[PENPOINT Niger Delta at a turning point
Typical of many a ruling class - especially in a developing society, they often do not respond on real time basis to the incipience of crisis, until things get out of hand. Often fixated on a proclivity to depend on the resort to brute force to quell any challenge to their authority and interests, they often misread the tell-tale signs of incipient crisis. Ostensibly, the West African country of Mali which just has a military take-over of government last week, may easily engage the minds of many readers of this piece. However, this situation may be playing out in the Niger Delta where several developments are pointing to the erosion of patience of the restive elements in the region, over a perceived breach of trust by the federal government with respect to its undertaking to improve the conditions of living there. Rather than address itself to its numerous promises and pledges with respect to transforming the area, the government is widely seen by many in the region - rightly or otherwise, as systematically emasculating and turning it into a conquered territory.
Among several instances that are interpreted as faces of marginalization of the region is the recent concern that the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) is on the chopping board of the administration. According to feelers, the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) is working on a recommendation favoring the scrapping of the scheme by the end of 2020. Even as unconfirmed as it is, the story has generated significant concern among stakeholders comprising primarily the youth of the zone, as well as the chiefs and elders who see the PAP as one welcome panacea to the youth related problems of the zone.
Among the factors that accentuate concern over the likely scrapping of the PAP are at least three. Firstly is the suspension of its last boss Charles Dokubo, under circumstances that are still unclear, and handing the agency over to a Caretaker Committee comprising mostly non-indigenes of the zone. Secondly is the complement of convolutions in its sister agency – Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) surrounding the absence of a statutorily constituted board of directors, and the imposition by the Federal Government of an Interim Management Committee (IMC) on the interventionist agency. Thirdly is the stream of seedy tales bordering on mind-boggling, fraudulent financial dealings in the NDDC before and during the era of the IMC which easily expose the anti - people agenda of the organization over time. Fourthly is the floundering run of investigative hearings by the National Assembly on the affairs of the NDDC, which for now offer more theatrics than substance with respect to immediate benefits to the hardpressed people of the region. The foregoing is without prejudice to the virtual military siege on every Niger Delta community, which is officially seen to be the key to security and safety in the region.
The truth however remains that all of these developments – dramatic as they may be, still suffer the handicap of falling short of providing any clearcut, sustainable course of action pursuant to the remediation of the Niger Delta zone. Meanwhile the administration has also not helped matters by not demonstrating the required firmness in resolving the conundrum associated with the
The starting point is to provide as soon as possible, fresh, legitimate leadership structures to the two interventionist agencies for the region pursuant to prioritising meaningful economic inclusion of as wide as possible cross-section of the people there, and not be fixated on grandiose projects that will only enrich the pockets of the anointed.