All our leaders have been short sighted!

When you provide better levels of living conditions, clean up their environmens, this will give them every reason to fight off any ingrates that'll want to sabotage their communities.

Bribing militants to allow oil to flow is another example of corruption as done within higher political echelons. 'Bribe so I can pass..'
The fake freedom fighters as soon as they cornered their own share swiftly moved on. Meanwhile, every day they are birthing potential armies of youth who might grow up to think that's the best way to eke a living.

Once and for all, let them sort out the ND issue which of course who imply there should be greater transparency in areas especially of finance plus other attributes of a sane society.

GambaOsaka:


Inasmuch as the bolded part of your comment represent the only reasonable justification for any action by the militants, I doubt if it is the actual issue. I think people have turned the whole thing into a money making venture while hiding behind pollution, neglect, resource control and all that.
I wouldn't be surprised if militancy still continue even after the Government provides all your solutions

I can't but agree with you TOTALLY!!! Only Ken saro-wiwa truly fought for ND, the rest are just jokes

modath:


I've never been, aluminium roofed houses are ok but it isn't real progress, personal houses only show individual prosperity, it's not for communal good... I'd prefer stuff like Primary health care with the latest "bells and whistles", scholarships and youth empowerment ish, that is my definition of "trying" for people whose "struggled" made billionaire of him.....

The people (his own people BTW) who insist he has just used them to enrich himself and his unborn generations are probably using the yardstick of what real development (real world standard) entails...

As per sincerity of government, it's relative..who has been and who isn't? .... we live in a complex society delineated along tribal, sectional and religious fault lines, we also don't conform to any societal conventions.... one size doesn't fit all...

Again you made sense and I really like your comprehension and the way you table your points unlike some persons here... Kudos!

gboss4sure:
The solution is simple.

Give the oil back to the people it is in their land. Let every region be responsible for their developments using the resources in their land.

Simple but the north would never agree.

Why didn't GEJ do it?

modath:


The problem with this is that one way or the other, a particular set will turn themselves to warlords and Lord it over the budding militants who will then continue the vicious circle.....without giving back mere crumbs to the communities on whose backs the "benefits" of the "struggle" are derived.

Tompolo has billions, one kindergarten centre, primary health care facility for at infants and mothers or vocational school to learn trades he didn't establish.

Asari has a university but the whole of south south of Nigeria isn't good enough for him to establish it..

1 thing that is in the charter of demands that is baffling is the clean up of the oil producing areas.... you are complaining of degradation and you are still doing this to your people??

This is not a fight about ideology, this is sabotage....

Quite saddening I must say, I never for one day imagined that all the billions spent on amnesty program would be all for nothing, because from recent happenings it seems we're headed back to square one real quick, solution is needed real quick.

EazyMoh:

Why didn't GEJ do it?

Probably because he was "weak", the best of us have been very unanimous with that. However he does have a point, not really giving back the oil to the people but putting in place a system that would bring back some sense of ownership to the real people of Niger delta. This would go a long way in eroding any relevance or sympathy for the militants and there's the solution.

EazyMoh:

Why didn't GEJ do it?

Good question. Most of the oil blocks lease, license or whatever are expiring this year. Were GEJ still the president, the lopsidedness would have been corrected, at least to some extent, but no, the power that be wanted to maintain the status quo, hence a Buhari that had been rejected thrice became the only option to continue the milking of ND.

Let us be real for once in this country! Just imagine if the oil is in NW or NE, would we be calling their people militants? Who mines the gold in Zamfara, Osun, Kogi, etc? Do you know the price of gold? As of today gold is $1289 per ounce (oz). The same goes for other precious metals. How much do they pay to the Federation account How much does the cocoa merchants remit to the federation account? Does the herdsmen even pay taxes? Or are these not resources?

What is the contribution to the federation account from the various geographical regions compared to what they share (take) from same Federation account? Let us stop deceiving ourselves thinking we are deceiving others. To me the ND has endured enough.

- Solution, implement CONFAB reports, afterall, all Nigerian tribes and ethnic nationalities were represented at that CONFAB
- Pass PIB, why has the North always used their majority in NASS to suppress this bill?
- Commence clean up of damaged environment. Oil exploration has been on-going for about 53 years, NEVER, I repeat NEVER has it occurred to the government that the ND land needed cleaning.
- Implement FULL RESOURCE CONTROL. Every community and state in Nigeria has something they have in abundance. If you have cows, price it high to the man who has oil. If you have cocoa, raise the price so that you can also share in the oil money by selling your cocoa to the oil man.

Since 1963, when oil was first discovered in ND, the government have been taking and NEVER returning to the people. Lagos was built with oil money, Abuja was built with oil money, yet Gbaramatu, Odi, Yenegoa, the Creeks that bear the oil have no light, no roads, nothing!!! Then someone that lives about 15000 miles away from ND, will come to NL and be talking of "new sherriff in town". Please, go and ask Russia with their military prowess, how much they were able to "deal with" the Ukrainans before they were freed. When a people are pushed to the wall, they fight back!

"If you make peaceful change impossible, you make violent change inevitable."

Pavarottii:
My dear, these leaders know wat to do, but won't do it... all I can say that buhari's approach now, can't solve d prob. Wat I will do is to give d contracts to protect the pipes back to Tompolo, implement Confab report, Pass the PIB and after a while, we start practicing True Federalism. But some people(northern elites) willl never allow all these see the light of d day.
Worst of all Buhari is a tribal bigot, even some of his statements can sprung up these, den going after Tompolo again; he totally missed it,. Unlike GEJ who wanted equity and justice.

You already condemned it.

Pedropa:



Is it not better each State manages her resources, that way, any militancy in any state will know that their end result will be dragging their states backward.

NigerDeltans are not terrorists and are demanding for what is theirs. Total Resource control will settle the whole issue while the FG stands in a position of "begging" for a quantity of each states resources to carry out some operations.

how is it theirs.whose money paid for exploration and production. imagine I have land and refuse to farm it and you do and I come at harvest and tell you to give up your crop because it's my land.

megdeik:
I remember the words of late peter tosh. I don't want no peace; all I need is equal rights and justice. That is why USA is a great nation. They are not perfect. There is racism no doubt! This is my first comment on nairaland. Nigeria can never get it right until majority of the people know there is equal rights & justice. The present government is making maters worse.

our people don't want equal rights, they want free money