Buhari shouldn’t take South-South for granted – Ugolor

Reverend David Ugolor is the Executive Director of African Network on Environment and Economic Justice and key facilitator of the Development Alliance for Niger Delta, two non-governmental organisations which focuses on issues affecting lives and welfare of people in the oil rich region. He spoke with DGossip247

Some people are of the opinion that Amnesty programme for ex-militants in the Niger Delta region should be scrapped on the premise that it has not met the aspiration for which it was set up. What is your view on that?

Let me say that I am one of those calling for the probe of the amnesty programme. It is not to question the principle behind it because it was a genuine initiative aimed at addressing the concerns of those ex-militants who were agitating for the redress of the injustices the region has suffered in the hands of past administrations.

I am not supporting any idea that will create different sets of youths in the region, particularly, any government policy that will motivate youths to go into violence. I think amnesty was mismanaged under President Jonathan; it has created different sets of youths in the region; some youths who did not go to school who trade in violence, armed robbery, kidnapping suddenly became very rich in our region and this is not good for our own society.

This inequality caused by wrong government policies cannot be sustained. The total population of youths in the Niger Delta region is huge, the percentage that is benefitting from the amnesty programme is less than three or four per cent of the entire population of Niger Delta region.

Take for example, Edo and Delta states, the people that benefit from the amnesty are less than 10,000 and you are talking of about 2, 000, 000 youths. How do you support that kind of policy when government ordinarily has no policy in place that takes care of the unemployment level? So if government continues with amnesty that supports young men and women who patronise violence approach to resolving governance issues, what signal are you sending. You signal that hard work does not pay; you signal that merit does not pay; creativity and innovation do not pay and a society where there are no innovation and merit, how do you ensure economic growth?

And once there is no economic growth in a society, how do you expect prosperity? So, it is the absence of economic growth and prosperity in the Niger Delta region that has led to where we are today and the cynicism we have today in the region has to do with the fact that government continued policies that have not helped to provide an enabling environment for young men and women in the region to take advantage of government policies to advance their own development.

That is why I am of the view that the amnesty programme needs to be probed. We need to know those who have benefitted from the programme, we need to do a mapping of how these benefits have translated into better opportunities for those who opted out genuinely from the militancy struggle. And if you were involved in the struggle, it was not for the individual, it was for the region.

So, I cannot reconcile those who are currently agitating for the continued sustenance of the policy with the fact that over 90 per cent of the youths in the region are still suffering. If you go to the creeks, for example in Ijaw communities in Nikoroha, Bayelsa, Rivers states, the level of poverty among the Ijaws is still very high. So, what has happened is that there were pockets of individuals who were privileged to have access to Jonathan and were benefitting and you can see the response of the ex-militants so far since President Jonathan left power.

Again, it shows clearly that the amnesty programme was mismanaged, it only benefitted few people, it is not an appropriate policy that will help the region. So, that is why we, particularly, as co-conveners of the Niger Delta Alliance for Development, an organisation that is also promoting public policy that will advance the wellbeing of the people, articulate policies that will attract concrete development that will impact on the peoples’ lives, are calling for a change of style.

Our position is very clear; we condemn any attempt by Buhari’s government to patronise these conflict entrepreneurs. We want to see a situation where government will invest more money in the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, restructure the NDDC to make it more functional.

This is because the NDDC is a statutory body that will dispense concrete development that can be monitored easily. And the way to disincentive government that is willing to translate federal allocation to concrete development for the people should be given support. I therefore suggest that Buhari should create a kind of Niger Delta Infrastructural Fund that will complement state government efforts and bridge the gap that currently exists between the rich and the poor and also help to reduce unemployment in the region.

What is your take on the drama that led to the emergence of the present leaderships at the two arms of the National Assembly even against the desire or expectation of the leadership of the APC?

Well, we were not surprised. As you know, APC was an emergency vehicle created to achieve a goal of removing President Jonathan. Whether it was a goal to ensure development that will impact on the peoples’ lives remains to be seen. Some of us saw the commitment of the leadership of APC but as you know, APC is a coalition of different interests that it will be difficult for you to conclude that they were all driven by the principle of change and whether they share the principles and motives or principles of the party’s manifestoes, is a different thing entirely.

And what happened in the election of leadership of the National Assembly reinforced the doubt that it is not everybody that joined APC that meant well for the party. This is not surprising.

There are those who are motivated by private interests; there are those who are motivated by the common good of the people. As we proceed, the characters of individuals in APC will be unfolding. What has happened has its own merits and demerits, particularly, as regards the new leaderships in the National Assembly.

It was good in one way that at least those who wanted to appropriate every position in the country for their families and children, it has signaled to them that the country does not belong to them. In another way, it has sent a very strong signal that there is strong internal crisis in the APC and that is what led to the outcome of the whole thing in the National Assembly. It has been able to put in the public domain and that for me raises why we should all be concerned because I don’t see a situation where Buhari will be able to achieve his goal of transforming this country or translating the change mantra to reality in Nigeria without a cohesive political structure.

The fact that he said he would not interfere in whatever goes on in the leadership of the National Assembly again needs to be seen within the context. You can only achieve meaningful impact in democratic environment when you have a cohesive political party that is able to back any policy even though the policy probably is discomforting at the initial stage, you need a political vehicle that is cohesive that will be able to stand behind the President.

Let’s talk about the petroleum industry as a key sector of the economy. What do you expect the President to do to save Nigerians from the recurring problem of scarcity and shortages?

Firstly, I hear people are recommending that the President should be in-charge of the Petroleum Ministry. I think those who are making that recommendation do not mean well for Mr. President, they still feel we are living in a conquered territory.

That kind of advice is even more insulting when one reflects on what has happened. So far, particularly, I am neither a regional nor tribal activist but one has to be careful and cautious how you manage a country with different ethnic backgrounds and with historical facts that Niger Delta region where oil is produced has not only suffered in the hands of majority tribes in the country, they have been disadvantaged because of the issue of population and the constitution of the country was structured by the majority tribes in a way that they place the minority at a disadvantaged position.

You can see the way the constitution is crafted in a way that the past heads of state and Presidents who were in privileged positions created local governments across the northern part of the country that naturally if there was a real criteria for creation of local government areas there would have been no reason why Kano state should have a number of local governments that is more than that of Bayelsa state.

There should be an economic criteria, but a situation where you use the number of goats and cows to be creating local governments and using the number of population to be sharing the resources of the country tells you that those who drafted the constitution do not mean well for the country and those are the features of a resource country. Any merit where innovation is not encouraged, that country will not progress until that aspect of the constitution is reversed so that country, state and local governments can begin to encourage innovation.

There is not any single local government across this country that would not have something to rely on to survive, but the way constitution was crafted by past military dictators and few political elites who wanted to create a central government so that they can have unhindered access to oil resources has become a major obstacle to progress in the country. For example, if you look into the Nigerian constitution, you see the way the resources are shared, it makes it impossible for Niger Delta where the oil is coming from to have benefits.

To worsen this situation when the APC won the last election, some of us believed that the PDP under the leadership of President Jonathan was incompetent to manage Nigerian economy.

I do hope that what informed people like us to support a change in government will not be abused, particularly, when you have Buhari as President of the country, you have the President as a northerner, you have the Speaker of the House of Representatives as a northerner; you have all sensitive positions across the country which President Jonathan never did. I am afraid that these guys should not overstep their bounds and they should not take the South-South for granted.

The fact that the leadership of the South-South people, and this time around I am talking about my friend Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and former Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi are keeping silent, they should not take the people of South-South for granted.

The northerners, Buhari and his government under the APC administration; those who control the APC should not take the South-South people for granted. God has made it possible for oil to come from the South-South; I subscribe to the idea that the oil should be used for the good of the entire country.

But I will not be a party to a situation where you allow some primitive political elites to use the vehicle of government to engage in primitive acquisition that has not contributed to the country’s economic backwardness in the past 30, 40 years again.