{"id":9519,"date":"2016-06-13T04:14:42","date_gmt":"2016-06-13T04:14:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=9519"},"modified":"2016-06-13T04:19:28","modified_gmt":"2016-06-13T04:19:28","slug":"renewed-niger-delta-militancy-evidence-of-hopelessness-and-desperation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=9519","title":{"rendered":"Renewed Niger Delta militancy: Evidence of hopelessness and desperation? by Ebun Abolarin,"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/code><\/p>\n

The renewed militant activity in the Niger
\nDelta is an indication of hopelessness and
\ndesperation. It is a sign of rejection of whatever
\nremediation agenda is on ground now. The
\nmilitants are not unaware of the good intentions
\nof the Buhari\u2019s government to \u2018mend fences\u2019
\nparticularly the President\u2019s willingness to forge
\nahead with the UNEP Report decisions and
\nrecommendations to clean up the devastation
\ncaused by years of environmental neglect from
\npetroleum extraction in Ogoniland. But, they are
\ndesperate for more. They want to be involved in
\ndecisions of matters that affect them. They are
\nindigenous people, and they have rights.
\nThe agitations of the indigenous people of the
\nNiger Delta region seem genuine with violent
\nproclamation as the last option for their self-
\ndetermination. Suffice it to say that, the
\ngovernment should diligently manage the
\nclamour for self-determination and protection of
\nthe rights of the indigenous peoples as being
\ndone in other parts of the world, and more so, as
\nbeing encouraged by the African Commission on
\nHuman and Peoples Rights.<\/p>\n

\"NG-[C:G.Mobi,B:Innj,Wk:2316,Dim:300X250]:Innjoo\"
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The desire for self-determination is a right. The
\nright to self-determination has nothing to do with
\nterritorial integrity or secession. It could be said
\nthat, self-determination grant a people numerous
\noptions such as, association, way of life,
\nownership of land and natural resources,
\ndevelopment and healthy biodiversity. Presently
\nin Nigeria, this right could be tapped from the
\nInternational Covenant on Civil and Political
\nRights (art. 1(1)) and the International Covenant
\non Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (art. 1(1))
\nboth derived from the Charter of the United
\nNations principle of equal rights and self-
\ndetermination of peoples. Apart from this, the
\nindigenous people of the Niger Delta, and indeed
\nNigeria, are struggling for recognition and
\nprotection as vulnerable, marginalised and
\nforgotten people. Added to self-determination is
\nthe right to land and natural resources, that is,
\nclaim of traditional ownership of their land and
\ncommunities. The free, prior and informed
\nconsent of the indigenous people is essential for
\nany development of these resources.
\nHowever, the delay and political unwillingness of
\nthe government of Nigerian to attend to this
\nmatter might not be unconnected with the lack of
\ncohesion among the indigenous peoples
\nthemselves. They have not harmonised their
\nagenda. They have not availed themselves with
\nthe plethora of legal options being proffered by
\ninternational and regional laws.
\nThe the people must come together. They must
\nharness all their potentials and present a
\nformidable national representation to fight the
\ngood course. Their \u2018identity\u2019 as \u2018indigenous
\npeople\u2019 must be promoted and propagated.
\nAwareness of this identity must be publicised
\nlocally and internationally. Dialogue along the
\npath of peace yields more meaningful gain than
\nviolence and war. Those elements add up to the
\nenvironmental issues causing devastation in the
\nregion.
\nEbun Abolarin,
\nLagos.\"Abuja\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The renewed militant activity in the Niger Delta is an indication of hopelessness and desperation. It is a sign of rejection of whatever remediation agenda is on ground now. The militants are not unaware of the good intentions of the Buhari\u2019s government to \u2018mend fences\u2019 particularly the President\u2019s willingness to forge ahead with the UNEP […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9520,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[2149,201,344,1196],"class_list":["post-9519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","tag-african-commission-on-human-and-peoples-rights","tag-niger-delta","tag-ogoniland","tag-unep-report"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Abuja.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4oswh-2tx","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9519"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9522,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9519\/revisions\/9522"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}