Rivers Of Neglect …Tears Over Marginal Oil Fields Denial

The appendage, Treasure Base of the Nation, is not a nickname chosen by Rivers State for self-praise but one that aptly explains the state’s real value in the economic equation of Nigeria.

But it thus appears that for it to draw from the centre, even a tiny beat of its large deposit thereto, the state must either embark on a vigorous civil agitation or protracted litigations, which in many cases terminate at the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

Prior to its creation out of the then Eastern region of Nigeria by Decree No. 19 of 1967 after years of outright neglect, deprivation, discrimination and agitation, Rivers State was known as Oil Rivers Protectorate, an appendage derived from its central role in the oil trade of the last two centuries.

From palm oil of the past, the state is today the hub of the hydro-carbon industry, accounting for more than 40 per cent of crude oil produced on-shore in the country and 100 per cent of the liquefied natural gas that sustains the Nigerian economy.

It is indeed its strategic importance in the economic equation of Nigeria that earned it the honour, Treasure Base of the Nation.

With this pedigree, no sane mind would imagine that the state should suffer neglect, deprivation or pain of any kind, because as the saying goes, to lay bigger golden eggs, a fertile goose must be pampered and very well fed. But in the case of Rivers, the opposite is true.

From the frustrating agitation for a state, to the recent restoration of oil wells, questionably denied it, in favour of neighbouring Akwa Ibom State, nothing has ever come easily to the state.

Before its eventual creation in 1967, the state’s founding fathers had traversed the globe lamenting the fears of extinction in the contraption called Nigeria, attended countless conferences in London, England and at some point succeeded in having their voices in print by the Willink Commission.

Again, when there became the need for an upward review of the paltry three percentage on Derivation, words alone could not make much difference, thus, forcing the state then under the leadership of Chief Melford Okilo to resort to the courts.

Today, the first question is: what is the state’s equity status in the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG), Bonny? None. This is in spite of the fact that 100 per cent of gas production takes place in the state.

Apparently bent on moving the culture of denial to limits of crass impunity, agents of the Federal Government are again short-changing Rivers State in the on-going Brass NLNG, where, the state is entitled to five per cent equity status. Is it the destiny of the state to agitate for what rightly belongs to it?

Although this has been a systemic trend in addressing issues of the Niger Delta region, recent events show that Rivers State may be the worst hit, for reasons none can even guess.

Apart from the fact that in 2002, during the oil block bids, only two Rivers sons were awarded oil fields, the state that accounts for the production of nearly 50 per cent crude has no marginal oil field. And in spite of repeated calls, appeals, tears and all, the state still suffers that denial while states like Bayelsa, Cross River, Imo and Akwa Ibom had long been allocated oil fields by the Federal Government.

Sadly, that singular denial has in its trail orchestrated even more denials as the state’s plan for her own refinery and the attendant jobs such will create for Rivers indigenes and other Nigerians are being impeded. Not only that, cooking gas, which is produced in Rivers State, costs far more in the state than it does in Lagos and elsewhere.

Managing Director of the Rivers Treasure Energy Resources, Dr Eddie Wikina, who led other industry stakeholders to address a press conference last week in Port Harcourt, lamented the systemic marginalization of the state in an industry to which it is easily most central and should naturally be pampered. According to him, the failure of the Federal Government to allocate to Rivers State, a marginal oil field has frustrated attempts to kick-start the state-owned Treasure Oil Resource.

While lamenting the situation, a body of oil and gas professionals, along with whom Wikina addressed the press, raised the alarm that there are signals that the Port Harcourt office of the Local Content Management Board might have been moved to neighbouring Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. Why is it that the plan to establish such offices in the Niger Delta states now excludes Rivers?

It is hard to believe, but if indeed it is true, then it must be said that it is becoming a dangerous pattern which is condemnable as it negates all standard requirements of equity, fairness and good conscience in the allocation of national resources.

These indeed, methinks, are part of the reasons state governors raised doubts about the Sovereign Wealth Fund. In fact, Rivers should worry the most if the listed examples of marginalization and denial are any leads to go by. If, for instance, oil wells belonging to the state can be willfully annexed in favour of Akwa Ibom State, in an illegal boundary adjustment, there is very little that can come to the state as a surprise.

This is unacceptable and should be addressed without any further delay. As a first step, the federal government should begin the process for the allocation of marginal oil field to Rivers as enjoyed by Bayelsa, Imo, Akwa Ibom and Cross River states, who do not measure up to the state’s contribution in oil and gas to the national treasury. In addition, it is expected that in the next bid for oil blocks, more Rivers sons and daughters be considered for the same reasons.

But I have a worry. Nigeria is the only country where people live close to the River but require permission to fetch therefrom, while others miles away are fed fat from the same River. Or how can you explain a situation where domestic cooking gas sells for between N4,000 and N5,000 in Port Harcourt while, it sells for far less in Kaduna, Kano and Lagos?

How can we explain the situation where the state accounts for more than 40 per cent of crude produced onshore and 100 per cent of gas produced in Nigeria and yet have only two indigenes allocated oil blocks not to mention that the state is denied equity status naturally allowed it?

How for instance, should a state bear all the risks of oil and gas pollution, environmental degradation and regular threat to her people’s natural occupations of fishing and farming on account of oil and gas production be made to beg, agitate or venture the whole hug of a gruelling litigation, to enjoy a tiny bit of a large crunch it contributed to the centre?

This lamentation has been actuated by a painful memory of several other denials of the past. For instance, it is difficult to point to any visible federal government project embarked upon in Rivers State within the past eight or so years, at the risk of being immodest.

Added to this is the abandonment of Federal Roads in the state, thus forcing the state to either suffer the dangers of such death traps or channel scarce resource towards repair of such roads, without refunds from the centre. And since such roads cannot be left in such deplorable state, Rivers has time and again opted for the former at the expense of other pressing demands.

Take the Ikwerre Road for instance, with the expansion, resurfacing and classic drainages carried out by the state government, even the immediate past Minister of Works will have difficulty recognizing it, as a former federal government responsibility. But that road is merely one of several others, including the Airport Road.

What of the Refinery Road? A major thoroughfare to and from the Port Harcourt Refinery remains an eye-sore with little or no reasonable attention befitting such institution.

These together make the Federal Government’s refusal to allocate a marginal oil field to Rivers State, one denial too many.

Again I ask, is it our destiny to fight for virtually everything that is ours as of right or that there is a fifth columnist armed to frustrate the state’s development plans?

My Agony is that it does not take non-oil producing states in other parts of the forced 1914 Amalgamation, as much as a frown to fetch from the common pool – as against the near frequent and tortuous path Rivers must venture to get its due.

Perhaps, the only unsolicited gift the state has ever gotten, is the award of Commander of the Order of the Niger, National Honour to Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, the first serving governor in the state’s 44 year history, probably because ignoring the man’s accomplishments would remove from the event the colour achievers like him bring to the floor.

While the federal government has earned my gratitude on this, it needs to prove that it was not a mistake, that it instead marks the beginning of a new era where, Rivers will be treated as the true goose that lays the golden eggs, the same pedigree that gave it the appendage, Treasure Base of the Nation.

Soye Wilson Jamabo