The Niger Delta was never dependent on any other region's resource during the colonial era, early independence, post civil war and till this date.

To back this up, the Niger Delta in both colonial and pre colonial era was home to business moguls and tycoons who made their money from their region's wealth.

And No, Cocoa and groundnut did not fund oil exploration in the Delta but rather was done through concessions with multinational oil companies.

Till today, the Niget Delta people do not benefit from any subsidy outside the oil sector which is theirs and cannot be taking as subsidy in the first place but rather host communities have been saddled with the harsh realities of systematic environmental degradation from oil drilling and gas flaring for over 40years!

There is no intention to clean up the delta by either the multinational companies or Nigeria govt up till the emerhence of Goodluck and the rest of Nigeria seems unconcerned of the Delta as long as the oil is pumped.

The federal ministry of Agriculture disburses more subsidies to the north than any region and the presence of this ministry is non existing in the Delta. This is one of only very few means at which direct impacts are made to the common man from the federal purse. W

The north for all the subsidy gotten from Agriculture annually can not flag of a single planting year without federal intervention in fertilizer, seedling distribution, construction of earth dams and federal buyouts of farm produce. This has made the north effectively unproductive as after any harvest, the ab0ki farmer will simply rather invest in a new wife than save for the next year planting season because Niger Delta oil will pay for it.

How does this subsidy in the north translate to the Niger Delta people when food prices peak exorbitantly in this once self sustainable and pristine region?