First Military Governor of old
Rivers State and Amayanabo
of Twon-Brass, King Alfred
Diete-Spiff, has said elder
statesmen in the Niger Delta
were working to calm
militants in the region.
Apparently ventilating the
grievances of the people, he
said with their position as
the cash cow of the nation,
they expect the Niger Delta
to be like Dubai and not feel
short-changed.
He said the renewed militancy
in the region was given fillip
by the rising unemployment
among the youth and even
the failure of government to
cater for pensioners.
Speaking to journalists on
Tuesday in Port Harcourt at
the side lines of the Partners
for Sustainable Development
(PSD) Forum organised by
the Niger Delta Development
Commission (NDDC), Diete-
Spiff said the increased
militancy was a reaction to
the economic and social
realities of the region.
“The youths are not
employed; the older ones,
even the pensioners are not
getting their pension
because the earnings have
dropped seriously.
Everybody is agitated and
what you see is a spillover.
When a kettle or a pot boils,
it spills over and so the
Niger Delta is boiling. We are
trying to get to the root of it
and see how we can control
and make everybody cool
down,” he said.
He noted the limitations of
government to stem the tide
of agitations in the region.
“The state governments are
cash-strapped because the
oil is not flowing and if it
goes beyond this, the
Federal Government will also
be cash-strapped too. We
must attend to these little
problems,” he said.
He however expressed
optimism that militancy in the
region would soon be
controlled.
According to him, “It is quite
simple; just some little things.
In the Niger Delta, we say
‘kalaye opuye, opuye
kalaye’, meaning one little
step will be a mighty stride.”
On the Niger Delta of his
dream, Diete-Spiff said, “The
Niger Delta has been the
treasure base of the nation
and we would have liked to
see everybody in the region
living like those in Dubai or
Kuwait. They should be
looking prosperous,
confident and completely
relaxed and cool. That is the
Niger Delta I will like to see;
where our children go to
school; we should also have
top-level hospitals and other
institutions and everybody is
coming down here because
they know this is the
beehive,the land flowing with
milk and honey, with the
people themselves being
given their rightful position.
“I will like to see a Niger
Delta where everybody has
peace of mind and equanimity
and do not feel at all that
they are being short-
changed. I will like to see a
Niger Delta where there is
enough employment and
where it is a joyful and
happy family, proudly
contributing and leading the
nation’s economy.”