GIve Peace A Chance in Anyigba

Drs. Ocheje, Yakubu and all,

 

Like everyone of you, my heartfelt sympathy goes out to the families who have directly fallen victim to the rising tide of politically motivated acts of violence in Igala land. Those of us who have not fallen victim yet might as well start readying ourselves, because at the current rate, it is a matter of time (not if) we all get consumed.

However, I have a slightly different take on this issue today.

It is very well that the number of Igala patriots who trade ideas on this and other web forums and e-boards has grown exponentially in recent years. It can also be very uplifting to get a sense of the passion folks feel when they express themselves about the different problems ravaging our land on these web forums. It is even encouraging to begin to get official responses to issues and concerns expressed here, as did Dr. Aaron Baba on the recent (unexplained) disappearance of on-line version of Kogi Graphics newspaper.

 

But as good as all of these developments may be, I don't see (as yet) an alternative to making the elected representatives of the people feel the full weight and depth of our disappointment in them. And as far as I can tell, there is no better medium to convey those feelings than through (Igala language segments) on radio Kogi. If you ever travel to Igala land and interact with the folks on the ground on their information sources and news consumption, you will discover that there's no medium comparable to this organ in terms of effectiveness and credibility.

 

And to some extent, through the physical version of the said Graphics newspaper, by way of open letter, of the kind Momoh has just put out. Not long ago, Fr. Tony Agbali also put out an analysis of our problems, which most of us considered excellent. But pray, what use is an excellent analysis if it does not get to the critical mass of both policy formulators, decision makers and the grass roots folks whose lives are mostly affected by, and dependent on these developments (or the lack thereof).

People, the way I see it, nothing is going to change or get done if we don't resolve to start speaking truth to power. Governor Idris and all the underlings between the seat of government in Lokoja and Abuja down to Anyigba, Idah, Abejukolo, Dekina, Ankpa and what have you, need to hear that, as Igala people, we are tired of being scared living in, or traveling home to be with our kins.

 

Similarly, those in the opposition today like Abubakar Audu, as well as the little ones lurking in the wings to jump into the political fray all need to start getting the heatfrom all of us. The idea that Igala children can be recruited and nurtured into monsters and terrorists to the point where even their original recruiters will become slaves to them is untenable. Just imagine the audacity of political thugs in Kogi state allegedly taking their criminality across state borders to the residence of a ploice operative in Makurdi because the officer was courageous enough to cause the arrest of their kinpin!  By the very nature of political power acquisition and deployment in our land, once these scoundrels have been recruited, armed and paid their seed money, it takes no time for them to snowball into uncontrollable thugs.

 

And like all anti-social elements, these thugs seem incapable of seeing anything wrong in the havoc they wreak on innocents. Similarly, their principals who belong in different camps may not see anything necessarily wrong in the use of these miscreants to achieve political ends. Which is why the rest of society, including you and I must stand up and call these things as we see them. To the right quarters.

Igala Association, USA, UK, Igala Project, Ufedo club (if it still exists) and even those of us who are unaffiliated have a roll to play here. As Americans like to say it, this is neither a Republican nor a Democratic issue. This is an IGALA problem.

 

Abu Acheneje.

Igala Land Explodes in Politically Motivated Violence

Brethren,

The spate of violence in our land is assuming a different dimension entirely. Political thugs have become tools for settling interpersonal sqaubles as well. I have just spoken with the Ogohi of Ejule who has confirmed to me that there has been some inter-party fighting between the members of PDP and ANPP over an issue that seem too immaterial to mention.

The story runs thus.......Two young men belonging to these parties having a relationship with the same lady were at each other's jugular and before you know it, gun tottling supporters of either side went on a shooting spree that left a young Ibo chap dead rith there at the community center. This has lead to a lot o chaos with each party spoiling for a further

show down.

In the meantime, the Ogohi himself has reported the mayhem to the state commissioner of Police and the DPO of the need for an influx of Mobile Police men to flush out these miscreants. It is as sad as that.

Who knows the community that may be the next to experience this sad state of general insecurity in our land? The chief Security Officer of the state must do something fast or we shall have no alternative than to hold him responsible for the wanton destruction of life that has become the order of the day in in our land.

Rgds,

David Abutu.

--- On Wed, 17/12/08, Atâyi Babs wrote:

From: Atâyi Babs

Subject: [IgalaProject] Please give Anyigba peace: An Open Letter to Kogi State Governor

To: igalaproject@ yahoogroups. com

Date: Wednesday, 17 December, 2008, 10:34 AM

----- Forwarded Message ----

From: Dr. Paul D. Ocheje

To: igala@yahoogroups. com

Sent: Tuesday, 16 December, 2008 21:36:50

Subject: Re: [IgalaNet] Please give Anyigba peace: OF the Sanctioned Destructio n of Properties and lives

I send my personal commiseration to Dr. Yakubu and all others on this forum who hail from, or have relatives at, Anyigba on this gory incident. Violence in the very heart of Igalaland! Well then, it is only a question of time before it radiates to other parts of the land. My recent visit to Igalaland coincided with the local government council elections. I watched with horror as youths, bedecked in what can only be described as accoutrements of war, rode past me on their way to my village on (I counted) 25 motor-bikes. When I got to Anyigba, I discovered that an even larger number of youths had taken over the main street of the town, chanting and threatening the political opponents of their candidate as the candidate drove in an open vehicle through the town. The language of political "discourse" in our land is fraught with violence, and Dr. Yakubu's appeal to the political authorities to curb the spread of lawlessness is not a moment too soon. One hopes that the authorities listen. I appeal to all of us on this forum as well to reach back to our relatives at home with a message of peace. Violence and poverty is an incendiary mix. Perhaps the poor can entertain hopes of redemption with hard work, prayers and luck, but in violence all hope is lost. Those who can hear, let them listen!

Paul.

From: "aauhm@netzero. net"

To: odekina@yahoo. com

Cc: igala@yahoogroups. com

Sent: Tuesday, December 16, 2008 1:59:59 PM

Subject: Re: [IgalaNet] Please give Anyigba peace: OF the Sanctioned Destructio n of Properties and lives

Odekina:

Thank you for your response. The attack you talk about, I am not aware of it and the information that I got from Anyigba did not mention such. Although, there was constant mention of sounds of gun fires which has become routine in Anyigba these days. Please could you shed more light on these explosions -where, who are the victims and who are the suspected perpetrators. It will be appreciated if we start actively reporting happenings in Igala land on this net -such will keep us informed of various atrocities that are committed against the Igala people.

I was also just informed that a house was vandalized along Egume Rd and speculations are that the victim entered into a deal and wanted to outsmart his associates. This need to collaborated too.

We have to be vigilant and should not be cowed by these thugs no matter who they work for.

Momoh Yakubu

------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ----

Sorry Dr Momoh, you did not complete your story. There was an explosion that killed two people in Anyigba prior this event you are reporting, those behind it should be brought to book too.

'Ewn kitura, kakuma dukoche wa'

--- On Mon, 12/15/08, aauhm@netzero. net wrote:

From: aauhm@netzero. net

Subject: [IgalaNet] Please give Anyigba peace: OF the Sanctioned Destruction of Properties and lives

To: igala@yahoogroups. com

Date: Monday, December 15, 2008, 12:36 PM

It is not surprising that the political violence that has overtaken Kogi State is a sanctioned violent perpetuated by the people in powerful positions through their surrogates. This allegation have been attested to by different people in position to know about the hands behind these violent behaviors. Recently, the Ohinoyi of Ebira land came out openly to condemn the attitude of those in Lokoja who have made Ebiraland a land without peace the past years (4 +).

The violent have become so intolerable that even political and government personals are not safe in Ebira land. This was further confirmed by one of the Ebira chiefs in a recent piece in the Leadership newspaper. Further confirming the hands behind these violent was the arrest of the senior aide to the state government in Lokoja shortly after the tribunal verdicts were read in Lokoja when the said individual went to a hotel in Lokoja to destroy properties of people believed to not have supported the governor.

This political violent is by no means confined to Ebira land but it has been the hardest hit characterized by the looting, killings, and wanton destruction of properties. As the Ohinoyi stated "whole villages have been turned into ghost town and wilderness litered with burnt homes and properties'. The violent that is visited on Anyigba has not been given a wide publicity like the ones in Ebira land. The wide spread attention that those in Ebira land recieve is because of the fact that the Igala people are not speaking out.

We have been quiet for so long. The unfortunate thing is that Anyigba that is know for the vigilante activities -whereby anybody that is known to belong to the underworld are fished out and ask to leave the town in the past is condoning these dastardly acts. Through the vigilante (popularly called then Egwu Abudu) Anyigba was kept free of violent crimes and robberies. Now, people are openly in broad day light not only being deprive of their properties but of their lives without questions asked. This is happening to both descendants of Akogwu Apkele (foundation of Anyigba) as well as people that migrate to Anyigba. Yet vioces are not raised to condemn these acts of violent that being meted out to people. Anyigba used to be a place that when injustice is taking place people rise against it. I am stunned and surprised by what is happening on the streets of Anyigba today.

The orgy of violent that welcome the verdict of the election tribunal which has been metted against those that are known supporters of Prince Audu should be condemned by the government and the government of Idris should facilitate the prosecution of the people that have carried out acts of violent against anybody particularly the ones that happened in Anyigba in the past few days. The time for protection of these criminals is over and anybody that stands in the way of justice in these matters is not fit to hold any leadership position.

On the day of the verdict, properties of supporters of Prince Audu were damaged in Lokoja which led to the arrest of the aide to the governor. While the destruction of peoples properties were going on in Lokoja, at Anyigba similar acts were being carried out. These continued for days. Apart from the one I reported a few days ago where a truck was destroyed and the Igbo shop keeper was brutalized and money extorted from him -a few days later the same Igbo man was a victim of extortion and brutalization too by the same thugs.

Attack on Alhaji Salami: The same gang of thugs went to attack Alhaji Salami Abdulahi's home and businesses. At his home, houses were damaged, some burntand all the cars in his compound were destroyed -reports indicates that people that visit his home were all reduced to tears because of the extent of damage to properties. As if they thugs were not satisfied, they went to his business (filling station and trailer depot along Idah Rd) destroyed anything of value in the place. The thugs burnt the car of his brother in law who happened to be the chairman of Ofu Local government for intervening on the side of Salami. Others that suffered loses are so numerous to be mentioned here.

However, of particular interest is the pathetic story of Abu Onu Abimaje (a butcher) who was lucky to escape with his wife with the clothes on their back after their houses were set on fire -they lost everything. All these are said to be perpetuated by a Rambo -the chief thug at Anyigba. The tragedy of this situation is that the perpetuator are known faces at Anyigba. Why are they allowed to carry on like this. It is more worry when you have a descendant of Akogwu Akpele (maternal lineage) as the Governor of Kogi State and these guys are armed to the teeth to cause mayhem at Anyigba.

We are aware that no development has came to Anyigba since the tenure of this governor but the Anyigba people have had more than enough share of their political thuggery and violent visited on them. I appeal to the state governor on behalf of Akogwu Akpele descendant that he should rain these people in and let Anyigba develop naturally as God had wished it to do. These violent will limit the attractions that Anyigba has for business investments.

I will also appeal on behalf of those that their properties were destroyed that the governor allows justice to be served. The brain behind these dastardly acts be brought to book. This appeal is more relevant as most of the victims of this acts are not beneficiaries of government loots of any type. I know Salami for a very long time -as a mechanic apprentice and as an enterprising business spare part seller in the 1970s and as a petrochemical merchant and transporter (1970/80). I used to help him when he goes to Makurdi NNPC depot for his allocation then and also as a contractor with AADP then. This man made his money legitimately through hard work like the governor as a furniture manufacturer/ merchant and a hotelier before becoming the governor. These facts are known to the governor as I am sure he know Salami before the recent political activities. That is the more reason he must allow justice to be served in this case. He must call these boys to order and example must be made of the perpetuators of violent acts this time.

We are tired of Anyigba people being harassed and violated at will as is going on all in the name of politics. The politics that have not brought any meaningful development to Anyigba. So your excellency, the Anyigba people ask of nothing of you but peace. Call these thugs off the streets of Anyigba and we wish you all the best of your remaining term in office.

Dr. Momoh Yakubu

IGALA ECONOMICS

Hi,



Good job with all the conversations we had on this group in the last 
few months, I guess you don't know this but a lot of people are at 
the back ground and we read each mail and try thinking through each 
perspective. I want to commend us all and possibly ask for your help 
on something.

My Name is Godwin and I live and work in Lagos, I've had reasons to 
travel to Kogi lately, it's amazing how you'll never really 
understand the extent of lack and un-harnessed opportunities we live 
with back home.

On the job I've had occasion to be part of groups that seek to revamp 
businesses and one of the things we tell business owner is that you 
can not afford to live in the past in a fast paced generation.

That brings me to the issue of the Igala economics:

 

it's so 
disheartening that the best of national economics as it concerns 
various industries are left in the hands of other ethnic groups.
 A quick look at the board and you'll see Zenith bank proudly 
affording the people of Delta and Edo State the opportunity to build 
careers in almost every sector of the Nigerian Economy. We cannot 
discuss the future of banking/business in Nigeria without the mention 
of Jim Ovie, Elumelu, Ibru etc, every time you mention this names, it 
might surprise us that we mention their states and tribes as well. To better understand how this works, I'll illustrate with the 
following analogy, if you live in a rented apartment, you'll often 
not understand that your land lord wakes you up every morning to go 
to work, he tells you not to spend too much and save hard so you can 
pay him, the long effort to save through a year which we often call 
Set-aside Invest able Fund (SIF) is in another light a form of 
compulsory adherence to the slavery of the landlord who you must pay 
by the end of the year to allow you stay another year.

 

If the basic 
reason for working is to have fulfilment; in that we want to be part 
of a system that is geared towards making positive impact in this 
nation, then I guess that basic reason is rather jeopardized cos all 
we seem to do by paying the land lord annually is helping your land 
lord live a better life and not the nation as it seems. The land lord 
happens to have studied that need that would never cease. The need 
for accommodation and as a person thinking ahead of the masses, he or 
she just keyed into that need and became a god in this regard- that 
he now becomes the sacred reason why you save all year.(Plan to own a 
house today)

The likes of Zenith bank, Globacom and Dangote are just another form 
of land lords but this time around they don't manage your house, the 
manage the life of over 140million persons.

 

The are economic lords, 
my friend calls them principalities; you'll never see them mingle 
with issues that don't affect their immediate business objective... So 
they all fight to manage the Nigerian Foreign Reserve (NFR), do you 
think its because they love Nigeria or the fact that they'll make 
money from doing so.

Anyway my point is this, if Nigeria currently seems too complex for 
us to take on, I guess Kogi -Igala land should not be a problem.

I understand from a couple of projects my office is working on 
currently that from the profit MTN made in its first year in Nigeria, 
at a time when little or nothing was expected from a country that was 
barely getting back into democratic rule, its obvious that Kogi State 
definitely has a lot of profit to offer any one that had a good 
business model, I want to believe that the time for building filling 
stations and one star hotel is long gone.

In many states we hear of financial misappropriations and later the 
said thief ends up becoming a legitimate (If I can call them that) 
business entity in that the funds are diverted into starting viable 
corporate organizations that rank global standards. It would show you 
that stealing in itself requires a good use of style accompanied with 
a VISION- then the stolen money is used to fund a vision that 
translated in to a big company; now don't get me wrong, I don't 
support the idea of stealing government funds.

 

I am only trying to 
show us that VISION is often enhanced by CAPACITY and from what I see 
the so called igala top shots do when the have resources, its obvious 
we have a big problem of outdated business models, for its never 
really a problem to build a hotel as much as the hotel lacks finesse, 
neither is it a problem to build a fuel station but the extent of 
competition within that sector makes it worthless seeing that the 
population in Kogi state don't have the economic capacity to turn 
around that investment in a short period.
 The need for careful study of the igala population then creating a 
relevant business model that rank high standards has never been so 
required as much as now. The projects/strategies used that our 
supposed civilized or high capacity indigenes have financed in the 
last ten years makes it impossible for us to boast of a viable 
business unit that can employ 100 igala graduated globally; Let me be 
more specific, we do not have a company in the world that is majorly 
owned by an igala person that can employ 100 igala university or poly 
leavers with the ability to pay them on an interswitch or starcom pay 
standard. I did not bother mentioning the likes of globacom cos even 
our governor's legitimate income cannot rank the income of some 
friends I know back at the company.



 

To effectively become a rallying point in the economy of any nation, 
we'll need to address our understanding of style and quality, it has 
to be better that what is obtainable in our local system,in other 
words you need to begin to dream as an igala man or woman. You cannot 
allow the seeming absence of resources to hinder your mind from 
projecting into the world of business. The average cost of an 
imagination or a dream is still =N=0.00 and I can assure you that in 
100yrs it would not change. As cheap as that might be, it's the most 
important instrument needed to lunch you into the world of 
possibilities. For only when we have dreams that are taller than us 
can we begin to evolve to reflect the kind of character needed to 
achieve it?

You'll say we have dreams but no money, I'll say the people who have 
money have only showed the possible dept of our dream as people in 
the Nigerian Economic Context (NEC), we should be able to dream and 
let the passion cause us to develop in character to support the 
dream; so we look at buying up an insurance company as and example, 
you'll need to understand the workings of an insurance company,cos it 
would be unwise to seek to buy what you don't understand.

 

Secondly 
you might need to work in one to understand the problems the 
encounter currently, after that you might need to go back to school 
so you can project yourself from a more global perspective as an 
international student of the insurance sub sector.
You quest to buy up a Nigerian insurance company would require a lot 
of work but permit me to say the first step is in dreaming.

Doing business in Lagos with credible companies made me understand 
that waiting for kick backs or seeking for contracts from the 
government reduces you in to a man or lady that survives on pennies 
when you can own the entire system. 

If you want a contract from the government, you need to show that you 
have capacity, not only by putting papers together but you need to 
build a brand that reflects capacity, you need to imagine becoming a 
JB or PALAPINA or Coscharis within the sector you so desire. You 
cannot keep thinking you'll get far with the connection mentality cos 
even the god fathers would find it difficult to sell you as a brand 
when there's really nothing to sell.

The economics of Igala land is currently in the hands of illiterates 
and shop owners, there are endless opportunities and we seem not to 
see them.

 

The ibo boys open shops and we all follow, we need to begin 
to up the standards and let them fight to catch up.

When next you go to a major store in Lagos, Abuja, Uk or in America, 
try asking your self how possible it is to replicate this superstore 
in Kogi state even if it has to be on a small scale but let the 
quality and finesse be high enough and you'll see that Kogi State or 
Igala Land is as profitable as any other state, we just need to deal 
with the needs and up our standards and the people would evolve to 
reflect their unending desire for class and exclusive service 
delivery.

I strongly believe igala land and kogi state as a whole have 
intelligent people who can key into the opportunities that currently 
exist within, the question is how…….?

Thank you for your time.



Godwin


PRESS RELEASE

 

Excerpts Of The World Press Conference

At The Premises of Radio France Internationale, VON Broadcasting House, Ikoyi, 20^th December 2008

 

Project IGALA, a think-thank of Nigerian Intelligentsia of Igala extraction, with a membership that cuts across six continents and a focal commitment to the overall development of the Igala nation through educational, infrastructural and economic interventions, addressed the World Press recently on dangerous slide to anarchy and violence in Kogi State.

 

Project IGALA notes with dismay the deplorable state of insecurity of lives and property in the state as evidenced in the recent orgy of violence and senseless killings that greeted the recent gubernatorial tribunal’s judgment in the state and with particular reference to the Lokoja ,Anyigba and Ejule disturbances which left many innocents dead.

 

Equally disturbing is the seeming helplessness of Security Agencies like the SSS and the Police, and the conspiratorial silence of the State Government in the unfolding macabre dance in the state. These have fueled the attractiveness of the declaration of a state of emergency in certain quarters.

 

Project IGALA condemns in no unmistakable terms, the resort to violence, thuggery and destruction of lives and property in order to settle political differences and the desecration of the core values of peace and neighbourliness of the Igala people on the altar of dangerous politics which currently thrives in the facilitation of militia groups and the recruitment of Kogi’s future leaders into bloodletting gangs.

 

We therefore call on President Umaru Musa Yar’adua to, as a matter of urgent national importance, intervene by way of increased military and police presence in Igala land and Kogi state in general before the region cascades into an orgy of unmitigated violence, thuggery and militancy of stupendous proportions.

 

Project IGALA remains resolute in its drive to achieve communal peace and prosperity through socio-economic engineering of the Igala society.

 

Signed

Musa Haruna                                                                               Atayi Babs

Scribe                                                                                                Moderator

http://www.marketplaceleaders.org/pages.asp?pageid=7897 

KOGI: As Militants take over the Confluence

A Confluence describes the meeting of two or more bodies of water. It usually refers to the point where a tributary joins a more major river, called the main stream, when that major river is also the highest order stream in the drainage basin. While countries like Germany, USA, India, Brazil and Malaysia boast of two or more confluences, Nigeria takes solace in its only confluence at Lokoja, the Kogi state capital, where Niger and Benue Rivers kiss each other in a celestial embrace enveloping into an aquatic splendour. Also, notable confluences like that of the Rhine and the Mosel in Germany, Wenatchee Confluence in Washington, the Sungai Gombak in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and the Triveni Sangam confleunce in Allahabad, India have all been transformed to tourist havens of global relevance, raking in enormous revenue for the coastal states and the central Government alike.

Sadly, the Nigerian case is far disconnected from the foregoing. Except for the miserable Confluence beach hotel in lokoja, which struggles to meet up with local demands, the Kogi confluence is everything but a source of revenue. Several brain-locked administrations in the state have found the confluence to be nothing but mere geographic happenstance and a hindrance to their rabid predilection for implanting absolute fiefdoms. Ideas and strategies of transforming the confluence into a huge foreign exchange earner for the federal allocation-dependent state through the massive exploration of its tourism potentials in collaboration with major international tourist organisations and subtle local content drives have largely remained scarce commodities and unassailable dreams of utopian heights in the state’s corridors of power where its leaders usually stumble into by mere accidents of history.

Same goes for the huge potential of transforming the state (which CBN declared as the 3^rd poorest state in Nigeria) into a major global player in fisheries through a strategic cultivation of Public-Private Partnerships to boost massive fish production along the confluence for exportation and local consumption, thereby employing its intimidating army of educated and uneducated citizens who daily wander in the desolate deserts of helplessness and relentless cycle of poverty. Since nature abhors vacuum of any kind, governance imperatives in the state have found a more Mephistophelean yet ludicrous use of the confluence, transforming it into a confluence of blood!

Recent developments in the state, hitherto renowned as a peaceful enclave of a hugely industrious people, have proved bookmakers wrong about Kogi’s determined quest to rival Niger Delta states in the country’s notorious hall of fame where violence, thuggery and wanton destruction are cherished and promoted to high heavens. From the central to the eastern zones of the state, militancy appears to be the reigning fad, a money-spinner recruiting thousands, empowering the strong and daring, disintegrating families, desecrating core societal values as well as decapitating the future.

With the active connivance and facilitation of the political class both within and outside government, Kogi’s confluence of blood records killings, sporadic shootings, communal disturbances and clannish upheavals almost on daily basis. In the mad scramble for power, the political class murdered sleep by equipping thugs loyal to them with sophisticated weapons to use on their opponents. With the electoral contests over and the battle shifting to courtrooms, the political class and their relatives can no longer sleep, as the highly empowered thugs had no option than to turn their bloodthirsty visage on the defenceless citizens and travellers to sustain their now exotic lifestyles. From Idah to Okene, Adavi to Anyigba, Ankpa to Okehi, Ajaokuta to Koton karfe, the story remains the same: violence unlimited and the state’s security apparatus are rendered even more helpless and hopeless what with the availability and affordability of charms against bullet and knife penetrations to these thugs. Some of these charms go for as low as N200 in certain parts of the state and are even hawked by women!

The unenviable situation in which security agencies find themselves in Kogi state is even made worse by the tacit involvement of the state government or the imprimatur of its officials in every bloodbath on the confluence. The recent edition of the annual Italo festival, a momentous gathering of all Igalas at Anyigba which ended on a tumultuous note as a result of the sporadic shootings and wanton destruction of lives and property that greeted the decision to bar ex-Gov. Abubakar Audu and his band of militants from entering the venue of the festival by militants and forces loyal to the State Governor, Alh Ibrahim Idris, the scramble for Ebira leadership between Senator Mohammed Ohiare and the state Deputy Governor, Philip Salawu, the Government’s ill-advised creation and imposition of the Ohi chieftaincy tools in Ebira land and the widely condemned swearing-in of an occultist and thug as the caretaker chairman of Okene LGA by the Governor are all pointers to the present government’s conception of governance on the confluence. In addition to this weird concept is a governance style that empowers thugs and militants through choice contract awards and sensitive appointments as Commissioners, Special Assistants/Advisers, LG Chairmen and Board Members. Thus, militants now preponderate Kogi’s landscape both from within and outside the Lugard House.

The attendant effects are all obvious for the discerning mind. The health sector is in tatters; hospitals are being refurbished yet they struggle for prominence with local cemeteries, Health workers all resume one industrial action to another, billions are budgeted for road rehabilitation and Lokoja-Ganaja road remains an open sour that must be dressed every rainy season. Education remains an expensive luxury as thousands are being assisted into militancy at early ages. Infrastructures are decaying, N2 billion market is being constructed along a major road in Lokoja and Ajaokuta bridge remains endangered as high tension cables from Geregu power station are laid bare on the bridge. N53 billion budget is approved and N42 billion goes for recurrent expenditure!     

For a state whose current caretaker government feverishly awaits a Court of Appeal judgement to validate its electoral heist and the opposition prepares for a rerun of the elections, hope for a brighter tomorrow cannot but be a costly luxury.

Atâyi Babs
atayibabs@yahoo.com 2008 ©

How to Stop Hostage-Taking in Niger Delta

From a hitherto exclusive Mephistophelean pastime in turbulent climes, hostage-taking has burst forth on our shores with a sneeze that is reminiscent of the asthmatic Baboons in virgin forests. Its advent on our shores is no doubt an effusion of anger, provocation and unrestrained emotions at our swelling failures and inadequacies in nation-building as well as the age-long distinctive contradictions in the Nigerian State.

The cumulative cost of quasi-military resistance by the Niger Delta youths has been enormous in terms of human, financial and economic sacrifices. The impact of hostage-taking, which has come to be regarded as a national malady, afflicting the soul of the nation’s economy can only be hazarded as the nation’s oil output is the worse hit with the loss of 600, 000 barrels per day (BPD) and even more as at last year. It was initially 556, 000 bpd, but with an addition of 75, 000 down, Nigeria’s daily oil revenue loss for 2006 was a whopping $700, 000,000!  With the incidences of hostage-taking recorded this year already, it is expected that the national budget is already running short of $1 billon.

These huge losses will definitely translate into another occurrence of needless deficit budgeting with a snowballing effect on the already empty stomach of the common man. This scenario will in turn, provide our Leaders with an omnibus excuse not to fund our educational aspirations, provide social security, transform our ‘consulting clinics’ to apex referral hospitals, provide infrastructures, roads and incentives that will engender societal transformation through agro-allied activities, and translate the Nigerian nightmare to the Nigeria of our dreams.

Hostage-taking, for all it has come to represent, must not be allowed to continue as we cannot afford a sustained bonfire of our hopes and aspirations to greatness on the altar of youth recklessness and Governmental insensitivity. We, the people of Nigeria must arise and speak anew in boldness and courage to the people of the Niger Delta who live in depravation, that inasmuch as we will neither ignore your oppression nor excuse your oppressors, we can only stand up for your liberty and stand with you in an atmosphere devoid of reckless exuberance, mindless violence and inarticulate posturing.  

In the same vein, Nigerians must also rise and put their Government to task on proffering lasting and workable solutions to the seemingly intractable Niger Delta question as previous and current interventionist attempts at providing lasting and meaningful solutions to the restiveness and general instability in the region have come to oscillate between taking two steps forward and three steps backward. We should make our Leaders to understand that a genuine effort by the Federal Government of Nigeria in directly intervening in the Niger Delta region with a view to giving them a sense of belonging and partnership in the Nigerian Project remains the most cogent and penetrative panacea to the problems of the beleaguered region.

Such an effort must encompass a complex whole of strategies and steps that when implemented fully, will assuredly address the decades of neglect, exclusion and abandonment experienced by the inhabitants of the region and it will also restore hope and impart a sense of collective fulfilment. As an important overture, Government should as a matter of necessity embrace the time-tested ideals of genuine dialogue which are sincerity of purpose, sense of collective importance, patient listening, readiness to implement decisions, faithfulness and focal commitment to progress and not rely on the current Aso Rock choir of cheerleaders of Niger Delta extraction which has since become as potent as a dialogue with the deaf. 

For a meaningful dialogue to hold, Government should cease further hostilities against the Niger Delta people by the Armed Forces in order to create conditions necessary for genuine dialogue aimed at addressing the underlying factors for violence in the region. The planned use of chemical and aerial bombardments of positions believed to be occupied by the militants should be denounced for what it is: anachronistic and unproductive.

With 2007 as an electoral year, Government should commence the full implementation of the recommendations of the Lt. Gen. Alexander Ogomudia-led Special Security Committee on Oil Producing Areas. The committee which was inaugurated on the 8^th of November 2001 had all the then service chiefs I.G of Police, SSS DG, NSA, Representatives of Niger Delta States Oil Companies and Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) as members and it submitted its report to the President on the 19^th of February 2002. 

Among the key recommendations which are very germane to the resolution of the present impasse in the region are: upward review of the minimum 13% derivation to not less than 50%; Training of Niger Delta indigenes for employment in oil companies; Provision of infrastructures such as electricity, water, roads, e.t.c, Repeal of the Land Use Act, Petroleum Act, Gas Re-injection Act and other laws which dispossesses oil producing areas of their land; and the full industrialisation of the Niger Delta region.

The above recommendations, to say the least, are very realistic just as they are attainable looking at the long years of neglect of the Niger Delta vis-à-vis Government’s knack for implementing far-reaching reforms which taste like bitter pills today but solve the problems in the long run. Moreover, for the cynics of the Government to be proved wrong that the “ongoing reform programme” is not just an esoteric swansong for witch-hunting, societal dislocation and self-serving actions, Government must adopt the same mentality of reforms that presently oils the wheels of governance in adopting the eight democratic proclamations by the peoples of the Niger Delta with regards to claims of ownership, resource access and control, environmental justice and clamour for true federalism. 

This should be done with a view to implementing the relevant aspects that do not run contrary to the spirit and letter of the 1999 constitution. These proclamations include that of the Ogonis, (a bill of rights), Ijaws (Kaiama declaration), Ikwerre (charter of demands), Urhobo (resolutions of the Urhobo Economic Summit) Isoko (charter of demands), Oron (bill of rights) Egi (Aklaka declaration),  and Warri ( Warri accord).

2007 should also see Government at all levels taking concrete steps in ensuring that oil companies protect environment, monitor and verify oil companies’ contributions to community development with a view to plugging observed leakages and arresting senile excesses of Niger Delta Elders, embark on a comprehensive road network to open up the isolated region, establish specialist Health institutions throughout the region, make the Niger Delta “Liberation Project” unattractive and less lucrative by providing jobs for the vast army of youths, provide scholarship for training in oil industry-related skills, full implementation of the NDDC masterplan as mandated by the Mr. President and increased funding for NDDC which presently subsists in tokenism.

However, Government must be commended for the seven major policy decisions it has implemented in the region within the past seven years. These are the implementation of the 13% derivation; setting up of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC); constitution of the Ogomudia Committee; constitution of the James Ibori Presidential Standing Committee on the Niger Delta; the NNPC-Niger Delta Youths Standing Committee, constitution of the Major Gen. Mohammed Presidential Committee on Peace and Reconciliation in the Niger Delta; and The Niger Delta Peace and Security Strategy (PASS).

Also worth commending is the appointment of worthy Niger Delta sons into commanding heights of the Oil and Gas sector with particular reference to Dr. Edmund Daukarou OPEC President and Energy Minister. Equally worth commending is the involvement and recognition of Youths in the Government’s quest for peace and development in the Niger Delta as evidenced in the recent appointment of Mr. Maxwell Oko, the former central zone Chairman of Ijaw Youth Council, Field Coordinator of the Niger Delta Peace and Security Strategy (PASS) and the National Coordinator of the Ijaw House, as the Special Assistant to the Energy Minister. With this appointment, there is no gainsaying the fact that Government recognises the unassailable role of the youths in stemming the tide of hostage-taking and other violent acts as Maxwell Oko’s tenure as IYC Chairman saw to the facilitation of a harmonious working environment for oil companies as well as the active involvement of Ijaw Youths in vocational trainings, entrepreneurship and investment management programmes.  

It is hoped that these steps will go a long way in dousing the angst in the Niger Delta and terminate the reign of hostage-taking on our shores as they will decisively and positively address the foundational raisons d’être for this unfortunate tide in our nation’s history with a view to permanently correcting and eliminating same.

Atâyi Babs 

atayibabs@yahoo.com  2007 ©