Were The Niger Delta Governors Their Brothers' Keepers ?

ZION B-BC NEWSLETTER. A Publication of the Zion Faith Bible-Believing Church, Kpeyegyi, Abuja Nigeria. [VOL. 4. NO 117. 8th November, 2015.} “…ONLY The Truth, Will Set You Free! (John.8:32).

WERE THE NIGER DELTA GOVERNORS THEIR BROTHERS’ KEEPERS!

Although the Federal Government of Nigeria has constitutional responsibility to judiciously manage and allocate financial proceeds derivable from all exploitable mineral resources in any part of the Federation as stipulated under the Exclusive Legislative List, the Derivation Principle of allocating some percentage of funds as compensation to the exploited States remained a priority according to the principles of fairness, equity and justice! Until recently with the change of administration, lip- service had been paid to diversification from the mono-economic product of Crude Oil to Agriculture and other Mineral resources which are in abundance in all States of the Federation. The oil-producing States of the Niger Delta had always been in the forefront of persistent agitation for increase in the Derivation formula which had been stagnant at 13 per cent since the new attempt at democracy in1999 and as such, Nigerians have been subjected to constant threats of warfare and destabilization of peace by militants of all categories from the region! Certainly it would be unpatriotic for any Nigerian to think that the Niger Delta region would not need extra funds outside of their Federation Account share to take care of the avalanche of devastation of the landscape which resulted from exploration and exploitation especially by foreign oil companies which were more concerned about profits than their corporate social responsibility pact! Fellow Nigerians domiciled in the hinterland, outside of Rivers, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Delta, and some parts of Edo and Ondo States, needed to physically visit and experience at first hand, the mental, emotional, intolerable and inconducive environmental trauma, the indigenes of those areas had been condemned to for over 40 years of bad management by successive administrations! However, there is a twist to this line of thought even though about 90% of Nigeria’s economic income was derivable from crude oil extraction from the Niger Delta; if other Nigerians who benefit immensely from this oil funds should have empathy and join in demanding for an increase of Derivation percentage, should their Governors and politicians be insensitive to the plight of their own kith and kin by taking undue advantage of those who were restricted to rural livelihood?

A new line of thought points to the axiom which states that a person who had not complained of pain or general debility of the body needed not be over pampered with unsolicited hospitality which might turn out to be unappreciated as it was in case of two emerging groups who claimed: That no one should ‘poke nose’ or comment on how their governments dispensed both the affirmative 13% Derivation Fund and the monthly allocation from the Federation Account because they were in collusion with the management team in charge of the funds, and Those who became militants to take their own share of the national cake by force! During the National Political Reform Conference convoked by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, some Northern delegates drew attention of the whole House to the recklessness of Niger Delta Governors and their accomplices who virtually embezzled State funds with reckless abandon; but surprisingly, the delegates from that region seemed unperturbed as they neither contested nor denied the allegations but brazenly told anyone who cared to listen that they were content with whatever the Governors did with the allocations since the money in question belonged to their States!

That response of the Niger Delta delegates will remain intriguing to Nigerians as it would to posterity because as at that time the late Governor of Bayelsa, Diepreye Solomon Peter Alamieyeseigha, who outsmarted the London Police was already on trial in Nigeria for money laundering and embezzlement of public funds. Likewise his Delta State counterpart James Ibori, (presently serving jail sentences in a London Prison), was also under investigations by Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), for similar offences! To date, at least five governors from the Niger Delta States, have been accused of financial misappropriation and embezzlement and three of them (including, Lucky Igbinedion of Edo State), have been successfully prosecuted and sentenced to various terms of imprisonment! The plight of the suffering masses of Niger Delta should be of utmost priority to all Nigerians who believe in the doctrine of fundamental human rights for all law-abiding citizens because neither the Conference Delegates nor the agitating Militants had ever spoken the minds of these helpless citizens who dwell and die in the most degraded manner in slums of oil pollution and acid rain of the worst type of ecological terrain! They are the THIRD voiceless group whose farmlands and fish ponds have been overrun by oil spillages and who were never compensated even when compensations were paid by the oil exploiters and who are the voiceless ones to have a say on how they were governed!

On 3rd November 2015, Amnesty International ( A Non-Governmental Agency which protects human rights, stands up for justice, fairness, freedom and truth world-wide), drew the attention of both the Federal Government and all citizens to a fresh wave of connivance between an international Oil Company, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), and a Nigerian environmental agency, National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), to alleged forgery and embezzlement of funds allocated for clean-up of oil spills sites in the Niger Delta , which were not cleaned but for which CLEAN-UP CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETION had been issued! Amnesty Country Director, Mr. Mohammed K. Ibrahim, who made the disclosure, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NANS), urged President Buhari to look into the fraud and that Nigerians should sue the two collaborators and partners in crime to get redress for the environmental injuries already afflicted on the psyche of the innocent and helpless indigenes of Niger Delta! The Human Rights Group had accused SPDC and NOSDRA of connivance and false claims of CLEAN-UP of oil spill contaminated sites in the oil-producing States some years ago when in actual fact, their claims were nothing but a well-calculated fraud and also suggested that the two agencies be charged to court and made to pay for damages and cited similar erring organizations like BP in the United States which had to pay heavy fines through criminal and civil litigations for justice to take its course! The Group also urged President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure that recommendations of the United Nations Environmental Program on the clean-up of oil spills sites in the Niger Delta region were implemented adding that its latest findings had placed a question of credibility of NOSDRA, the agency involved in the fraudulent exercise issuing certificates for unexecuted jobs in the first instance! Shell Petroleum Development Company (SDPC), has played pioneering roles in the Nigerian crude oil exploration and exploitation industry in the past 50 years and one would expect diligence, quality, dexterity, versatility, sincerity, uprightness, righteousness and perfection in all its business transactions but the reserve of all these qualities are what they have on display! Could it be that the corruptive portfolio of past administrations since independence had smeared on SDPC or that the malaise was actually part of their own business baggage to break through and maintain monopoly of the petroleum industry in Nigeria? But the crux of the matter is that, should the indigenes of a developing nation connive with foreigners to sabotage the main-stay economic product of their country and in aid of the love of money? *Did you know that the Yar’Adua-Jonathan Administration in 2007 flagged off the Amnesty program for Niger Delta militants which proffered peace for that region till date when the contract should be reviewed in December 2015? *Did you also know that,starting with Jonathan who studied Hydrobiology/Fisheries and Biology and was Assistant Director in the defunct Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC), between 1993-1998, prior to his political career, Niger Delta indigenes had always been saddled with environmental degradation issues with the strong belief that they would identify where the “shoe pinches”! The Federal Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs was at different times headed by indigenes who also had higher percentage of staff; all other Environmental Agencies including NOSDRA, which has colluded with SDPC, all have larger share of workers and Board members as indigenes with a view to ensuring quality delivery of all contracts! With this shocking revelation about NOSDRA, the big question now is that, WHOM WOULD THE NIGER DELTA STATE VOICELESS INDEGENES NOW DEPEND ON FOR JUSTICE WHEN THEIR OWN KITH AND KIN HAVE ALLEGEDLY HI-JACKED THEIR MONETARY COMPENSATION FOR UNEXECUTED CONTRACT BY ISSUING FAKE COMPLETION CERTIFICATE AND HAVE LEFT THEM HIGH AND DRY?

The ball is the domain of PMB who we expect to probe this grave allegation against NOSDRA and bring all erring back-stabbers to quick justice and also sanction SDPC officials who were also involved in this shameful contract which have destroyed hundreds of hundreds of lives and properties, just because of the love of money……they should be named, shamed, prosecuted and jailed to serve as deterrent to the present and up-coming generations of NIGER DELTA indigenes who deserve a better deal from their brethren and fatherland! Please always remember that only the TRUTH shall set us free as a people and that only RIGHTEOUSNESS will exalt NIGERIA as a nation because SIN remains a reproach to all of us!

Please look forward to more divine revelation in the next edition of Zion B-BC Newsletter as you share this with friends and remain blessed in the Lord. [For weekly access, to this newsletter, log on to: facebook.com/zionfaithbible.believingchurch or http://www.zfbbc1.blogspot.com, https://www.google.com/+zionfaithbiblebelievingchurch.

If you have not accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour, don’t miss this great opportunity as you pray this prayer: Lord Jesus; I confess that I am a sinner who needs to be saved through the grace of the New Testament of your Blood, shed on the Cross at Calvary; I renounce every sin in my life and accept you as my Lord and Saviour. Please forgive me and write my name in the Book of Life. Amen. If you prayed this prayer, you have been admitted into the family of sons and daughters of God, who are born-again. Congratulations. I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon, Resident Pastor and Editor.08130669886, 08098194390.g-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.