THE PROBLEM WITH NIGERIA BY DR AUSTIN ORETTE
I want to live in a country where there is fiscal probity and justice. I want to be sure that the tax that comes from liquor is not used to pay those who will burn places where beer is sold.
Why is Abuja so opulent? What does Abuja produce? Abuja is a city that produces nothing and consumes everything. Warri should have more verve.
The Niger Delta is blessed with abundant natural resources, huge oil and gas deposits. We have the people, the ocean and the oil but we are forced to be like a hamlet.
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There is abject poverty in the region in spite of billions of petrol dollars that had accrued to the federation. The region is suffering from severe environmental degradation, problems of erosion, pollution of land and water, rapid resource depletion and deteriorating economic conditions.
No doubt, fiscal federalism, honest leadership will bring Warri to par. Fiscal federalism should be the goal of any senator from Delta South. We have enough to develop our places and it is not necessary for the federal government to treat Niger Delta with palliative therapy.
We must put a stop to this paternalism. They can give palliatives to Almajiris. The Niger Delta can develop its institutions, provide health care and education to the people, revitalize inland waterways, build roads, supply electricity and create jobs for the youths.
We can also manage our security. The police check points on our roads are a signpost of government intimidation and exploitation of hard working citizens. Those checkpoints have nothing to do with security. We are not at war and we should never have militarized police in our land and roads. Impeding the free flow of people, goods and services is unconstitutional. Successive governments have kept police on our roads to intimidate us. A lot of police men and women are corrupt and a large number of them seem to be taking hard drugs. This is the only way the murder of citizens by the police can be explained.
The centralized bureaucracy of the federal government of Nigeria is a major issue. It has destroyed the creativity of our people. The federal government of Nigeria is a leviathan with an insatiable appetite and propensity to use Niger Delta as a canon folder. There is the case of the oil. I am from the Niger Delta. The federal government has neglected the region in terms of concrete development projects.
We need 60 percent of the oil and no sheik from outside the region should tell us what to do. We don’t tell them how to manage their resources.
Why are the ports in the Niger Delta not operational? We had Koko port, Warri port, and Burutu port. We were a country. My people are tired of applying for a visa to clear their goods in Lagos. We have been threatened with deportations. We are tired of staying in a place that has so much federal money thrown at it but cannot manage to come up with sensible urban and housing policy.
A tour of the oil rich Niger Delta is a journey of chaos. There are no basic amenities in most parts, no good schools. There are no good roads and potable water. What are our Senators doing? Can they work harder and give the Niger Delta the Dangote Deal? There is no oil in Kano.
The Federal government should start giving the sons and daughters of the Niger Delta the Dangote deal. His monopoly is beginning to rear its ugly head. Business is no charity. We need to compete with this federal government created leviathan.
The price of cement is going up. The leviathan they created has started devouring us. We must have laws to protect us from exploitation.
Today, the APC led government wants us to pay international prices for petroleum products when we don’t have the international Standards of existence. We must control our destiny by paying royalty on resources found in our land.
Successive governments used subterfuge and violence to suppress the will of our people. The federal government is not a repository of good resource management. The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has not been responsive and accountable to all its principal Stakeholders. It has not accelerated the development of the region.
We don’t need NDDC or the Ministry of Niger Delta to develop our terrain. Those agencies are nothing but bureaucratic cobwebs of duplication. We must restructure.
Restructuring means spending and managing what you produce. It is the law of the farm. You reap what you sow.
We need a federal government that does not baby sit in any region. No region should become bloated and lazy. Excess fat prevents it from serving the people. Those who are addicted to that feeding bottle should be weaned. That is true federalism and equality.
DR. AUSTIN ORETTE, NIGERIA DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS (NDC) CANDIDATE IN DELTA SOUTH, WRITES FROM OWHELOGBO
(DEMOCRACY NEWSLINE NEWSPAPER, MAY 20 TH 2026)
