Not sick, only unwell.....................(One)

don't get it wrong its very true though you think you know, but i bet you don't until you read this.


We are the eighth largest exporter of crude oil, with over 36 Bbo proven reserves, according to the Oil and Gas Journal. Oil brings billions of dollars in export revenues annually into the country. Yet the Nigerian people remain some of the poorest in the world. More than 70 in every 1,000 babies die before their first birthday, average life expectancy is less than 46 and only 33% of the population have access to adequate sanitation. The amount spent annually on health services is $23 per head, contrasting vividly with over $6,000 per person a year spent in the US. Equally amazing in a country that exports 2.5 million barrels of oil a day, is the fact that only about 40% of Nigeria's total population - 10% in rural areas - has access to electricity.

As a Nigerian, I feel sad at the thought of Nigeria's oil, each time I move from the west of Nigeria where I study to its southern part my home, and seeing the decadence of Nigerian roads, universities on perennial strikes, a telecommunication system that is underdeveloped, inhuman degradation of the environment and lives of the very area which produce the petroleum. For most Nigerian youths and children, Nigeria's oil has more worse than a curse, it is a blazing hell, for it has killed all the other industries which existed and gave our people jobs before the oil boom of the 1970s.

The continual failure of the "government" of nigeria to see to the cry of the Niger-Deltan is also parallel and equillibrium to its failure of the self acclaimed gaint of Africa.
The Niger-Delta (ND) is neither a place for kidnappers as "news" has it, nor a home for violence as it is well known. It's a place where people with the Nigerian dream of becoming a great nation also dwell. A vital organ of Nigeria.

Before the discovery of oil in Nigeria, the country relied heavily on the production of agricultural products, which made it possible for many young men and women to be gainfully employed. And, unlike now, people were able to feed themselves. But immediately after the discovery of oil, most political office holders decided to feed fat on the "people's" resources. Coups upon coups were the order of the day, and ND region, the oil producing part of Nigeria, has not known peace ever since. All these are the "blessings" of the discovery of black gold in Nigeria.It is blessing for all the Oil companies and expatriates working in the region though, at least they have jobs and they earn a living thanks to the Oil. But they are not to blame anyway, our governments are! I have this to say to us all.


To you and me.

Natural resources is said to be naturally occurring exploitable material: material, e.g. coal or wood, that can be exploited by people.Natural resources includes plants, animals, mineral deposits, soils, clean water, clean air, and fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum, and natural gas. Natural resources are grouped into two categories, renewable and nonrenewable. A renewable resource is one that may be replaced over time by natural processes, such as fish populations or natural vegetation, or is inexhaustible, such as solar energy. Nonrenewable resources include fossil fuels and mineral deposits, such as iron ore and gold ore.This resources is the property of the people (nation) especially where (land or region) it resides and should be used for its benefits and not destruction. Though the later has being the case.

Lack of democracy has been fingered to be the root cause of the later so far. Although only good leadership can move a people forward not the resources, like in the case of Malaysia. Yes its true but i do not think the resources of UAE (Dubai), Saudi Arabia etc has not being helpful to them.

There is no such thing as Nigeria cannot survive without the oil He just don't want to. Maybe most of us hasn't looked at it this way, but if we try, we'll be better that way. As leaders with motives to serve will emerge like in the case of brother Ghana. And no person or party for that matter will want to hold on to power till the next fifty years or so.

Like John Fitzgerald Kennedy said in his Inaugural address (January 20, 1961) "And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.": those who sell, in this case the Nigerian government who have no plan for what they can do for its people (Nigeria) but instead make themselves profit from it, and those who buy oil despite knowing who will profit but still do business with them should all have a re-think.

This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it which I believe is the cause of the south-south region which has had no fair share in the power distribution or infrastructural development as they are always taged "the minority".

But does this justifies the "violence or the kidnapping" or better still call it "militancy" in the region? Perhaps a study of causes and effect will help here a little, and also feel the question should be directed at- Shell, Chevron, Agip, Oando and the likes. Nigeria is endowed with oil, but the oil belongs to the listed above. Through divide-and-conquer they have dictated and positioned their fat-belly despots to steal and sign-away. They have made it a curse as environmental disaster is what they leave behind.
This is repugnant and merits trials at the Hague for Crimes Against Humanity. It's obvious that the exploitation of the ND is caused by the greedy and corrupt leaders we had over time. It's also due to a problem of not getting a suitable formular for the equitable distribution of our national wealth. This has equally been the problem in many African oil-producing countries. The oil wealth is concentrated in about 5% of the population while the rest wallows in abject poverty. We should not too much blame the oil multinationals, after all they are operating under agreements they entered into with national governments.

Many African leaders always rule their countries as if the countries are their personal property, so any oil will certainly be for them and their families while the others languish in poverty.
As true as it is that the oil of the ND is the resources of the people of Nigeria put together, and must enjoy the benefit it brings. But the suffering has been enjoyed by the people of the region (Niger-Delta) alone. And for that reason, should they be wrong to aggitate for the control of the source of their anguish? of course not.


To the Government of Nigeria.

"You can fool some of the people all the time and all the people some of the time; but you can't fool all the people all the time" and those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves.

Though the problem of persistent poverty of the region can be partly attributed to the corruption of this region, it will be unfair not to mention the sower of such seeds and the leadership that lack vision coupled with inept management of state resources.
Look at Gabon which uses its oil revenue comperatively wisely, and look at us, which despite having huge revenues remain poor because of your corruption and the one you refuse to checkmate in the region coupled with our internal conflict.

If oil money is used like Qatar and UAE, where revenues realised from oil is used to develop the areas for self sustainability, Nigeria will do ok. I do not believe in the NDDC, or the other ministry as it will always be another tool to cover your shady deals and corrupt practices.


To Niger-Deltans:

Our problems are not solely the people on whom we unleash our rot and resentment but also of our locals in power siphoning off the oil revenues for themselves, which they used to buy houses in Europe and import expensive cars for their own private use, when it could be used for improving their states and communities infrastructure, like building schools and hospitals. without the actual interest of us in mind and keeping a massive underclass of us penniless. There is a saying that: "you cannot feed an African's greed'. There is no shame here where it could have been a wonderfully rich & beautiful region.

Corruption should be dealt with without fear or favour like the current "operation no compromise" in The Gambia. No one should be above the law in modern Africa, not even the "ones" sponsoring the militants. If there be any true use for militancy in the region, it should not be to kidnap and the bombing of other regions of the natiion atleast for the now, and perhaps there would be a need someday. But certaily not now when we still have our own as the progenitors.

Militancy should be used where the so called EFCC or ICPC have failled to perform like in the case of our past state governors and Directors of various institutions who should have being doing something but are growing fat. It is time that our houses been put to order, and the human resources (corrupt free minded individual with vision and that are self disciplined to face fact and that take the bull by its horn) that will take our people to Cannaan land be developed. For without the human resource factor the oil base will not be strong enough to sustain our economy...

African Union should join their efforts to put in place a credible mechanism which will make sure that a substantial part of the oil wealth goes to the infrastructures, and to health of the Niger-Delta region and the nation at large.
Martin Luther King Jr. had faith in time, and time has justified his faith. To every youth out there that also have faith in time, I believe and hope time justifies our own. For the ravening clouds shall not for long hold the sky.


Ekaba Oghale Courage
Obafemi Awolowo University,
Ile-Ife.