My take about what is going on in Niger Delta.

December 2, 2012 was the first day i entered Niger Delta after hearing so much about the region. Up till date, i still wish my expectation about Niger Delta had been true.

After a stressful journey, i and my team finally got to Delta State around 11pm at night and i was happy because i saw what i thought i was expecting. Street light everywhere in Sapele, wide roads, people going about there business even at that time of the day and i told myself, YES this is it.

The week before i came to Delta State, i was happy, telling myself that i'm going to one of the most developed region in Nigeria. Abi, when a Nation is getting 70percent of its income from a region, wouldn't you have thought so too?

My expectations were not really out of place. See them here: At least,
* 18hours of electricity supply in a day * Good road network * Best drainage system in the country * Good night life * Steady supply of drinkable water * Best estate available in the country * Good education and of course very good health facilities etc.

But reality dawned on me when the driver attached to us came to pick my team at the hotel in Sapele. I didn't know when i opened my mouth to ask the driver why he didn't take us through the route he took us the night before. He smiled and told me we are on the same route. My morale was deflated instantly not knowing there was more in store for me. We got to Oghara where the State Teaching Hospital is situated after some minutes driving and i saw things i thought only happens in Nollywood movies. I saw women riding bicycles and Okada, ratio of mud houses to concrete one was 6:1, men drinking out in the open as early as 7.30am. Do you know in Oghara, you can move a 3 bedroom load with a bicycle with at least one child sitting on top of the load while the mum rides?.. Lol

Even with the Amnesty programme, kidnapping, robbery and vandalism is not really viewed as a major crime here, to most people, its hustling just like prostitution is. Well... Today is not the day i write about everything i've seen, i still stay in Niger Delta... Lol

THIS IS MY TAKE ON ISSUES OF NIGER DELTA

Please don't read and forget that this is just my own opinion.

Militancy in Niger Delta started as an agitation by some indigenes like Ken Saro Wiwa of Ogoni land demanding not selfish interest but cleanup of their land, development and preservation of the habitat that brings so much for the locales, investment in education, infrastructure, job creation etc, after all, the oil is from their land and they should enjoy it. Today, militancy has turned to a get rich scheme employed by selfish people to enrich themselves while ignoring the masses of the area.

What would you call amnesty granted to militants which enriched them, educated them while leaving the masses of the region.

My problem with Niger Delta is this, their strength is their Hercules heel. If you have ever been to the real Niger Delta, u'll know they support each other which is very good but bad when it becomes oblivious to the crime or injustice done in the society.
Would you go to the police station to demand the release of your community person if caught red-handed in the act of robbery, kidnapping or vandalism? Well, it happens here a lot.
If you start talking about corrupt individuals in the region, an average Deltan will tell u 'Na him time, abeg make him chop' even when its glaring that its their Commonwealth.

THINGS I WOULD HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY IF I WAS AT THE HELM IF AFFAIRS IN THIS COUNTRY

President Yaradua started this Amnesty programme in 2009. In my own opinion, if you want to kill a shadow, you shine light on it and that was the opposite of what he did.

The truth is, as long as there is amnesty programme that pays people not to blow pipeline and destabilise the oil sector, there is always going to be militancy, kidnapping for ransom and vandalism.
I remember some years back when one company conducted a SHAVING STUDY in University College Hospital, Ibadan... ABH to be precise, come see people wey no get bear-bear dey go queue to collect money... Lol... Why? Because it is free money.

My point is, if am from Niger Delta and i see oil pipeline almost everyday, knowing the FG will make me rich by the time i vandalised one or two pipes several times in a month, why won't i take the risk if am poor and unemployed?

* If i was President Yaradua, I would have pardoned the militants and deployed them into the Military to be trained as special forces, these people knows how to handle gun already and can submerged themselves in water for a long time. Why not deploy them to join our Navy?

* If i was president Yaradua, i would have opted to pay monthly the elderly, fishermen which their source of livelihood was polluted instead of young agile men that could give our military a turn around.
* if i was president Yaradua, i would have built bridges to connect remote areas in the region so as to facilitate their exposure.

* if i was president Yaradua, i would have invested heavily in education in this region to educate the young ones

* if i was president Yaradua, i would have constructed a good drainage system in the region. What more do you need to do that, there is body of water everywhere

* if i was president Yaradua, i would have made sure electricity supply to the region improves to at least 18hours a day

* if i was president Yaradua, i would pay an allowance of at least 10,000 to federal government staffs in the region.

* if i was president Yaradua, i would sign an agreement with oil companies as to ensure regular implementation of their corporate social responsibilities.

* if i was president Yaradua, i would deploy some of the educated and trained former militants in the military to the region to protect lives and government investments. Etc

* if i was president Yaradua, i would pay small villages where this actions are been perpetrated monthly.

* if i was president Yaradua, i would have draw a plan to diversify the nation's economy in just five years to come.

These are just some of the things i think the federal government should have done before now.

Dubai was a fishing village and never a tourist attraction until it was discovered they will run out of oil (commercial quantity) in 2016. We all know the transformation Dubai has gone through within the last 10years. Dubai is a desert but snow falls in their largest indoor ski-ing centre in the whole word, what about Tallest and the only 7star hotel in the world? And don't forget the Palms and world islands.

What happens if we discover our beloved country Nigeria will run out of oil by 2030

We can't even refine our own oil. Smh

Until understanding is reached, corruption reduced, amnesty scrapped and government invests in this region, Militancy will always be a normal thing in this region.

I rest my case.

God bless Nigeria

My Own opinion

The destiny of Niger Deltans is in their own hands...

No be today criminals (all in the name of fighting for the interest of the people) start to burst pipelines and highjack vessels for Niger Delta

One day we will wake up to realize that we are doing this to ourselves and not to Yar'adua, OBJ, Dangote, Danjuma, PMB, Shell, Chevron, Agip or GEJ

Come to think of it, the so called Amnesty, how many farm owners or women farming the land got compensated?

Thieves that are armed by Politicians and Chiefs will be vandalizing oil installations and expecting FG to pay them for the rubbish they are doing

If oil finish now, the Niger Delta will be worse than Somalia or Iraq because crime rate will escalate to its highest echelon

#Niger Delta Avenger are petty Thieves

FG, Nigerian Army, Navy, SSS, Civil Defence and NIA (I won't mention police) wipe them out

You've said it all op. I still wonder why the black man is wicked to its kind. Because it is wickedness and hatred that has kept nigeria and africa so backward. The black man hates his fellow black man. Give niger delta to the white man and he perform wonders there. Its very shameful that an oil producing country do not have a working refinery.