Another Niger Delta Summit

THE defence for another Niger Delta Summit is that this new administration must find out in its own terms how to solve the challenges the region poses. Of course, some add that we cannot talk enough about the Niger Delta.

We have talked enough. Rather, we have talked so much without something being done. The refusal of some Niger Delta elders to participate in the proposed summit can be excused on that ground.
Hardly a month passed without one conference or the other on the Niger Delta. In each case, the positions of these gathering are made available to the government, which promises to use it.


The reverse, however, is the case. This government and the ones before it have found ways of substituting actions with words. Examples litter the whole place.
How could the former government that laboured so much to get the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, refuse to release funds to it worth more than N400 billion? What was the purpose of the NDDC?


In the same manner, this government has not released the funds, nor has it made any serious efforts to commence the implementation of the NDDC master plan, two years after it was ready. The master plan is a comprehensive development document produced following consultations with the communities in the region and various stakeholders. Its implementation requires $50 billion over 15 years.


What would the next summit produce, short of buying time for the government? What new issues would the summit produce that the NDDC master plan did not capture in its preparations?
From inception this administration has waved the summit as an elixir for the Niger Delta. It is revealing that after one year in office it has not been able to hold the summit on a region its crude oil sustains the economy.


The series of attacks in the region would have stalled the economy if the global price of crude had not risen to a point where even a substantial drop in Nigeria’s crude oil production has minimal impact as prices soar.


It is important that government sees the importance of mending this region beyond creating a safe corridor for the evacuation of crude oil. The environmental degradation that oil production is visiting on the area remains unaddressed.


The promised summit after a year looks more like a ploy to detract from the issues. The timing gives an impression of unseriousness and when placed side by side with government activities in the region dictates a singular interest – oil - which is not really the peoples’ interest.


A summit on the Niger Delta may seem desirable, but it is not as important as government in the past year taking decisions that would have improved the standard of living of the people.
Instead of treating the Niger Delta as a global challenge with Nigerian concerns, the Nigerian government thinks words can solve the problems, this explains the planed summit