This time last year, I happened to be posted to Ibusa, Asaba, Delta state for National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) programme. I also had cause to travel to several other places across the length and breadth of the state- from Warri, Ughelli, Agbor, Effurun, Akwukwu Igbo, Iselle Ukwu, Ogwashukwu, and other towns in the state which I can't recollect the names.

It was a worthwhile experience as Delta unwrapped its allure infront of my very eyes. The place is a beautiful place no
doubt. It is perhaps one of the few states in the country that is not a one city state: it has several city-towns within its boundaries, asides the capital.

This diversity gives the residents more latitude in terms of what to do and where to go. I noticed several things while traveling across this heartbeat of the nation and I bring them to you here.

1. IN DELTA, EVERYBODY HAS 'BOYS'
This is a veritable source of political patronage- your ability to raise a small rag tag army of youths within the blink of an eye makes you important. ‘If I just give signal now now, you go just see 700 hundred boys assemble for street.’ This is the only way most of the men there get stipends from government- the higher your disruptive tendencies, the higher patronage you get from government or from the political elite.

2. GODFATHERISM, IS EVERYWHERE, BUT IN DELTA IT HAS BEEN ELEVATED TO AN ART
Without a powerful godfather in Delta, you are as good as dead- you won’t get anything from that state, or oil companies, even as an indigene. Not a contract, not a job, no patronage- in short nobody will listen to you. The only way you are trusted with anything reasonable or sensitive is if they know where you are coming from, whose allegiance you bear, which big name you have behind you- ‘ah, this na Ayiri boy o,’ or ‘these na Tompolo boys’ or Clarke boy– that’s the only way whoever is infront of you is awed enough to give you audience.

While you may not work directly for these godfathers, the fact you enjoy their goodwill or can be vouched for, by them, makes life very easy for you as you try to progress in life.

3. DELTA IS THE HOME OF THE WAR LORD
Delta is a fiefdom- every community is controlled by a fief- a local kingpin- without whose word or consent, nothing
happens. Nothing happens in that community without his input, knowledge or say so. If Shell wants to embark on a project, he must be settled and appeased, if the government wants to set up a community social responsibility, he must be consulted. If you want to put up something as simple as billboard, his boys must be in the picture, else by the next morning, you will see it pulled to the ground.

4. DELTA IS LAND OF THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE UGLY.
Jeez, seeing a fine girl in Warri is like seeing an apparition. So, there a few fine ones, and those ones remain basically indoors, but the vast majority? Damn! While Asaba has some of the most beautiful girls in this country, Warri is the complete opposite. It is a city flush with oil money, so you will expect it to be a confluence of beautiful girls on the lookout for a fast buck, right?

Wrong. Yes, there are a lot of runs girls in that town, but majority of them are ugly. If Delta boys and girls were to act the movie- Good, bad & The Ugly, the good must be the beautiful girls of Asaba, the bad will be represented by the restive boys of the creeks, while the ugly has to be the ugly girls of Warri & Effurun.

5. IBORI'S WORD IS STILL LAW.
Eight years after he left office and almost four since he has been doing time in Her Majesty’s jail, the Ibori influence over Delta affairs has never waned. While Uduaghan is the most hated of all Delta Governors, Ibori is the most loved, majorly because of his then propensity to dispense largesse and favors. The jury is yet to be out on Okowa.

From Prison, Ibori still decides what happens in Delta. When he anointed Tony Obuh for Governor last year, it seemed a given that the next occupant of government house would be its former Permanent Secretary. However, when Ibori pulled the plug on this Agbor technocrat’s ambition and swung
support to his kinsman, Edevbie, at the PDP primaries at the last minute, it seemed a fait accompli that this Urhobo man would succeed Uduaghan in government house.

Alas, this was a feat too much for even Ibori to pull from prison at such short notice. Though Edevbie came second, Okowa picked the ticket and subsequently went on to win the governorship. The people however compensated Ibori by pushing his daughter into the lower house at the National Assembly.

6. IT IS OUR 'OYEL' MENTALITY WAXING STRONGER.
To the average Niger Deltan, the world should stop moving because oil is drilled from his backyard. Most of the youths there feel they should feed, clothe and live large at the expense of the oil companies, just because they have oil. That is the entitlement mentality that is prevalent around there.

It doesn’t matter whether they have gone to school, it doesn’t matter whether they have a skill, and it doesn't matter whether they are productive. The mere fact a young man is from an oil producing community means he thinks he must subsist on the bill of the oil company, operating in
his neck of the woods. Infact if he sleeps with a LovePeddler, Shell should be able to meet her 10k bill on his behalf. If the oil companies wont do it, well, then the politicians must. This is the sort of mentality that has given
rise to restiveness in those parts.

7. ASABA IS JUST A CEREMONIAL CAPITAL- NOTHING HAPPENS THERE.
Asaba is merely the seat of government, for bureaucratic red tape- Warri is where it happens. This town is the nerve centre of the state and is also where the oil companies are. The big deals are close there, the night life is hyper there- in short, Warri is the livewire of the state.

Because the state has several major cities that are equally lively, many Deltans return to these places over the
weekend to be with their kith and kin in their won neck of the woods. Asaba then becomes like Abuja- lively during the week, deserted on weekends and only shored up by traders and business men of Onitsha and the girls who cross the bridge on bikes to ply their trade in the capital.

8. In Delta, money talks, bullshit....

Sounds like an animal kingdom


No thanks