Thoughts on the Release of Asari Dokubo and the Development of the Niger Delta

Original message from Dokubo Melford Goodhead

goodhead@u.washingt on.edu

The Niger Delta condition is not an intractable one; it can be turned around, with the new president leading the way. President Umaru Yar Adua is not doing himself any favors with the continued incarceration of Asari Dokubo. Rather, he has everything to gain with Dokubo's release. Dokubo's release will not only calm frayed nerves; it will also trigger a groundswell of goodwill toward him. Dokubo's release is, therefore, an appropriate place for the president to start the project of the transformation of the Niger Delta.
The transformation of the Niger Delta does not need the services of a first-class neurosurgeon or rocket scientist. A good dose of commonsense, commitment to justice, and the will to act on the part of all concerned will usher in a win-win situation for the region and the rest of the country. Thus, it is fitting that our brothers in the creeks have decided to lay down their arms, and pursue dialogue with President Umaru Yar Adua.
The world has heard our cries, and there are now many men and women of goodwill, who are willing to work with us to tackle the absolute state of despair and poverty of the region. We must not kill off this groundswell of goodwill by continuing to make the Niger Delta ungovernable. No matter how well-disposed people are to helping us, they will stay away from us and from the region, if they feel that they will put their lives in jeopardy if they come to the region. This category of people does not only include activists such as the large-hearted Sandi Cioffi, the producers of "Sweet Crude," and the members of Global Citizens Journey, who are working hard to further make our plight known to the rest of the world. It also includes businessmen and women, who are interested in coming to the area to invest their hard-earned money, and create jobs for us.
The example of China shows that there is a direct connection between a peaceful environment and the creation of wealth and opportunities. The Chinese economy is growing in leaps and bounds, and daily more investors are pouring into the country. This is, in part, due to the fact that they have a peaceful environment. Of course, there are human rights issues there, but I will leave that for another occasion. For now, if there is one lesson we can learn from China, it is the lesson that a peaceful environment enables the creation of wealth and opportunities. But someone is bound to say, "There can be no peace without justice." Yes, there can be no peace without justice, except, of course, it is a peace of the graveyard. That is the more reason why we must all join hands together and work not just for peace and justice, but also human development and economic prosperity.
Accordingly, I suggest that the president as a matter of great urgency ask the new National Assembly to revisit the reports of President Olusegun Obasanjo's constituent assembly. One of the key decisions taken during that assembly was to increase derivation from thirteen percent to seventeen percent. We wanted fifty percent, but decided in good faith to meet the rest of the country halfway. Consequently, we settled for twenty-five percent. Considering the monumental problems of the Niger Delta, twenty-five percent is not too much to ask for. It may not be fair to us, but it is fair to the rest of the country. If it is implemented with a sense of accountability and entrepreneurship, we will witness a sharp turnaround in the fortunes of the Niger Delta.
The present arrangement which gives all the derivation money to the governors should cease. I suggest that henceforth not less than fifty percent of the money should be reserved for the communities where the resources are exploited. I also suggest that the money should not be given directly to the communities. Rather, the president should appoint a person of impeccable character, ideas, and political savvy to manage the money, in concert with the communities.
As a matter of great priority, we should take measures to improve the basic existential condition of the people. The first place to start is the provision of quality education for the people. There should be free education from pre-school to high school. And at the tertiary level, any student who receives admission into any of the state universities should not pay any tuition fees. I know from experience that even with the provision of free tuition, there are students who cannot afford the cost of textbooks and learning equipment. As a result, I suggest that required books and equipment should be put into a pool, in the reserved books and equipment section of the library, for instance; so that indigent students who cannot afford them can take turns to use them. A qualitative and universal education is a sine quo non for the transition from indigent society to prosperous society. Accordingly,
the provision of education should also extend to adult citizens through adult literacy programs, where they should be taught how to read and write, and to do basic math.
One of the acute problems of the riverine areas of the Niger Delta is the lack of teachers of any stripe. Even those who are from the area do not want to go there and teach, because the terrain is difficult, and the conditions of existence very appalling. One must go to the river to do one's toileting. There is no potable water. There is no electricity. And when the night descends, it comes with man-hunting mosquitoes, whose incessant attacks keep one awake all night. To the person who has not lived in such conditions before, despair quickly sets in, and it is only a matter of time before s/he flees the place. Even for the few brave souls, who are able to withstand the attack to psyche and body, there is often no place to get healthcare should they fall sick. For most inhabitants of these islands, the nearest health center is several hours of boat ride away in the city. It is no
wonder why for most people a posting to these areas is like an imposition of a death sentence. They will rather lose their jobs than go to these areas.
But things need not be so; we can turn the situation around by taking the necessary steps. To attract teachers to these areas, we must give them solid incentives. They should be paid nearly double or double what their counterparts of the same rank earn in the city. They should be given heavily subsidized residential quarters. They and their children should be given adequate health insurance. We cannot do enough for this category of workers. The future of the Niger Delta, particularly after the oil wells have dried up, depends on a well-educated people. We must go back to the days when the teacher was the most respected member of the community.
Also, no village should be without at least a modest library. If community education, including adult education, is taken seriously, the library of every village will turn into its watering hole and a place for communal renaissance. Teachers can organize public readings of books and writings by members of the community. The fast dying art of evening storytelling, otherwise known as "Tales by moonlight" can be resurrected for the benefit of the entire community. The village library could also be the place, where once a week, teachers organize public conversations about current affairs, or the state of the village. When everybody in the community learns to read and write, at least, at the basic level, and such conversations become a permanent fixture, the people will become so aware of what to do about their communities and how to pursue them that it will be difficult for any corrupt contractor or politician to swindle them.
But none of these can thrive where the basic amenities of life are non-existent. Therefore, electricity should be one of the first amenities that should be provided. We do not need to be part of the national grid. In fact, we should not be; so that we do not throw money into a system that is better known for failure to provide electricity. This is one area where the Niger Delta Development Corporation can work with communities, states, and power companies with a proven track record to create a system that will last. If we can provide electricity for twenty-four hours for every community in the Niger Delta, both teachers and students will have more time to do their work, and under more comfortable circumstances. Teachers will no longer have to depend on alternative- to-practical textbooks to teach their students how to perform scientific experiments that require electricity. Students learn better when they perform the actual experiments.
Regular electricity supply will also power the economy of these areas. No longer will those that fish be afraid that if they do not sell off all their fresh fish or stay up all night smoking what they have not been to sell, they will incur great losses. No longer will they be forced to make the arduous trips to the cities to sell their fish soon after returning from spending several days on the high seas. They can now buy freezers and freeze the fish. When they can sell their fish when they want to sell them, they will have more time to rest from their trips, and in consequence enjoy better health. In addition, they will have a greater sense of control over their trade. With constant electricity in the region, the region will enjoy an economic growth of over one hundred percent in less than a decade.
Another issue that should be tackled urgently is the lack of potable water. In these areas, many, particularly children, fall sick, and die from drinking polluted water. These deaths are sometimes attributed to witchcraft; no, they are not caused by witchcraft. To a very large extent, a people's health depends on their having access to potable water. Again, this is an area where the community, the local government authority, the state, the NDDC, and companies with proven track records can come together to achieve lasting results. The presence of potable water is another key factor in the transition from an indigent economy to a prosperous economy.
Yet another key factor in the growth of a region is the presence of a good network of roads and forms of water transportation. Here, I suggest two unique solutions. For the building of roads, I suggest that the government hire consultants, for instance, teachers in the civil engineering department of the state university, and use paid community labor. For the maintenance of the roads, students of the civil engineering department can work under the supervision of their professors to do regular checks. This will not only give the students the opportunity to acquire knowledge; it will also provide avenues through which they can earn money while in school. This strategy will not only drive down the cost of building roads; it will be a win-win situation for everyone involved.
For the provision of water transportation, I do not recommend going back to the era when the state was the major operator in the field, and governors commissioned new boats with great fanfare, only for the boats to break down, and go out of circulation within months. Rather, I suggest that in addition to the existing transportation system, the government should encourage the formation of companies with fleets of boats, in which members of the community have shares. There is, for instance, no reason why a group of fishermen or women cannot pull resources together and employ some of their university-educated children to set up a fishing and transportation company. Where money is the problem, but the human resource is there, the various agencies and tiers of government can help this category of entrepreneurs to get take-off loans. Also, these companies should be given tax breaks for a specified
period. Even recent business graduates, with tons of ambition and determination, can start and run these companies. We just have to start from somewhere before we run.
I will be negligent if I do not mention the need for the provision of adequate health care in these communities. There should be at least one resident doctor and two nurses in every village. Like the teachers, the medical doctors and nurses should be heavily compensated. They should enjoy all the benefits that I have suggested should be given to teachers. If there is at least one resident doctor and two nurses at all times in the village, there will be a remarkable improvement in the health and longevity of the people.
Going beyond the use of the derivation money at the community level, another urgent priority of President Yar Adua should be to ensure that the local governments and states use their budgetary allocations effectively. In other words, it is time for a sitting president of the country to act proactively, instead of acting after the horses have left the stable. I suggest that he appoint an officer to monitor how budgetary allocations are spent at the local government and state levels.
Because a preponderance of the elected officers are from his party, he should deal with the issue as if his party has something to prove, which, of course, it does. He has anointed himself a servant-leader. Not only does he need to demonstrate in deed that he is one; he should also lead every elected officer of his party, in particular, the local government chairmen, ministers, and governors to act as servant-leaders.
Therefore, he should re-present himself and his party to the people, and spell out his and the party's agenda to them. We do not know the agenda of the party beyond the president's frequent statement that he is committed to the market-reform measures put in place by his immediate predecessor in office. The president needs to articulate a more concrete agenda to the people, so that the people can measure the success or failure of his government by the yardsticks of measurement he himself gives to them.
Leading by example, the president should get all the elected officers of his party to do their utmost best to fulfill the agenda. Working as the president and leader of his party, then, he should monitor the implementation of the state budgets through an officer of impeccable character. (Because Nuhu Ribadu proved himself as the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, in spite of the constraints put on him by the administration of ex-President Obasanjo, I suggest that the president add the new office to Ribadu's office.) Once every month, before the allocation of the funds, the officer should present his findings to a meeting of the president and the governors. If the officer presents irrefutable evidence of corruption on the part of any governor, the president acting in concert with the leaders of the party should take the governor to task. The president must make it unambiguously clear that the days of corrupt enrichment are over.
Also, the president should ask every governor to publish a full record of how he spent the last allocation in at least one local paper, and at least one national paper. This report should be discussed at the monthly meeting and defended with regard to cost effectiveness, or sound fiscal policy, and the implementation of the party's agenda. At the state level, the governors should replicate the same process with the local government chairmen. Reports of the meetings at the state level should be sent to the budgetary allocation and implementation monitoring officer, who will then computerize them, in addition to studying them with his staff to fish out areas of discrepancy, and report them to the president. The state governors should present these reports at their monthly meeting with the president and other governors. If such continual stocktaking is not implemented, we will never
get out of the woods. The president should take the lead in mobilizing the citizenry to act as a people who are in a state of war with abject poverty, ignorance, and lack of opportunities.
If the derivation money is used effectively at the community level, and the state, and local governments act with a great sense of fiscal discipline, creativity, vision, and entrepreneurship, the Niger Delta will witness a quick transformation. But the region cannot achieve significant prosperity if the work to transform it is left solely for the government. We must also harness the creative energies of the people. The most important industry of the people is fishing; but this has occurred at a mostly subsistent level. We must reverse the situation. Yes, oil exploitation has devastated most of our creeks and rivers, but the high seas are still a fertile fishing ground. Therefore, the various agencies and governments should encourage fishermen and women to band together to form fishing companies that can put out vessels for high-sea fishing. To equip them with the necessary set of skills,
we can employ big-time fishermen from, for example, the city of Seattle in the state of Washington, and the state of Alaska, both in the United States of America, to train not just these fishermen and women, but young people in the area who are eager to go into the industry.
I use the word industry, and not trade, because I am thinking of a multi-tier process that embraces catching of the raw fish and its sale at markets to storage in cooling facilities to finished goods in form of canned foods and fish chips, and other fish-based products. If high-sea fishing means outfitting more advanced boats than the canoes most of our fishermen and women use, we must also create a technical and engineering community that will ensure that when these boats develop faults, they can be quickly repaired and put back to use. With increased familiarity with the technology of these boats, and the take-off of our aluminum and steel industries, our technicians and engineers will eventually be able to manufacture them locally. When a boat, or piece of equipment, needs repairs, if we do not have the technicians to repair them, we must do what the Chinese used to do with Japanese
engineers. The Chinese used to bring Japanese engineers into their country to train their own engineers in the operation and manufacture of technology that they were not able to. We must adopt the same process, not just at the level of the Niger Delta but also at the national level. We do not need to re-invent the wheel to attain economic and technological prosperity.
The Niger Delta also consists of an upland area where land is available for farming. We must maximize the use of such land, while ensuring that we do not engage in the indiscriminate destruction of forest land. Farmers can be encouraged, with adequate tutoring (where the government actually employs business consultants to tutor them on how to be savvy entrepreneurs) and financial incentives to band together and form companies to sell their produce. At the moment, they sell their produce to traders, which is okay. This practice will continue. But farmers, operating their own companies, can also build huge warehouses—along the Costco model—and sell their produce in such warehouses. The government will have nothing to do with such warehouses, as it presently does in the building of markets. These warehouses will be owned in their entirety by the farmers and shareholders. The beauty
of this approach is that with increased sales and share subscription, these farmers can turn their attention to making finished goods, or even selling other goods like clothes. Following the Costco model, they can even operate restaurants at such warehouses, so that after customers have done their shopping, they can sit down, and enjoy, perhaps a bowl of fresh pepper soup, or isi-ewu.
Other than fishermen and women and farmers, the government should also support, and, in fact, actively recruit and train entrepreneurs, who will run their own companies. For instance, a group of young people who have been to a trade school to learn how to make clothes can partner with their university-educated friends with business degrees to open a clothing line. They may start small, but there is no telling their reach in the future. They can start with a single store, but grow into a mega-clothing line in less than two decades. I repeat that to grow the economy, particularly from the grassroots, the government must actively recruit and train entrepreneurs to run their own businesses. This category of entrepreneurs may not need more than three months of intensive training on how to establish and run a company. If the government does the rest with facilitating the acquisition of bank
loans and giving tax breaks, the economy will enjoy unprecedented growth. Where the loans single individuals obtain are not sufficient to fund their start-ups, they can band together with friends, family, and like-minded people, to increase the pool of resources available to them.
Because this essay is primarily about the transformation of the Niger Delta, I cannot end it without talking about the role of the oil and gas sector, and the participation of the Niger Delta people in the sector. Preparing a feast for his maternal kinsmen, Okonkwo, in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, tells his wife Ekwefi, "I cannot live on the bank of a river and wash my hands with spittle." But the people of the Niger Delta have been made to wash their hands with spittle even though they live on the bank of the river. If those outside of the Niger Delta can come in and acquire millions, and even billions, of naira and dollars, there is no reason why the people of the Niger Delta should not enjoy the same good fortune. When ex-president Obasanjo, in his first days in office, was asked how he was going to tackle the problems of the Niger Delta, he said he was going to ensure
that the youth of the area are trained to be welders and fitters. The editors of The Guardian newspaper commended him for this statement in an editorial. I was not only chagrined, but I found myself asking whether we are only suitable for the jobs of welders and fitters, since the president never spelt out a broader vision for our economic empowerment beyond that of equipping us to be welders and fitters.
President Yar Adua should not make the same mistake. Welding and fitting are honorable professions, but if the oil wealth of the Niger Delta can make others multimillionaires and billionaires, the sons and daughters of the Niger Delta should also enjoy the same good fortune. Accordingly, I suggest that the president ask Vice President Jonathan Goodluck to work with the various state governors and local government chairmen of the region to identify entrepreneurially savvy young men and women, who can establish and run companies in the various tiers of the oil and gas sector. More than any category of entrepreneurs, at least in the short run, this category of entrepreneurs will fuel the rapid development of the Niger Delta. To ensure that the wealth quickly spreads to the people, the people should be given the opportunity of buying shares in these companies that will be run by their sons and daughters.
A corollary to this project is that whenever the government wants to privatize a company, whether in the Niger Delta or any part of the country, the government should carry out a grassroots campaign to enlighten the people, so that they can buy shares in the company. For instance, if at least the people of Eleme and Okrika had been enlightened about the sale of the Port Harcourt refinery and had been encouraged to buy shares in it, they would have felt a sense of ownership in the refinery, not because the refinery is in their backyard, but because they have a financial stake in the company. If the government uses this model of grassroots mobilization and financial empowerment, market reforms will have a gentler face. More importantly, there will not be a disconnect between the government and the people. When the government says that it is implementing a policy for the benefit of the
people, the people will concur that the government is indeed doing so, because they are co-managers with it in the creation of wealth and opportunities.
Also, the president should encourage the oil companies to continue their good-faith investment in the communities where they are already doing so, and in those where they are not yet doing so. It is a truism that to whom much is given much is expected. No one expects the oil companies to play the role of government. We know that they are in business to make profit; but if profit-making has a human face, it will be a win-win situation for everyone. Rarely do people develop animosity toward companies that have proven themselves to be good neighbors.
Two key areas where these companies should show their good faith toward the communities are gas flaring and oil spillage. We are now in the twenty-first century, and hardly any environmentally knowledgeable person disputes the role greenhouse gases play in global warming. Yet in the Niger Delta, the oil companies continue to flare and release great amounts of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Former president Olusegun Obasanjo assured us in his first days in office that gas flaring will stop. After the initial flurry of pronouncements on the subject, he sent it to the back burner, even though he doubled as the oil minister for much of his presidency. President Yar Adua should not make the mistake of his predecessor. If he is truly a servant-leader, he should take immediate steps to ensure that the flaring of gas, a practice that has caused great harm to the health of the Niger Delta people and their environment, stops within a year.
Also, the oil companies should be more forthcoming about oil spills. Reliable report after reliable report, including those of the United Nations, indicates that the oil companies underreport the number of oil spills that occur as a result of their operations. This is unethical, and should cease. A people-friendly company should take the lead in protecting the health of the people. But because most companies worry more about the bottom line than the interest of the people, the president should ensure that on his watch oil spills are not underreported, and that when they occur they are quickly taken care of.
The case of environmental pollution and global warming brings me to tree planting. At the level of the Niger Delta and nationally, we must bring back the trees and flowers in the villages and in the cities. We must make our cities green again. We must turn back the ugliness and unfriendly atmosphere of most of our cities by bringing in trees. They will once again provide shelter from the rain and the sun; bring back the birds, like the African cuckoo, the canary, and the weaverbird, to thrill us with their sounds. These sights and sounds are good for our mental health. They help us deal with the stresses of city life.
We in the Niger Delta, particularly those of us in the riverine areas, have an advantage here, because of our gross underdevelopment. We must take steps to ensure that we do not lose the pristine beauty of most the islands. We must plant more cocoanut trees, and carefully plan the building of houses and roads to enhance the beauty. With careful planning and environmentally friendly policies, Yenegoa, for example, can become the new Garden City.
If we maintain the pristine beauty of these places, once the Niger Delta begins to enjoy round-the-clock supply of electricity, potable water, and healthcare, it can be a thriving hub of tourism. Transportation companies and hotel chains can develop some of the islands into tourist resorts, or holiday resorts for those who just want to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city for a while. Tourists or holiday makers can enjoy boat rides through the various creeks and around the various islands, while they listen to live music, storytelling, etc., or even engage in supervised fishing.
Let me return to the subject of our brothers in the creeks. You have raised your level of consciousness. You have become Young Turks. The next stage for you then is to carry this consciousness into the political terrain and render selfless service to the people. But beware, because your consciousness will be described as false consciousness if you go into the political process and carry on as if it is business as usual, or line your pockets with the common wealth. No, you should constitute yourselves into agents of transformation, from the grassroots. You should usher in a new politics, where bribery, thuggery, and political assassinations will be things of the past. Using the help of the people, and banding together, you should contest for seats in the various local government councils, houses of assembly, and national assembly, so that you can create lasting change. In the new politics,
transparency must be the watchword. Build friendships with the people, listen to their problems, and try to provide relevant answers and solutions, and come election time, campaign as hard as you can, and if you lose, be men enough to say, We bow to the wishes of the people; we will go back and review our strategies, and return and ask them for their votes again. Once such a politics takes hold, politics will be a fun game, like campus politics of yesteryears, and brother need not harass, or kill, brother for ephemeral political gain.
I will end this essay with another call to the president to release Asari Dokubo. If ex-President Obasanjo can release his kinsmen, Frederick Faseheun and Ganiyu Adams of the Odua Peoples Congress (OPC), after slapping charges of treason on them, there is no reason why Asari Dokubo should continue to remain in jail. To President Yar Adua, I say, let Asari Dokubo go. Let him go.