Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State.

By Zik Gbemre

One very bad trait that we come to notice about the people in this part of the world, referring to Deltans, is their negligence of the adverse and rippling effects of their actions of today, and how this affects the outcome of their tomorrow and far future. Practically everybody is more concerned about what they hope to gain, reap, benefit, and consume for today, without any thought of their tomorrow or how their actions of today affects their near and far future. That is why for years, and even till today, we see our people, both young and old, those in government and those being governed; doing things without any iota of thought of how their actions would affect others and their future.

This undesirable trait, is part of the reasons why we see political leaders in Delta State yearly stealing/misappropriating public funds meant to provide good infrastructure like roads, without considering the many accidents that would happen and take innocent lives as a result of bad roads. This trait, is the reason why we see our jobless youths using their very own hands to drive away prospective investors in the State all because they want to collect ‘deve’ and extort money, which they will finish spending today, without any consideration of the future implications of their actions against the overall development of the State. This trait, is the reason why our oil and gas host communities prefer to accommodate/allow and encourage the bursting/sabotage of oil and gas assets/pipelines just so they can gain from ‘compensations’ from oil companies and clean-up/remediation contracts, without any consideration whatsoever of the dire effects such environmental pollution would cause our human habitation and the future development of our lands. They are more concerned of what they will gain today, without any regard of how their actions would adversely affect their tomorrow and that of their children.

This trait, has so blinded our people, especially the politically-conscious ones, to the point that they have continued to support, encourage and have allowed some ‘selected few’ who have made the State’s Collective Wealth/Resources their own personal wealth, to hold the entire State to ransom in the last two decades. These politically-conscious persons in Delta State, have sold their birth rights and have continued to mortgage their own future and that of their tomorrow, just because of the ‘peanuts’ they gain or hope to gain from these selected few. That is why we saw a situation where so-called party delegates of the PDP in the last election primaries in Delta State, who sold their integrity/conscience and the future of their people, just because of ‘Dollars’, which they obviously must have consumed today, but they did not consider how that action would impact their tomorrow, and of cause the future of people they were meant to represent. In fact, the list is endless, of how this devious trait of: “chop today and forget tomorrow” – has brought us to where we are as a people. And if we must move on as a people, we must take the bull by the horn and address this anomaly -starting from the top, that is those in Government.

Truth be told, we all should be more concerned about what is happening in our Delta State and be ready to make the necessary ‘sacrifices’ to turn things around, at least for posterity sake. I, and many other well-meaning Deltans, are not comfortable that a few groups of persons have held Delta State in captivity for years. Is it not shameful that our State Governors usually race to Abuja every month to collect their monthly salaries in the name of Federal Allocations? Is that how developed countries like the UK and US got to where they are today? How can a Government inspire innovation and creativity when it prefers the lazy route of collecting Federal allocations to ‘eat for today’, without looking inwards to develop its abundant natural endowment to create wealth for its citizens future tomorrow?

Though, Nigeria, as it is structured, is faulty in so many areas. But what I am looking at right now is that if we could just calculate all the funds accrued to the Niger Delta States since 2003 till date as 13% derivation, plus the budgets for the Federal Ministry of the Niger Delta and the NDDC, all that money has ended up in the pockets of our so-called political leaders. If you add up the funds from the 13% derivation, NDDC and Ministry of the Niger Delta, you would realize that the funds are more than enough to transform the Niger Delta region to become developed like Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait. We really need to start looking inwards and put things right. Former Governor James Ibori, who is an ex-convict, is still recognized and celebrated today by many, for having stolen so much from the State coffers while in government. These people: former Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, former Deputy Governor Utuama, Orubebe, James Manager, Otuaro, Agwuariavwodo, etc., who were they before joining Delta State Government and politics? The enormous wealth these people have today, is it what they inherited from their family businesses, or what they made from their known businesses? You and I know the obvious answer to that question. All the so-called big men that our people hail and celebrate today, actually made their wealth from stealing public funds, as simple as that! But it is time we stop this recycled nonsense and claim back the ownership of the State, out from the hands of these public thieves. Yes, it is our oil and gas money, but should that be the reason why they should be allowed to continue stealing it? The NDDC, Ministry of Niger Delta and the 13% derivation are all managed by our brothers and sisters, not outsiders. So, we really do not have any excuse to remain where we are today. We must focus on how to call our brothers and sisters in government to order, and stop all the public stealing. They could have used all the stolen funds to develop our Niger Delta States.

To put it bluntly, it is high time for us to fix Delta State and rescue the State from the grips of these few persons that have held it hostage for years. I advise that we focus more attention in addressing the issue of ‘bad governance’ in Delta State. The almighty Oil City of Warri has today become a ghost town, and we urgently need to raise our voices and join forces to bring back good governance to the State to rescue our dying cities. Delta state, which has been held hostage by these few persons for about 20years now, urgently needs to be liberated from that stronghold.

Zik Gbemre.

National Coordinator

Niger Delta Peace Coalition (NDPC)