OPEN LETTER TO IJAW YOUTH COUNCIL (IYC) AND THE ENTIRE IJAW NATION ON SHELL’S ONSHORE ASSETS SALE

“Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable… Every step towards the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals”, says Dr Martin Luther king Jr, and I agree completely.

I am not writing this missive because I have any power to influence your choices and decisions; we write with the hope that, at least, we will create awareness with our messages. I pray and hope that, in the fullness of time, the awareness we are creating will midwife something good for the people of coastal Nigerdelta, if not now, then in days to come.

I came across your reaction to Shell’s moves to sell its Onshore Assets to Renaissance Africa Energy and other consortiums . You warned Shell and these business entities not to make these strides “without recourse to stakeholders from Niger Delta region with the requisite capacity to procure such assets in line with the Local Content Act”. Thank you for your quick response to this development.

The IYC, from the very day it was founded in kaiama town in 1998 “to coordinate the struggle of the Ijaw peoples for self-determination and justice”, has scored some points that should not be despised, disdained or dismissed. But there is the need for the national body of Ijaw youths to do more in terms of watering its roots. There are some righteousness in the struggle that IYC has not been fulfilling. The light of IYC has grown dim in some areas. I will not go into those areas in this letter, but I will sure point us to a general frailty of the Ijaw Struggle.

It is a terrible infirmity that has been affecting the health of the struggle for many decades now, and I pray for the Leadership of the Struggle to be healed from it. And that is the fact that we lack the persistence, the tenacity and the stick-to-itiveness that produce positive result. We are known to be bold, articulate and eloquent in making our position and demands known, but we are yet to be known for persevering till our cravings are met.

I see our people going on and off like a flickering lamp. Today, we are active; tomorrow,we are passive, as if the enemy has been thrown out of the ring and the belt of victory has been tied around our waist. We roar like a famished lion in the night, and then, in the morning when we ought to roar more, we are often found in the bed snoring as if justice has been granted us. We easily put aside the rationality of our struggle and accept whatever the oppressor flings at us.

In the course of the pre-Independence struggle, the Ijaws saw wisdom in seeking for self-government within the Nigerian federal structure, and they fought for it. But instead of meeting this righteous demand, the Government of the day listened to a recommendation from the Willink Minority Commission to solve our problems through the establishment of an agency called the Niger Delta Development Board (NDDB) in 1961. Upon the emergence of this agency, we abandoned the just and wise cause of political autonomy…

When we cried again over underdevelopment and marginalization of our people and land, the knavish oppressor responded by establishing another agency — Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC) — in 1992 to wipe our tears. With this new structure in place we stopped groaning, and we begin to seek and tussle for positions and contracts from the Commission. Struggle dead!

We wailed and wept again, but the enemy having seen enough proofs and classified us as empty vessels, a bunch of insincere and pharisaical agitators, brainstormed in the dark quarters of Asorock and gave birth to another palliative called the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in 2000. With this new gift, the locomotive joints and bones of Nigerdeltalism were infected with complacency and passivity. And the fight for positions and contracts continued!

Somehow, we regained our strength, found our feet and again cried out thunderously that we want Toru-Ebe State, Oil Rivers State, Bini-Ebe State, environmental remediation, resource control, infrastructural development, Sovereign National Conference and a host of other beautiful desires. We spoke through the media, we walked the streets and roads with placards, we mobilized youths across the creeks and applied the language of violence against the government and the oil multinationals expressing those noble aspirations, and we did fought as if without these demands being met by the Government, we were going to bring the heavens down. Unfortunately, till today, all those loud yearnings are existing only on papers, and the heavens are still intact, the earth has not been juddered. What happened? The Ministry for Niger State Affairs , States’ developmental agencies, and Presidential Amnesty Program for the Ex-Agitators of the Niger Delta happened…

It is a pitable situation we are in. A sincere self-appraisal will reveal to us that, to a large extent, the Ijaws are their greatest enemies. We are all guilty in some measures, if not all measures.

Come to think of it: more than TWO HUNDRED GREAT IJAW SONS AND DAUGHTERS have identified, participated and stamped their names, resources, energies and time to the IJAW STRUGGLE of over six decades, and yet the one-more-river of Chief Barrister Smooth has not been crossed. Yet the books of history are filled with ‘few men’ who led thousands and millions of their people to the bright hills of freedom and justice. Where lies the problem in Coastal Nigerdelta?

The American Revolution was arguably spearheaded by seven intrepid men: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison. It took an individual heroism like Simon Bolivar of Venezuela to lead countries like Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama ,Peru, and Venezuela to independence from the Spanish Empire. When we talk about the Nigerian stride for independence, few names come up: Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo, Ahmadu Bello, and Tafawa Balewa. Same is true of Ghana with Kwame Nkrumah. The fact remains the same in Tanzania and Congo with Julius Nyerere and with Patrice Lumumba, and the list is seemingly endless. Why is our case different?

Fidel Castro said ,”I began revolution with 82 men. If I had to do it again, I will do it with 10 or 15 and absolute faith. It does not matter how small you are if you have faith and plan of action”. Why are we still in the pits when we are blessed with a great assemblage of powerful men and women in Ijawland? Why do we have many big names with small impacts?

It is not out of point to say that, the legacies of some of our leaders are still palliatives — they will hardly live beyond the grave. Few are not ephemeral. If this is too bitter a Truth to drink, I will not hesitate to offer us a gallon of water to wash it away. But the Bitter Truth is what we need now to better our people. IYC should extricate itself from that Reubenic character that made Jacob to say, “Unstable as water, thou shall not excel”.

Let us learn from the Truths of History and change our attitude towards the Struggle.

It is honourable and dignifying for a man to fight and win the battles of his day, and not run away from them for his children to fight.

This cause of ensuring that Nigerdeltan business interests have the capital share in this Shell-Onshore Assets deal is not a fight for the IYC alone; we plead with the INC and the entire Leadership of the Ijaw Struggle to keep the flames of Coastal Nigerdeltalism alive. We should all keep our hands steady on the wheel of the struggle; follow the instructions of the map to the last letter. This struggle must not die on the barren ground of inconsistency, cowardice, politicization or poor nonviolent strategies. No! We should unite forces to win this war.

And our businesspeople who are interested in this deal should work more, connect more, interact more, transact more, negotiate more, lobby more and do every ‘more’ to procure these onshore assets of Shell. They should form alliance, partnership or work as a conglomerate to win the day. We are too blessed a people to be living like a cursed and enslaved race. It is time we show genuine and sincere love and concern for the welfare and development of our people and land by investing in the natural capital of our land. Strategic Consistency and Active Patriotism are master keys.

Also, while we agitate for the inclusion of our people in this deal, we must not miss the fact that cleaning up the environment is a fundamental responsibility Shell must undertake before selling its onshore assets. That is another essential part of the process, and we should put in every effort, every resource and every energy we have to make sure Shell sweep away its mess from our inheritance.

Recently, I came across a news reported by GbaramatuVoice that, “A delegation from the Netherlands, led by Comrade Dr. Sunny Ofehe, the Executive Assistant to Delta State Governor on Diaspora and External Affairs, paid a courtesy visit to His Royal Majesty, Oboro-Gbaraun II, Aketekpe, Agadagba, the Pere of Gbaramatu Kingdom. The visit took place at his palace in Oporoza Community, the traditional headquarters of Gbaramatu Kingdom.
“The purpose of the engagement is to discuss and explore development and investment opportunities in Gbaramatu Kingdom, particularly focusing on the Modular Refinery project.”

MODULAR REFINERY? Yes. People from far away Netherlands have seen lucrative business opportunities in our land that our people must be aware of, but have not been daring, entrepreneurial and proactive enough to explore. Once these foreigners start putting up structures in place, we then start wailing and weeping for indigenous participation and hear all the hackneyed expressions — ”resource control”, “our oil wealth”, “privileges and rights of oil producing communities” and the rest. Wake up now and explore this opportunity!

Being patriotically persistent, proactive and entrepreneurial remains a sure way to our progress as a people. And I hope we tread this noble path.

God bless the Ijaw Nation!!!

© Tobouke JEMINE

January 25, 2024