Undoubtedly, Nigeria and the Niger Delta region in
particular is endowed with natural mineral resources. Since the discovery of
crude oil in Oloibiri in the old Rivers State, now in Bayelsa State, for the
past 56 years, there has been exploration and exploitation of oil in the region
by the multinational oil corporations such as Shell Petroleum Development
Company (SPDC), Total E&P Nigeria Limited (TotalFinaElf), Nigeria Agip Oil
Company (NAOC), Chevron just to mention but a few.

Though, these multinational oil firms are foreign inclined,
they operate in various communities of Nigeria and mostly in the Niger Delta
region where the bulk of the oil resources is deposited. Being foreign
investors notwithstanding, several key positions are allocated to indigenes
with the sole objective of cushioning the unemployment effect that has ravaged
the region for decades, and as well reduce restiveness and unnecessary
conflicts that usually exist between the multinationals and their host
communities.

However, it is appalling to note that the bane of mass
unemployment and underdevelopment of the host communities has been traced to
callous characteristics of some indigenous administrators in these oil firms.
It is unimaginable that despite the high level of underdevelopment and mass
unemployment of the teeming population of able bodied young people who roam the
streets in idleness, which has metamorphosed into youth restiveness and vices
of different degrees in our communities, most of these indigenes at vintage
positions in these multinational companies refuse to budge. They even prefer
enslaving their brothers and sisters working under them.

I still remember the story of some indigenous managers in
one of the oil firm operating in Rivers State who manipulated the monthly
salaries of their drivers. The drivers were placed on one hundred and fifty
thousand naira (N150,000) per month, but it was amazing that the drivers were
being paid a paltry sum of between N50,000 and N30,000 until the whistle blew
open.

The question is, why would a man be so callous as to deny
his fellow countryman the price of his sweat?

It is unimaginable. It thus goes that the Whiteman love
Nigerians more than Nigerians love themselves. It is a pity! It is a shame!!

My joy at the end of this saga is that some of these
indigenous managers were suspended pending the time of investigation. I do not
pray for them to be re-absorbed. Let them feel the pain those of us at the
other end of the stick have been suffering for many decades.

It is glaring that the blacks are the architect of their own
countrymen’s misfortunes in most oil industries in Nigeria. This has continued
to widen the gap of abject poverty and underdevelopment in most of the oil
producing communities in Nigeria.

As the saying goes, the sneeze of a mahogany tree would
always rest upon its breast. The indigenous administrators have forgotten that
no condition is permanent as their offsprings may be in need of assistance at
one time or the other and may equally fall prey to this kind of wickedness they
are currently meting out to others.

If the late human rights activist, Kenule Saro-Wiwa of
blessed memory could champion the emancipation of his (Ogoni) people from the
shackles of deliberate suppression and oppression in the hands of the Federal
Government that connived with some oil companies, even at the risk of his life,
why can’t the ‘big ogas’ in the oil companies help their fellow citizens in
securing job opportunities in the oil companies? Indeed, we are our own
enemies.

Ominyanwa is a senior staff of the Rivers State University
of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt.

Goddey N. Ominyanwa