Editorial
That Renewed Threat By MEND
The recent threat by the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) to resume hostilities in the region is one that leaves a sour taste in the mouth. The group last Saturday said it would start what it code-named Hurricane Exodus to back up its demand for the release of Henry Okah who is jailed in South Africa.
According to MEND, their operations would target the downstream sector of the oil industry. Specifically, they plan to attach explosives to petroleum tankers and warned that every tanker distributing petroleum products may become a potential target.
The Coming of this threat at a time when the country is still contending with the Boko Haram insurgency is most worrisome. It is mis-directed, ill-conceived and condemnable. This is not only one threat too many, but one that will not enjoy the support of anyone.
In as much as democratic practice allows groups to peacefully air their views on issues affecting them, the use of violence to determine same is very objectionable. This cannot happen when the amnesty offered militant groups in the Niger Delta by the Yar’Adua administration in 2009 is also being enjoyed by members of MEND.
This is why this recent threat by MEND to target petroleum tankers must be viewed dispassionately. For one, the devastating effect such attack might have on citizens and the economy as a whole would be huge and un-warranted.
The Tide believes that MEND, being an organisation of well- educated young men cannot be oblivious of the proper line of action to pursue. Besides, MEND must recognise that adherence to a strategy that is a perfect recipe for chaos and a total negation of rules and laws in the pursuit of its objectives would rob it of whatever sympathy it had enjoyed in the Niger Delta and beyond.
As such, being a group that professes to fight against the indignities visited upon the Niger Delta region and its people, MEND ought to draw a line between the immediate and narrow interest of its members and the sacred concerns of the Niger Delta people. We expect the group to liaise with the leaders of the region for a purposeful and focused action to draw the desired attention to the area and not to worsen things for everyone.
More so, now that a son of the Niger Delta is the number one citizen of the country, MEND ought to be more circumspect in carrying out its activities so that they do not become the very ones that destroy the opportunity God had given the region to correct the socio-political imbalance in Nigeria over the years. They cannot afford to shoot themselves in the foot.
While the country’s security agencies may have been placed on alert following their threat, it is our hope that the group would retrace its steps and give peace a chance. In fact, they must show that they know how to function in a better society, such as they appear to crave.
We recall that not too long ago when MEND acceded to the request of leaders of the Niger Delta not to attack Muslims and Mosques in the region, following the Boko Haram uprising, the honour and goodwill they drew from the Nigerian populace was unprecedented and has continued to draw commendation.
More than that, their obedience gave to the leadership of the Niger Delta and Christendom the power never thought possible. Because of that, Nigeria now takes the words of the Niger Delta leadership serious, as they can actually command the forces of the region. This is what MEND can do for the region and for the better future everyone craves.
There are moments in the life of a legislature when plain speaking becomes a public service. Senator Adams Oshiomhole provided such a moment on the floor of the Senate when he accused the Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, of manifestly neglecting critical federal arteries in Edo and Delta States, and implored his colleagues to prevail on the Minister to adopt a more equitable and genuinely national approach to road infrastructure delivery. It was blunt, it was uncomfortable, and it was necessary.
The specifics of his complaint deserve restating. Drawing attention to the recent approval of some 20 new road projects despite the parlous state of existing ones, the former Edo State governor lamented that Nigerians cannot travel from Benin to Warri, Benin to Asaba, Benin to Auchi, or Auchi to Okene without encountering severe distress. He alleged a deliberate omission of these corridors from the national budget in the last three years, save for palliative interventions directed by President Bola Tinubu through tax credit arrangements. His question — “What have we done wrong?” — resonates far beyond the chambers of the National Assembly.
We lend our full and unequivocal support to that call. The Auchi-Benin Road, for instance, has been in a deplorable and near-impassable condition for several years, turning what should be a two-hour journey into an all-day ordeal of broken axles, extortionate fares, and despondent commuters. The media have, on multiple occasions, chronicled the suffering of motorists, traders, and students who ply that route. To describe it as a federal road today is to stretch the meaning of the term beyond recognition.
This pattern of sidelining is not confined to Edo or Delta. Even here in Rivers State, the disposition of the Federal Ministry of Works has left much to be desired, particularly along the Eleme axis of the East-West Road. That road, which ought to be a flagship of federal presence in the Niger Delta, has remained in a wretched state for long. Those who use it daily — workers at the Eleme Petrochemical Complex, the two refineries, Onne Port, and the countless ancillary industries — can attest to its deterioration. Work has proceeded in fits and starts without the sustained urgency such a strategic road demands.
The Eleme stretch is not a mere intra-state byway. It is the gateway to the nation’s economic jugular. According to the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing’s 2023 Highway Condition Survey, only about 35 per cent of the country’s 36,000 kilometres of federal roads are rated as being in good or fair condition, with the remainder classified as poor or very poor. The East-West Road, conceived in the 1970s to bind the entire Niger Delta, remains unfinished in critical sections more than four decades after. If it had been treated as a priority, the perennial gridlock, carnage, and economic loss on the Eleme-Refinery junction would have long been consigned to history.
The irony is as painful as it is glaring. The Niger Delta remains the goose that lays the golden eggs. Data from the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative [NEITI 2023 Oil and Gas Audit] show that the region still accounts for over 78 per cent of Nigeria’s federally collected export earnings and about 65 per cent of total government revenue. The National Bureau of Statistics [NBS Foreign Trade Report Q4 2024] similarly confirms that crude oil continues to dominate export receipts. By every metric of equity and economic logic, a region that sustains the national purse deserves first-rate consideration in the allocation of infrastructure, not afterthoughts and tokenism.
Road infrastructure is not largesse to be dispensed by favour; it is the skeleton upon which commerce, cohesion, and citizenship hang. When contracts are concentrated in one geopolitical zone while other zones are left to contend with craters, it erodes trust in the federation itself. The World Bank’s Nigeria Development Update [June 2023] estimated that poor transport connectivity inflates the cost of moving goods by up to 40 per cent and costs the Nigerian economy an estimated $1.5 billion annually in lost man-hours and vehicle maintenance. If we profess to be one country, then equity must be the compass that guides key institutions before any project is executed. Development must spread round, not pool in one place as though other regions do not matter.
There is also a grave security dimension that can no longer be ignored. The deplorable condition of federal roads has become a veritable enabler of criminality. The NBS Crime Experience and Security Perception Survey reported over 2.5 million incidents of kidnapping-related occurrences nationally, with transport workers identifying bad road spots as prime ambush points. When vehicles are forced to crawl at 10 kilometres per hour through failed sections at Auchi, Sapele Road, or Eleme, they become sitting ducks for armed gangs. Fixing bad roads, therefore, is not merely about convenience; it is about safeguarding lives.
By his intervention, Senator Oshiomhole has hit the nail on the head and reminded Minister Umahi of a fundamental constitutional truth: public office is held in trust. The Ministry of Works is not a personal estate where contracts are awarded according to whim or political convenience. It is a national institution funded by the collective resources of Nigerians, including the oil and gas rents from the very communities whose roads are now neglected. The Minister must demonstrate balance, transparency, and a pan-Nigerian outlook in the distribution of projects that impact the daily existence of citizens. Selective neglect breeds suspicion, and suspicion is corrosive at a time when the nation is preaching unity, oneness, equity, and justice.
Consequently, the National Assembly must go beyond rhetoric and assert its oversight powers with vigour. Sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution [as amended] empower the legislature to investigate and expose any maladministration in the execution of federal projects. If an office holder is not acting rightly, it is the duty of the Senate and the House of Representatives to call him to order. Oversight must not be reduced to budget approval ceremonies; it must translate to field verification, public hearings, and insistence that the Federal Character principle, as enshrined in Section 14(3) of the Constitution, reflects in road awards.
Let the Auchi-Okene, Benin-Warri, Benin-Asaba, and Eleme East-West gangways be restored to motorable dignity. Let priority be given to completing existing, economically vital roads before embarking on new ones. If those who, through their resources, sustain the federation are sidelined in the distribution of tangible dividends, it tells poorly of our nationhood. Bad roads must be fixed, and they must be fixed now, with fairness as the guiding standard.
