Governor Rotimi Amaechi
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.
Source:http://www.punchng.com/
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