Moving In To New Frontiers

Moving into new frontiers” was the resolution of half a dozen white sugar plantation owners in America many centuries ago, as they rose from a meeting on finding “appropriate and resilient labour” for their farms. The result of that resolution was the rise of Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, and the “new frontiers” to exploit included the coasts of West Africa for “Negro labour”. Resident labour-force!
It is interesting that “moving into new frontiers” is featuring again in Nigeria’s economic history, with regards to exploration of oil and gas reserves. The Tide newspaper (Wednesday, March 29, 2023) had a front-page headline news: “FG Targets 50bn Barrels Oil Reserve in Nassarawa”. We are told that President Muhammadu Buhari flagged off the first drill for oil in Nassarawa State, with the country hoping to raise its oil reserves to 50 billion barrels in the next decade.
The news report went on to say that Nigeria’s oil serves currently stands at 37.8 billion barrels. The flag off of oil drilling occasion was the Spud-in of Ebenyi-A Oil Well in Ajibu, Obi Local Government Area of Nassarawa State. President Buhari was quoted as saying that the government was determined to boost Nigeria’s oil production capacity by moving into new frontiers. We are told that the drilling for oil in the Benue Trough “is in line with the ongoing campaign for the exploration of crude oil and gas in the nation’s frontier basins…” Other frontiers include Chad Basin, Dahomey, Sokoto, Bida Basins, etc.
It is noteworthy that the Petroleum Industry Act (2022) made provision for 30 per cent of annual allocation of oil profit for exploration of oil and gas resources in Northern Nigeria. It is also noteworthy that the politics of oil and gas resources included making the oil and gas resources of the people of the Niger Delta zone into national assets through various policies. With the PIA and privatization of NNPCL, oil and gas resources in Nigeria are in the hands of private entities. Who are the oil barons?
The Nigeria Civil War (1967-1970) provided opportunity for privatisation of resources of the Niger Delta people; a process which placed ownership of 83 percent of all oil blocks in the hands of Northern Nigerians. Thanks to Senator Ita Enang for providing the details. It is also noteworthy that agitations for resource control by sections of the people who felt that they were seriously short-changed, were suppressed through various clever ways. What has become clear in the oil and gas resources politics is the fact that Nigeria’s political-economy has taken a definite shape in the past 40 years. Exploitation!
When a few powerful American sugar farmers made the resolution of “moving into new frontiers” many centuries ago, the results included an unfair exploitation of the labour of Negro slaves. Apart from numerous disruptions and agonies caused by Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, the slave culture has left its impacts in every aspects of human economic activities. Modern forms of slavery are quite numerous, with experience of the Ekweremadus in the U. K. providing plenty issues to think or write about. Modern slavery involves not only unfair exploitation of the weak by the strong, but largely gross abuses of personal trust and integrity.
Raphael Pepple deserves to be congratulated for his insightful article on the Ekweremadu experience in the United Kingdom with regards to Modern Slavery Act 2015 of the U.K. Not only is Nigeria now classified as a nation of organ traffickers, but also “ranked fourth among the top ten countries in the world with the highest number of slaves” – ref. The Tide, Wed. March 29, 2023. Raphael Pepple went on to tell us that “in a global ranking of modern day slavery of 167 countries, Nigeria ranked fourth … with a total of 1,386,000 slaves”. They include house-help, child labour, abuses!
How the Global Slavery Index (GSI) came by the verdict on Nigeria and other countries which include India, China and North Korea, in 2018, is not the key issue here. Rather, the sad image which Nigeria has continued to have in the global community should be of serious concern to all patriotic Nigerians. More worrisome is the fact that Nigerian elite constitute the class that portray the nation in the worst light. Was Mr Pepple wrong to say that “politicians in the top echelon of the political value chain of our country loot our commonwealth, launder it, and boost the economy of other countries”?
Nigeria’s sad image in the global community arose largely from two factors: easy money coming from oil and gas resources, and gangsterist attitude fostered by trafficking in hard drugs. Long before the Gloria Okon saga and the death of Dele Giwa, hard drug business had been going on among some smart Nigerians. Most of those involved constituted themselves into an invincible cult groups.
The slogan of moving into new frontiers also became popular at the end of the Nigeria Civil War, when a large number of the “strong men” were demobilised and had to find alternative means of earning a living. It would be recalled that cases of armed robbery and other violent crimes became alarming from 1970, despite introduction of capital punishment. It may also be recalled that some convicted persons on death roll made some off-record remarks about “kings and barons of the crime world enjoying class immunity, while insignificant apprentices are condemned to death”.
Nigerian authorities have been told several times that the nation’s reward system is grossly faulty and that unearned and easy wealth often lead to the decay of a nation. We have been told that behind every great wealth, there is usually a crime. We may not know how Nigerian “money bags” came by their enormous wealth, but we do know that money is a decisive factor in Nigeria’s politics. We are also aware that Nigeria’s oil- producing communities have been marginalised and short-changed grossly in a political economy that throws justice to the wind. Can there be peace without justice?
The new nation’s frontier basins in the oil and gas economy constitute a new phase in the oil and gas politics. What should be noted is that the culture of “robbing Peter to pay Paul” should not begin and end with the Niger-Delta Frontier alone. Let the same rule apply to the new frontier oil-producing communities.

By: Bright Amirize
Dr Amirize is a retired lecturer from the Rivers State University, Port Harcourt.