The Niger Delta produces more than 80% of the crude exported from Nigeria. Nigeria made over 38 billion dollars in 2015 alone. It is unfair that the Niger Delta has been left in the hands of looters and criminals when the average man in the Niger Delta lacks clean Oxygen to breathe. The soil has degraded, the water is pulluted and there is no standard hospital for the average Niger Deltan. In many villages there isn't portable water for the people. Most people living close to the oil wells are without jobs. Many people in whose lands oil is drilled are begging for food to feed. The governement has not been able to build bridges connecting swamps and creeks. The third Mainland bridge can be replicated in the Niger Delta areas to connect families from the creeks to the suburban areas. During the wet season, some villages are entirely submerged under water leaving families and children without any hope. In many communities there are no police stations, clinics or even a nearby pharmacy. The media powers neglect these people by not giving enough publicity to their pressing needs. Many rivers and streams are totally polluted leaving spills afloat on the surface of the body of water. Ken Saro Wiwa was killed in 1995 for fighting for the environmental safety of his land. The oil and gas companies who would rather buy estates for their undustries and residences and lavishly develop them leaving other areas in slump and degrading state. Can we go on neglecting the people and expect milantancy not to continually sprout? The people are jobless and they need a hope for their future. Dipping cash into the pockets of their chairmen doesnt not encourage any change at all. The government truly needs to map out a program that will curb future uprising and militancy in these areas.
Before the oil exploration, they were farmers and fishermen who sold their beads, rubber and timber for survival. The oil has brought more harm and disunity between the people. Now, how does this profit the average man in the Niger Delta? There should be a program for the youths and children of today, because taking up arms and explosives has proven a better choice over the decades. No more activists like Ken Saro Wiwa in the Niger Delta. We now have leaders of gangs and militants fully armed and their mission is simple, "blow up the rigs and oil blocs".
The series of meetings being held today is with specific people which will not satisfy the average Niger Deltan and that is why militancy is not ceasing. Will it be too much for the federal government to oversee development in these regions of the Niger Delta? Let's have your say
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