Crude Oil- a curse and a burden for the Niger-Deltan?
I am a Niger Delta woman! Yes, I can see the confusion as you look at my name again and you try to recall if today's date is April 1st. It's no joke, my lineage on my matrileneal side is from the Creeks in between the Mangrove forest and according to our tradition, our inclusion comes from our mothers. I agree with them, every child inherits the mitochondria of their mother in all of their cells and the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell organism within us. So your key building blocks are from your mother which goes to entail that a lot of you is from her.
I spent most of my youth in engine boats/speed boats going from Creek road waterside to Bonny waterside. I'd stare at the mangroove trees as we sped by on those boats, the waves trouncing us about and feeling the forceful rocking motions of the boats then. Watching the white waves swirl and then cascade in a crescendo if a bigger boat passed by. It was so mysterious gazing at the sea, imagining her containing the hippos my auntie had told me about in many tales. Wondering if I'd spot a mermaid finally as they were prone to desire adulation by us mere mortals.
Sometimes when it rained, they covered us with tent material to protect us from the heavy rain and it felt claustrophobic as we were encased within as the speed boats bounced about. My mother never went in a single engine boat, she always chose dual engine boats because she felt they were safer to cross with if one developed fault due to debris obstructing the oars/engine? It did happen once that we were in the open sea and one engine had a problem that had to be checked out and we stalled there as they kept trying to get it back in operation. My childish imagination kept wondering if a hippo would show up to capsize our boat. Back then, no one traveled with life jackets and I didn't know how to swim. I shared my fears with my mother who hushed me and told me that we never spoke of the hippo on the sea as that was a way of calling it. She also reprimanded me for talking of drowning, it was also another taboo when on water. My head reeled with all of this information as it was a lot for my child's mind but I had to accept it on a faith basis as my mother had water running through her veins as a daughter of the creeks.
I loved my mother's village, Oloma. She has a beguiling spell that she casts upon you once you get close to her shore. When I was a child, we didn't have a jetty there inspite of the fact that Shell had an oil well there. As a child, the only benefit I saw from there presence was cold, drinking water which my grandaunt would procure from their station in our village. We had no power or running water. No clinics for our sick folks and everything was very basic. Power came to our village eventually and an uncle got Shell to build us a jetty to make it more convenient for his highbrow visitors who visited the guest resort he built there. This same uncle took my siblings and I touring our neighboring creeks with canoes when we were little. He taught us to paddle and get our canoes to move. He took us to one of our little islands there and showed us the joys of fresh coconut meat and its water. I miss the simplicity of our villages in our creeksides.
When I chose to become a Chemical Engineer as a young teen, part of my desire was fueled by the need to clean up the mess the oil companies had done to our water and soil. I could barely see the benefits of the resource we had underground and I applied to the distinguished program at my alma mater, Syracuse University for a Master's degree hoping to address this issue. I stated this desire in my application letter and throughout my foray there, I was proud of my Niger Delta roots, all my Professors spoke to me about the politics of our situation and what were my plans upon graduation.
I had a lot of hopes then in my early youth, I was an idealist and believed that mere ideas- espousing them could change the world.
Fast forward to my return back home, the first time I visited my beloved Bonny, I openly wept. I wept for how she had been used by foreigners and her children, alike. How she had very little to show for how richly she had been blessed.
Yes, we have 24 hours power there but the standard of living is so high there that a lot of people starve daily. We didn't have a serviceable hospital until NLNG arrived on the scene in spite of the presence of Shell, Mobil and a plethora of other oil companies there. This huge gap has led to major loss of life including that of my wonderful, irreplaceable grandma who we miss with great pain.
Instead of being a blessing to us, the crude oil seems to be a blight to us. Our families are torn apart because of feuds having to do with the royalties from our oil wells. Employment is almost impossible to secure and insecurity is rampart in our creeks. It is painful because I visited Dubai and saw what their leaders used their blessings for. It hurts me acutely on so many levels because I love our Ijaw traditions. I love who we are; our warrior spirit, our pride, our strong survival instinct and our passion for life.
I loathe what the oil has done to our community and my heart bleeds for the irrevocable loss we have suffered. Sometimes, I wish I had the power to go back in time and ask for different blessings for us, not crude oil.

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My dear don't worry, Fulanis have killed and destroyed this country since 1960 . The sad part is that they're illiterates who believe they are born to rule. Am from Rivers. I don't understand why buhari thinks we will continue to feed all the states with his divisive attitude. For God sake we will never allow 5℅ to cater for 97%. No way enough is enough

hmm. Bonny island a forgotten island.

Your story sad and plight is understandable. I agree you guys should get royalties. I also believe land and mineral rights should be taken out of domain of fedral government and back to individuals.

A few questions from Delta state citezens.

Why didn't state government sue the oil companies for destruction they caused? These companies would dare do their nonsense in othere countries like US, Saudi Arabia, UK, Russia.

Why aren't you benefiting more from resources? This would spring board development in other places.

vengertime:
My dear don't worry, Fulanis have killed and destroyed this country since 1960 . The sad part is that they're illiterates who believe they are born to rule. Am from Rivers. I don't understand why buhari thinks we will continue to feed all the states with his divisive attitude. For God sake we will never allow 5℅ to cater for 97%. No way enough is enough

Who are the 5% here?

The ND is like a beautiful girl in the hands of drug sniffing BH members. They quick interpret their 'holy' book to give them unrestricted access to the girl because of self interest. The Nigerian constitution and govt structure is built around ND oil. Govt subsidizes everything with petrodollar and it is backed by the law.