Opinion: The Niger Delta mentality that must go

by Owutu TamaraKuro

Like lots of Nigerians, I read about the arrest and subsequent prosecution of Mr George Turner, a former special adviser to Dan Abia, erstwhile managing director of the Niger Delta Development Commission and also a political ally of Ex-President Goodluck Jonathan. Mr George Turner is facing a 12 count charge bordering on obtaining by false pretence, money laundering and abuse of office to the tune of N3,094,268,234.

As an active social media user, I have come across lots of responses and reactions from my fellow Bayelsans and youths from other states of the Niger Delta and from my keen observations, it appears most of the reactions have been from people who are expressing support for Mr George Turner. I think most of those Bayelsans who are expressing support for him are doing so not because they feel he is totally innocent of the charges brought against him by the EFCC after all Bayelsa is a small state where the wealth of those who have made a fortune through their participation in politics is flaunted in the eyes of all and sundry. They don’t care about the fact that he is alleged to have diverted billions of naira meant for developmental projects into his pocket. They choose to stand with him despite the dozens of projects his various companies allegedly received payment for but did not execute, projects that would have benefitted thousands of Bayelsans and improved their standard of living.

As an informed Nigerian it is easy to understand the position of Bayelsans who are expressing support for him. They are simply following the age-old Nigerian pattern of supporting your own. It doesn’t matter if your own stole you blind, it doesn’t matter if your own diverted billions that would have built roads, hospitals, industries, and farms that would have employed hundreds of jobless people in your region. The “na our son” syndrome has become pervasively endemic. From the North to the South, from the East to the West, thousands of defenders of Nigeria’s kleptocratic political elite abound. Social Media warriors and Beer parlour Lords who have armed themselves to the teeth and in some cases, wrapped themselves up with explosives, ready to lay down their lives for “their Son”. Whoever has stolen enough to be able to sprinkle a few crumbs around to those who are ready to lick their dirty behinds while screaming “yes Sir” is qualified to be called “Our Son”. I actually do not blame my Bayelsa brothers and sisters, anybody who says it is an Ijaw or Bayelsa thing is being mischievous.

But I must write about what bothers me as an Ijaw youth. I think we the youth of the Niger Delta have every reason to be extremely mad at our leaders and “our Sons” at the local level. We must be angry because we are part of an unjust nation that rapes our region endlessly, a nation that depends entirely on crude rents from our region but tells us that the pollution resulting from the extraction of the crude oil from our region belongs to us alone. We should express concern because sharing crude oil rents is the only factor that unites the political elites in our nation. It is sad to note that since the return of democracy in 1999, billions of naira have been allocated by Abuja to Bayelsa State but what have we to show for it? A state capital that isn’t looking better than a modern village, a state university that is not ranked among the top 20 universities in Nigeria, crumbling or non-existent public infrastructure, civil servants who are owed months of salaries by the state Government, hundreds of communities without electricity, schools, health centres, pipe borne water and access roads in many cases.

Ijaw youth must begin to ask important questions, we must get rid of our “na their turn, environment make them chop because my own time go come too” mentality. We must understand that the monies being made available to our political leaders through monthly allocations to various states, the Niger Delta Development Commission and the Ministry of Niger Delta is enough to cater for the needs of the Niger Delta and create a environment for investors to come in and set up manufacturing plants so unemployment can become a thing of the past in our region, if managed properly. Elections in the Niger Delta are usually a do or die affair, not because we have politicians who are zealous and committed to the service of humanity but because elective positions and political appointments in the Niger Delta are seen as the fastest avenues of getting rich, the amount of money available to be looted is just too enormous that is why elections in the Niger Delta are usually seen as wars by the different political actors. To add salt to injury, these few who divert our resources because they are in the corridors of power do not invest in the Niger Delta, they take their investments abroad or to Lagos and Abuja.

Those who feel it’s our duty to express solidarity with “our son” don’t just get it, every Adekunle, Ifeanyi or Musa who steals 4billion because he is in the corridor of power is stealing from the Niger Delta and a wise man does not join strangers in their quest to destroy his father’s house. It is the food that we should all be eating since we cannot drink the crude oil under our feet that is being stolen by a few. It is the pipe borne water for our communities since our rivers have become polluted by oil exploration that is being looted without mercy. It is the health centres and hospitals that would have helped us deal with health complications resulting from the constant breathing of polluted air that is being shared and swallowed up.

I will conclude this piece by saying alternative sources of energy are being explored in developed nations, solar vehicles are fast coming onboard, bio-fuel technology has also been developed; only an ignorant man will assume crude oil will be as relevant as it is today in 2035. Global Crude Oil prices are expected to keep plummeting no wonder Gulf States like Saudi Arabia and UAE have in the last few years made conscious efforts to diversify their economies away from crude oil but Nigeria is still stuck in the fantasies of the oil boom of the late 70’s and early 80’s. When the Niger Delta ceases to be the cash cow of Nigeria, what will she be? With our lands and rivers polluted, what will become our mainstay then? When other regions of the nation have turned to their own natural resources, what will be the fate of the Niger Delta?

The average informed Niger Delta youth is permanently angry with the Federal Government of Nigeria and rightly so because of years of perceived neglect of the region by successive governments. Quite a lot of us feel resource control is the only way out of the numerous problems facing the Niger Delta. I feel so too but the horse must come before the cart, we must first look inward because our enemies are mainly within. What has been done with the much that have been given? What are the indicators that like the prodigal son we will not squander the much that we are asking for and turn the Niger Delta to a swampy Somalia with rival warlords fighting for their turfs? Young Niger Deltans must realise that their future is being wasted by few ungodly and greedy caterpillars and locusts and their destinies and those of their unborn children are at stake.


Op–ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija

Owutu TamaraKuro is writing from Port Harcourt. He tweets @owututamara

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