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The incessant kidnapping of foreign oil workers and family members of affluent people in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria by the militia, especially MEND ( Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta), is the epitome of unfinished business and colossal neglect of the people of Nigeria by the various governments that have ruled that nation.

Nigeria is the most populous African nation, Sub-Saharan Africa’s largest producer of oil followed by Angola and the world’s number eleven in oil production. It is an unfathomable irony that with the massive oil revenue, an average Nigerian still lives in squalor on less than two US dollars (US $2.00) a day. This trend is what most economic apostles have dubbed “the curse of oil” or the “Dutch Disease”.

With the huge oil wealth earned by the nation since the black gold was first discovered in Oloibiri in 1956, through the gulf war and to the present oil boom (price of oil per barrel is about $100), Nigeria is supposed to be more developed than what it is today

Currently, Nigeria is one of the poorest nations in the world and at a very low ebb in human development. Nigeria falls short among manufacturing nations in Africa, with little or no significant push to enhance the manufacturing sector of the economy. The demand for poverty alleviation in the nation of Nigeria has not received enough muscle to signify changes in the people’s standard of living especially in the rural areas. This brings to question the possibility of Nigeria becoming one of the twenty strongest economy in the world in the year 2020 as is been propagated in the nation’s economic reform circle. Word is cheap! What the consummate servant-leader government of President Yar’Adua needs to do is to employ meaningful action that will trigger healthy and sustainable economic transformation in the country.

The trouble at the Niger Delta predates the brouhaha of today. While the agitation for resource control in the Niger Delta could be traced back to the pre-colonial days, the twenty first century should be recorded as the period when the people of Niger Delta began to be more organized and revolutionary in their demand for the development of their area and to have access to the  resources that are produced in their area.

Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, in his keynote address “We must win the Peace!” at the October 2007 All Niger Delta Peoples’ Conference (ANDPC), in Houston remarked that “Agitations for the control of economic activities in the Niger Delta predate the present era. In pre-colonial times the struggle for the control of the trade in palm producer led to several attacks and invasions.

“Kings such as William Koko of Nembe (well known for his Akassa Raid). Jaja of Opobo, Nana Olomu of Itsekiri, and Ibani Chuka of Okrika engaged the British in conflicts of resource access and control.“

Dr. Jonathan went further to elucidate that the first recorded case of kidnapping and hostage that took place in the Niger Delta may have been the high profile kidnap of King Jaja which took place in September 1897.

According to the Vice President of Nigeria, “the struggle for the control of the palm oil trade pitched local people against the European palm oil barons. And King Jaja’s determined bid to protect his people’s interest in the trade in Palm oil ruffled the feathers of the Europeans and he had to be removed! He was kidnapped and exiled to the West Indies.”

In a tour of history with his audience, Dr. Ebele Jonathan, recapped the 1966 revolutionary quest of Isaac Adaka Boro and his army of “volunteers” and the occurrence of the early 1990s, when Ken Saro Wiwa, the dramatist and writer, from Ogoni who was later hanged by the military junta regime of Sani Abacha, mobilized his Ogoni people and extended the movement to other Niger Delta communities to utilize the power of non violent agitation for change. Non violent protest and demand was pioneered by Mahatma Ghandi in India, and nourished by Martin Luther King Jr. during the Civil Right era in United States.

What could be tagged as the new wave of agitation by communities in Niger Delta that generated trouble began when various community youths started demanding for jobs and contracts from the oil companies that operate in their communities. Similar to various rural areas in Nigeria, most Niger Delta villages are without government presence in terms of job provision and economic empowerment. With the deteriorating economic situation and itching poverty that plagued the Nigerian families especially those in the rural areas, many families were unable to send their children to primary schools not to talk of universities. This significantly affected their ability to acquire skills and be able to apply for professional jobs in the oil companies whose requirements for employment was for candidates to have first class honors or summa cum laude.

While these rural youths were unable to acquire higher education that would enable them to obtain high profile jobs, trainings and skill acquisitions in the areas of welding, machining, instrumentation, tool pushing, for example, that would have afforded young people vagaries of employment opportunities and independent living was utterly neglected. Contracts for the supply of unskilled labor were contracted by some oil companies to vendors who were either connected to the government or claimed to represent their community, while such vendors were mere cronies and self-centered individuals who were only out to satisfy themselves to the detriment of their people.

Those in power in Nigeria  were busy enriching themselves with the oil proceeds; tying fake nuptial knots with the oil companies and never cared to look into the plight of the Nigerian people by building good road networks, providing  clean pipe borne water, electricity, schools, hospitals and creating job opportunities. It is proper to emphasize that some of the oil companies tried n in their various social objectives to assist rural communities in the Niger Delta. One of their major mistakes was their inability to set up a clear and well defined corporate social responsibility which they would have communicated properly to the oil producing communities and execute in the manner that would make the communities know who is helping to bake their bacon.

Instead of consummating a visible development actions for the communities where they operate and building synergy, oil giants in the Niger Delta relied more in building business relationship with some dubious elements that ruled the country of Nigeria. Most of the time, the oil companies fell into the well of corruption and preferred to deal with lobbyists – the so called community leaders who claimed to represent the communities; bribing them with huge sum of money and at the end incurred the wrath of the people who remained with nothing.

The Nigerian government seemed to have come late in understanding the plight of Niger Delta. This lateness or inaction made the Niger Delta to be an albatross or Achilles’ heel to the Nigeria government. Niger Delta is now like a spear in the belly. If you leave it there, it might lead to death, if it is pulled out death might still occur. However, some drastic steps should be taken to quell the ensuing inferno in this area which the present uproar seems to be just a flash in the pan if some transformational steps are not quickly taken.

The constantly brewing storm in the Niger Delta speaks not only of the desire of the people in that area to have access or control over their resources, it shows a spiral effect of utter negligence by the various Nigerian governments to develop the nation thereby making the people to rise and take laws in their hand, however some of the approaches may be wrong. It also epitomizes a hungry people who lack meaningful way to eke a living.

If there are to be industries and firms to employ these youths, and they have gainful employment which would help to carter for their needs, those militant youths won’t be seen snaking around the creeks. If there are to be provision of free education, quality and subsidized educational system, most these youths would prefer to be in citadels of intellectualism and drink from the fountain of knowledge which will afford them better lives than spilling blood in the creeks. To show what poverty and hunger has to do with the various kidnapping in the Niger Delta; it is common that many of those kidnapped are seized by armed gangs who demand a ransom and often release their victims unharmed once their demands are met.

The ever brewing storm in the Niger Delta has tremendously affected Nigeria’s global image. It also truncated the nation’s bid to biff up its 2 million barrels per day production of oil as a member of OPEC.

The Nigerian government has engaged the body called Niger Delta Development Commission (NNDC) to handle programs and projects that will catapult development in that area. NNDC has engaged in some laudable projects and provision of infrastructures in Niger Delta. While this move is commendable, it may not be the full panacea that would douse the raging fire in Niger Delta. It is a simple truth that poverty alleviation and serious development programs should be entrenched in all rural areas in Nigeria beyond the Niger Delta.

The Lt. General Alexander Ogomudia report on Security of the Oil Producing Areas holds the major ingredients in the elixir that might entrench peace, unity and progress in Niger Delta and all Nigerian communities. A vital paragraph in Lt. Ogomudia’s report states that:

“Enduring peace any where, particularly in the oil producing areas, can not be achieved by militarization or the security approach. While one cannot deny the obvious criminal elements, which have to be firmly dealt with by the application of the law, the Committee is convinced that problems of the oil producing areas can be best solved through two broad approaches, which must be implemented simultaneously. The first approach is the development of infrastructure such as roads, housing, electricity, water, employment generation and economic empowerment of the people in the area. The approach once initiated and recognized by all the stakeholders would make it easy for the implementation of the second one, which is effective enforcement of law and order… This may possibly be the last chance the government has to address the problem frontally. The expectations of the communities are high, and government may wish to seize this opportunity to make an appreciable impact.”