The problems in the Niger Delta people have again resonated in the United States with a former US Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. John Campbell, and Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, saying the people of the region are now under ‘internal colonialism.’

Campbell and Amaechi, who spoke at the 2nd annual Chinua Achebe Colloquium in Rhode Island, United States, on Friday, described other parts of the country and oil companies operating in the region as the ‘imperialists.’

A US-based Nigerian news portal, Empowered Newswire, reported on Monday that the ex-envoy and the governor made the remark during a panel discussion titled, “The Niger Delta crisis: The political, economic and environmental conundrum.”

Making very provoking declarations about Nigeria since he ended his diplomatic assignment in the country in 2007, Campbell asked, “Is the Niger Delta a colony of Abuja and the oil companies, the junior partners?”

He, however, did not wait for an answer from the other members of the panel of discussants as he went on to add, “To me, the Niger Delta should be viewed as a colony while the imperialists are the other parts of Nigeria and not some foreign countries.”


Campbell, who had earlier said that China and India had become a haven for looted public funds from Nigeria, argued that the violence in the oil rich region could be described as ”an insurrection.”



The insurrection, according to him, is beyond poverty and criminality.



“Too many people in the Niger Delta actively supported the insurrection because they are alienated from their government and excluded from the political process,” he said.



Campbell added that the Niger Delta, as a ‘colony’, was producing the profit from oil and gas distributed by Abuja to other parts .



“There is no accountability at local or state government level and so the Niger Delta people have little or no role in who is governing them and how,” he submitted.



On how to end the Niger Delta insurgency, the former ambassador advocated the conduct of credible elections in the area, which would make the political leaders accountable to the people.



According to him, ”disarmament and pay-off without a political process will not work. It will be a long process, but not unrealistic that credible elections in Niger Delta could indeed start the process.”



In his contribution, Amaechi drew a similar analogy from the colonial rule experience in the area before Nigeria‘s independence. He opined that ”what has changed in the region is the nature of the commodity.”



The governor noted that during the era of palm oil and palm produce trade in Niger Delta, monopoly trading rights were granted to the British National Africa Company, thereby wiping out African traders and middlemen in the industry.



According to him with the indigenes of the area sidelined then, ”they were left with little option than to resort to piracy and kidnapping European oil traders.”



“In place of palm oil, we now have crude oil and gas. In place of the British monopoly, we now have oil multi-nationals. In place of the British colonial power, you now have the Nigerian state,” he added.



The governor observed that the people of the region had now found themselves in the same position of marginalisation from the resources of their land as they were during the colonial era.



”They are in the same role of spectators in the major economic activity that continues to devastate their land and destroy their livelihood. They have been compelled to resort to violence and kidnapping either as a means of livelihood or as a lucrative criminal undertaking,” he said.



He said the Nigerian political elite ”have related to the nation and its resources as an extractive colony.”



”Like the colonialists before them, successive administrations take what they can and leave the nation bare only for the next generation to continue the tradition of mindless but seemingly authorised expropriation, ”the governor lamented



But he added that this colonial analogy was no excuse for violent crimes in the Niger Delta.



The panel of discussants included Dr. Judith Asuni, who was once detained for suspected espionage activities in Nigeria; a US scholar, Peter Lewis; the panel moderator, Prof. Mobolaji Aluko, as well as Niger Delta activists, Annkio Briggs and Isidore Udoh.

Going further, Campbell who was U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria up till 2007 when Dr. Robin Rene Sanders took over, added that while Niger Delta should be viewed as a colony, the “imperialists in that case are not some foreign country, but some other parts of Nigeria.”

Faeb:

Even foreigners can see the problems the core Northern cabals have foisted on Nigeria.

We need another deep purge in the army.
Let the officer cadre be immediately populated with Middle Belters as a stop gap to gradual North-South equity. Over to you Jonathan and Ihejirika, no smiling.

MShittu:

@Faeb
The 'middle belt' actually has more people in the military than the 'north' does.
Furthermore, a large part of the people in this 'middle belt' identify themselves as being 'northerners'.
My reasoning? Most of the people that I live around are 'middle belters', Gwaris, Nupes, Tivs etc, who consider themselves 'dan arewa'.
The sokoto caliphate also stretched all the way down below the Niger river

ddippset:

do you all know how wealthy these niger delta governors and chairmen are? if u did, then u would know we have to hold our direct leaders responsible not abuja!

Chrisbenogor:

Whoever set this up to make us think the North is responsible for the woes of the Niger delta must be laughing his buttocks off somewhere. The level of funding given to the Niger delta presently is enough to make the region a little heaven in Africa. Instead of facing the immediate problem we have there which is the lack of leadership we would rather blame someone else for our problems. All the governors of the Niger Delta are stinky and corrupt, they are a living punishment to the region and if anyone can convince me that it is the north that foisted the lights of Ibori, Igbenedion, victor attah, uduaghan and their thieving and conniving backsides into power in this region I might just listen.
For now the ND is the laughing stock of africa, instead of these silly bondage freedom fighters to take them out they are busy bombing inanimate objects like pipelines. MSCHEWWWWWWWWWW

Chrisbenogor:

Whoever set this up to make us think the North is responsible for the woes of the Niger delta must be laughing his buttocks off somewhere. The level of funding given to the Niger delta presently is enough to make the region a little heaven in Africa. Instead of facing the immediate problem we have there which is the lack of leadership we would rather blame someone else for our problems. All the governors of the Niger Delta are stinky and corrupt, they are a living punishment to the region and if anyone can convince me that it is the north that foisted the lights of Ibori, Igbenedion, victor attah, uduaghan and their thieving and conniving backsides into power in this region I might just listen.
For now the ND is the laughing stock of africa, instead of these silly bondage freedom fighters to take them out they are busy bombing inanimate objects like pipelines. MSCHEWWWWWWWWWW

We witnessed the slow poisoning of the waters of this country and the destruction of vegetation and agricultural land by oil spills which occur during petroleum operations. But since the inception of the oil industry in Nigeria, more than twenty-five years ago, there has been no concerned and effective effort on the part of the government, let alone the oil operators, to control environmental problems associated with the industry

-Greenpeace International (Shell Shocked)

Gas flares release a variety of potenially poisonous chemicals such as nitrogen dioxides, sulphur dioxide, volatile organic compounds like benzene, toluene, xylene and hydrogen sulfide, as well as carcinogens like benzapyrene and dioxin. Often gas flares are often close to local communities, and lack adequate fencing or protection for villagers who may risk nearing the heat of the flare in order to carry out their daily activities. Flares which are often older and inefficient are rarely relocated away from villages, and are known to coat the land and communities in the area with soot and damage adjacent vegetation.

In November 2005 a judgment by, "the Federal High Court of Nigeria ordered that gas flaring must stop in a Niger Delta community as it violates guaranteed constitutional rights to life and dignity. In a case brought against the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (Shell), Justice C. V. Nwokorie ruled in Benin City that the damaging and wasteful practice of flaring cannot lawfully continue."

Beaf:

With all of the above, it is obvious why foreigners will view a lot of Nigerian commentators on the Niger Delta as wicked fools, and why Niger Deltans will consider them demons.

texazzpete:

MEND and their ilk were the cause of most of the Niger Delta pollution in recent years, yet you've been vocal in your support for them in the past (up until the advent of GEJ as presidential candidate).

blacksta:

Until a Niger Deltan takes a guns blows off the heads of the like Clark, Ibori, Udagdan, Odilil and many other corrupt leaders in the ND nobody will take them serious and they can continue to wallow in split crude oil

Beaf:

That is a bloody lie.

By the worst figures, all forms of sabotage (militancy, bunkering by govt officials etc) accounts for 28% of spills.

Corrosion and poor maintanance account for 50%, while poor production methods account for 21%.

texazzpete:

Source please?

Beaf:

That is a bloody lie.

By the worst figures, all forms of sabotage (militancy, bunkering by govt officials etc) accounts for 28% of spills.

Corrosion and poor maintanance account for 50%, while poor production methods account for 21%.

Beaf:

Your own source, please. If not rumours and Shell BP campaigns.

texazzpete:

Insider information.

You quoted specific statistics. Your source please? i'll understand if you'd rather not say, just answer the questions i posted earlier.
And please, lets keep this civil

Beaf:

I am sure it is these people that flare enough gas to make the ND the Worlds largest single source of green house gases too? Fool.
There are corrupt politicians everywhere, it isn't an ND problem, but a Nigerian one.

Beaf:

"Insider information" from who?
Did I not accuse you of being Shell's troll on this site as long as a year ago. Mr "Paid to Talk", blood is on your hands.

Next thing you soulless folk will tell us that ND people are responsible for gas flaring as well.

texazzpete:

*sigh*

Please stay on topic, please. I live and work in the Niger Delta. My 2 weeks old baby daughter was born in the Niger Delta. it concerns me how the situation in this region plays out. So i have a vested interest in peace in this region.

I have no desire to re-create the unending verbal battle you and oyb seem to enjoy. Which is why i asked you to keep things civil.

texazzpete:

*sigh*

I have no desire to re-create the unending verbal battle you and oyb seem to enjoy. Which is why i asked you to keep things civil.
I've never been paid or instructed by anyone to air my own opinions. this sort of hasty conclusion is not new to me. I've been accused of being a paid agent of Mobil before. i've been accused of being an Igbo Hater before. I've been accused of being Yoruba before. I've been accused of being sponsored by Americans before. i've been accused of being a zionist puppet (that still baffles me  )

This is Nairaland, where it is seen as a fate worse than death to lose an argument, so people tend to accuse others who don't fall into their line of thinking of being 'paid agents'.

Please stay on topic, please. I live and work in the Niger Delta. My 2 weeks old baby daughter was born in the Niger Delta. it concerns me how the situation in this region plays out. So i have a vested interest in peace in this region.
it just happens to be my opinion that the people of this region have a MASSIVE role to play in whether they obtain that peace and prosperity we all desire. If you people continue to try to offload responsibility to others, this peace will elude you for a long time to come.

Since 2007 to date, a staggering number of pipelines have been blown open in waterways and creeks that should ideally support commercial fishing. Thousands of meters of flowlines have been harvested. Hundreds of holes have been punched in flowing pipes to siphon crude. Each of these activities results in massive leaks of crude and condensate to the environment. I cannot produce detailed statistics, but these leaks dwarf those caused by corrosion and 'poor production practices'.

ndu_chucks:

p@texazzpete, your questions to Beef are quite thoughtful and I
hope he'll respond in kind.

Beef is known for blaming everyone else for ND Problemms. He is a typical Rakumin dajij who buries his head in sand.

Nigerians can scream themselves black and blue to assuage themselves of any guilt, but a watching World passed judgement years ago. Any senseless screaming without finding solutions is the same as having a bath in murky water.

. . .By the way, the Niger Delta problem is not about money. It is about polltion and its effects. There are two very important facts that the average Nigerian must be aware off:

[list]
[li]The Niger Delta is the Worlds most polluted oil producing region[/li]
[li]The Niger Delta is the Worlds most polluted oil wetlands[/li]
[li]The Niger Delta is Earth's largest single source of greenhouse gas emissions[/li]
[li]The amount of gas flared in the Niger Delta can provide electricity to 40% of Africa annually[/li]
[li]It is pollution that destroys the water and land and cuts off traditional livelihoods, leading to poverty[/li]
[li]Oil seeps into underground water sources and contaminates it, the result is various cancers[/li]
[li]Gas flaring unleashes toxic gases leading to acid rain, respiratory illnesses and cancers[/li]
[li]Nigeria loses about US $2.5 billion annually from gas flaring (2001 estimates)[/li]
[/list]

ogb5:

Thats just the way those in Abuja and in the north will want you to reason.
They want you to blame your governors for the problems in the Niger delta. You forget that for every 13% given as derivation, there is a remaining 87% not yet accounted for. You really believe that you can achieve more with 13% than with 87%?

and is the 13% derivation a replacement for Federal presence in the ND?

You are told to blame your govs for the failure of federal structures, and with your brain numb by propanganda against your local leaders you blame your govs and leave the main crooks in abuja.

What ever the state you come from in the ND, you can point out one silly project being done by the state govs, can you point out what the Federal govt is doing in the ND apart from arming the Military against the people of the ND?

Beaf:

Welcome to the man with an oil radar. Olodo.

Are you able to deal with any of these?