In the last two weeks, there have been renewed hostilities in the Niger Delta between the Joint Task Force (JTF) and militants though there now appears to be a cessation of clashes. Observers, however, describe this state of affairs as peace of the graveyard, while others see in the renewedviolence in that part of the country the foreclosing of the political option to resolving the crisis.
But the resurgence of hostilities is the resumption of the struggle of the ordinary people to have a say in the way they are governed, and also in the way which the wealth they help generate is allocated. At the core of the crisis in the Niger Delta is the failure of politics to allocate authority, legitimise it, and use it to achieve the social and economic ends that contribute to communal wellbeing. In other words, it is not the end of, but the return of politics. A century and half of brutal economic imperialism, colonial rule, plain ineptitude and corruption on the part of successive post-independence governments have combined to erode the legitimacy of formal political authority in the Niger Delta.
Successive Nigerian governments see the crisis in the Niger Delta as purely a security matter, insisting that the country is dependent on the oil wells to power its economy, and that any action designed to endanger this ought to be treated as treason or economic sabotage. But what is often ignored is the fact that there are clear beneficiaries of the present state of violence and anarchy in the Niger Delta, and that these beneficiaries have absolutely no incentive to work with others on a programme that would return sustainable peace in the region. The alternative to massive security presence in the Delta is a new political and economic framework that would transfer power, and with it the control of economic resources, to local people in the area.
Viewed historically, the crisis is the culmination of over a hundred years of violent political repression by more powerful outsiders to facilitate the expropriation of the resources of the people, the consequences of which has been wide-spread poverty, erosion of legitimate political authority and unprecedented ecological catastrophe.
The resort to violence and kidnappings by youths in certain parts of the Niger Delta is a response to this appropriation of their political and economic space; a clear demand that the status quo be dismantled to give way to a fairer and more equitable system where local people would have a say in their own governance and, thus, be in a position to participate in the creation and enjoyment of wealth derived from their land in an environmentally-friendly and sustainable manner.
However, we support neither violence nor kidnappings. The solution to the problem in the Niger Delta does not lie in criminal activities. We condemn criminal acts of vandals in the Niger Delta. We also believe that peace is a prerequisite to any meaningful development in the region.
Therefore, a strategy for long-term peace and people-driven development in the Niger Delta must be put in place and it must be such that will have meaningful impact on the local communities. The provisions in the 1999 constitution that allocate a minimum of 13 per cent of total oil revenue to the oil producing states of the country and also establish a Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), to accelerate economic development and provide social infrastructure in the area, are commendable steps. So is the establishment of the Ministry of the Niger Delta by the present government. Therefore, the government should now move towards real development in the region.
The offer of amnesty to militants as way of encouraging them to surrender arms is also commendable. Government should pursue this initiative sincerely and vigorously as a way of ensuring lasting peace in the Niger Delta. No doubt, the current hostilities between the militants and the JTF have caused so much destruction in the areas affected. The Federal Government, in collaboration with the state and local governments involved, should put in place a programme of rehabilitation and reconstruction to ease the pains spurred by the hostilities.
The way to begin the journey to peace should be by asking the seemingly simple but all-important question: Why are these people angry? What will it take to resolve their grievances?
