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• Commissioner tears community apart
• Prices up as donkeys turn house-helps
• Ooni, Alaafin rivalry ends
• Lagos councils adjudged non-performers
• Kid bread seller kills cousin over proceeds
• Uduaghan blasts hospital workers
• Ohakim descends on ‘Okada' operators
• Don't retire lecturers under 65, Court cautions Ibadan Polytechnic
• Forget the past, Saraki tells opposition
• Kogi LG election will hold as planned –Dep. Gov
• Nyako disowns debts inherited from Haruna
• UNN VC bags AASU 2007/08 Award
• MOSOP celebrates Shell's exit from Ogoniland
• Ohakim targets improved child health

A solution to kidnapping in Niger Delta

By SUNDAY APAH

THE agitation in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria has grown to an almost breaking point; such that when one thinks of the region, restiveness, strife, hostage taking, immediately come to mind. This violent phenomenon which are associated with the region have made it to gain world-wide attention; probably for two major reasons: first, the kidnapping of some oil workers who are foreigners from various parts of the world; Secondly and more importantly, is the fact that the injustice done to these people by the government has captured the interest of the international community. Their sighs and wailing have gone beyond the borders of Nigeria and even Africa in general.

If the agitation and strife in Niger Delta of Nigeria have impacted such a great deal on the entire world, one can imagine the extent to which they constitute a thorn in the flesh of the Nigerian society which (in the map) sits on the region, and its not a gainsaying that the violence, especially kidnapping in the Niger Delta has become a threat to democracy in Nigeria.

Etymologically, the word kidnapping is a combination of two words, kid and napping. It is originally used to describe the act of stealing or abducting children. In the wide and popular usage, it extends to the act of taking somebody or group of persons away illegally (against their will). This is done with the aim of forcefully getting money, drawing government’s attention to the area of currying favour from the victims or those who care for them (e.g the government). In this case, the kidnappers go for very important personalities.

The Niger Delta region of Nigeria plays a significant role in the area of Nigerian economy. This is because the treasure of the nation, oil, lies in the soil. Bishop Joseph Fitzgibbon (Bishop Emeritus, Catholic Diocese of Warri) aptly captures this when he acknowledges: “ Nigeria is Niger Delta; without Niger Delta Nigeria is finished”. As a result of the petroleum deposit in its soil, Niger Delta became host to some multinational oil companies like Shell, Agip , Texas , e.t.c

Normally one would expect that the operations of these oil companies would bring fortune to the people of the region which plays host to the crude oil as well as the companies which extract them. But it is quiet disappointing to see that what the people get is rather misfortune. The revenue collected from these oil activities is used to transform other parts of Nigeria , while the area where the oil is extracted is impoverished and the environment abused. This unfair play is what Dr. Peter Odili (Former governor of River State ) described as “robbing Peter to pay Paul”.

Some of the oil firms especially Royal-Dutch Shell is alleged of operating with double ethical standards. Their modes of operation in the Western world (and else) differ much from that in the Nigeria Niger Delta. For instance, among more than 100 countries in which shell operates, Nigeria alone has recorded 40% of the total oil spillage. This is evident in the attitude of these companies often feel reluctant to accept the responsibility of such events as theirs. They shift the blame to sabotage of oil pipes. It is not tenable to even attribute most of the case of spillage to oil pipe vandalization since most of these equipments are very fragile and unfit for oil operations. There are lots of environmental and human rights abuses perpetrated by these oil firms which time and space will not allow me to elucidate. However, Nick A. Jones, a foreign environmentalist sums it up: “… Thus, in terms of its respect for human right, the environment and natural justice, shell’s activities in Ogoni (and elsewhere in the Niger Delta) continue to be cynical and contemptible” Though this non-violent approach was not very effective to get the sympathy of the government, the Niger Delta people still prefer the use of dialogue than violence. They had never intended to use violence no matter how promising it may seem to be. However, it is obvious that there have been cases of youthful unrest and other related social vices in the region which seem to suggest the recourse to violence by the Niger Delta people.

The peaceful the resistance by the Niger Delta people began formally with the mobilization against the injustice done to them by the then military government cum Shell in 1990.. the Movement of the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) champion by Late Kenule Saro Wiwa, was on the vanguard. But these effort was meant with hostility by the military government aided by Shell. The “Judicial murder of Saro Wiwa in 1994, the Umuechem-Federal government crisis of 1990, and other related crisis were the consequences of the agitation.

Though this non-violent approach was not very effective to get the sympathy of the government, the Niger Delta people still prefer the use of dialogue than violence. They had never intended to use violence no matter how promising it may seem to be. However, it is obvious that they have been cases of youthful unrest and other related social vices in the region which seen to suggest the recourse to violence by the Niger Delta People.

Restiveness in different communities of the Niger Delta should not be used to determine the position of the people on solving their problem of marginalization. A child that is just given birth to knows about the unfairness that his/her community is passing through as a result of oil exploration in the land. So, this universal awareness gives rise to spontaneous reaction in various communities in the region.

•Apah wrote in from Delta State