking the Region into crises upon crises due to their inactions and we call on the Federal Government to wake up from her deep slumber by dealing squarely and directly with the inhabitants of the creeks by bringing modernity to the people of the creeks vide the Chinese approach. In developing slums in China, the Chinese Government acquired large hectares of lands close to these slums, and brought modernity to same by building motorable roads linking the cities, and built modern houses, hospitals, educational facilities, e.t.c. thereon. The Federal Government can replicate same in the Niger Delta Region or any part of the country without interfacing with any group or body of persons.
The Federal Government must indeed beware of merchants in the Region masquerading themselves as leaders and stakeholders of the people while the conveners of these numerous Niger Delta groups with tongue twisting acronyms purporting to champion the cause of the people of the Region must discipline their stomachs.
Long live Centrep! Long live Niger Delta Region!! Long live Nigeria!!!
OGHENEJABOR IKIMI, ESQ., AUSTIN E. NYEKIGBE, ESQ.,
(Executive Director) (Publicity Secretary)
