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The Position of the Ogoni People on the Proposed Niger Delta Development Commission Bill
July 24, 1999, Suanu Finimale Hall, Bori
In fashioning out its position on the proposed Niger Delta Development Commission Bill,
the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) held a one-day workshop on
Saturday 24th July, 1999 to discuss the proposed Niger Delta Development Commission Bill
now before the National Assembly. Attended by over 500 delegates representing all sections
of the community, the workshop participants took a critical look at the proposed bill and
the concerns and aspirations of the Ogoni people and other communities in the Niger Delta.
At the end thereof, the following communiqué was issued:
- That the proposed Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Bill suffers a major defect
in its purpose and concept. In this respect it labours under the confusion of the
identification of two related but entirely different issues namely: the issue of the
problems of the Niger Delta and the issue of the problems associated with oil exploitation
and production.
- That the problems of the Niger Delta predates Nigeria's independence and in
geo-political terms were identified by the Willink's Commission who examined fears of
ethnic minorities. That Commission made recommendation including the setting up of the
Niger Delta Development Board as part of the perceived solution to the problems of the
Niger Delta. The said Niger Delta Development Board (NDDB) was concerned with the ordinary
developmental problems of the Niger Delta and had nothing to do with the problems of oil
prospecting and ecology.
- That the problems leading to the setting up of the Oil Mineral Producing Areas
Development Commission arose wholly from the agitation of oil bearing states and
communities for recognition of the problems associated with oil exploitation and the need
to compensate those states in the terms of the allocation of resources for the use and
benefit of the oil bearing communities over and above the allocation of funds to those
states on the basis of derivation.
- That the Niger Delta as variously defined or prescribed by the Willink's Commission, the
Nigeria (Constitution) Orders-in-Council and the River Basins Development Authorities did
not at any time include any part of the territories comprised in the states now known as
Abia, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Edo, Imo and Ondo states. Even the recent Rivers Basins
Development Authorities Act Cap 396, Laws of the Federation 1990 defines the Niger Delta
as comprising only the territories of the whole of the (old) Rivers State (i.e. the
present Rivers and Bayelsa states) and those parts of the (old) Bendel state drained by
Benin, Escravos, Forcados rivers creek systems.
- That by the inclusion of states other than those of the Niger Delta, the Bill cannot
rightly be called one for the Niger Delta, and in shifting its focus from the problems of
oil mineral producing areas to those of the oil bearing states, it can no longer fulfil
even the functions of the Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC).
- That the structure of the proposed NDDC does not respond to the fears and concerns of
the Ogoni people and other Niger Delta communities who have consistently campaigned for
greater local autonomy and control of the resources of their land. That it is neglect and
failure by successive governments to involve these communities in the solution to their
problems that have primarily been responsible for the current restlessness in the Niger
Delta.
- That for instance, as far back as 1960, the need for the peoples of the Niger Delta to
be involved in their affairs was acknowledged even in the constitution of the board of the
NDDB which comprised amongst others:
- a.. a chairman appointed by the Governor-General.
b.. one member appointed by the Governor of Eastern Nigeria;
c.. one member appointed by the Governor of Western Nigeria;
d.. one member each representing Western Ijaw, Brass, Degema, Ogoni.
- That even the OMPADEC Decree charged that Commission with the responsibility of
developing the oil producing communities themselves as well enjoin the commission to
encourage the setting up of Community Development Committees. Indeed the raison d'être of
setting up OMPADEC and similar agencies in the past was to ensure that state governments
did not interfere with the administration of the funds for the oil producing communities;
- That by constituting a council made of appointees of the federal government and state
Governors, the NDDC repeats the usual dangerous and faulty assumption that government only
knows what is best for the people - a position that has not contributed to finding lasting
solution to the problems of the Niger Delta.
- The agitation for improved living condition in the Niger Delta is mainly by ethnic
groups, not states that make up the Niger Delta. Any failure to acknowledge and respond to
this reality is bound to fail.
- That the proposed Commission has no teeth. Unlike OMPADEC that had definite powers to
act on its own, albeit on consultation with both the Federal and state governments only in
certain limited areas, under the present Bill the Commission can only implement measures
approved by the Federal Government and member states of the Commission (see section 7 of
the Bill). The establishment under S. 11 of the Bill of an Advisory Committee charged with
the responsibility of advising the council and guiding and monitoring the activities of
the commission further underlines the inherent weakness of the proposed commission. The
proposed Bill is accordingly only a weak agency of the Federal and State Governments. It
has no executive powers of its own. It can only do the bidding of its masters;
- That the provisions of the Bill relating to funding suffers from the major defeat
deriving from merger of the issue of oil producing communities and the issue of the Niger
Delta and the scrapping of the provision relating to the 3% fund for oil mineral producing
states. Instead the 1999 Constitution has made provision for an across the board 13%
minimum for natural resources as derivation principle in revenue sharing to the states;
- That from the enumerated sources of resources of revenue for the Commission, it appears
that the bulk of the revenue in terms of contribution by the member states is likely to
come from the Niger Delta states of Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers States, both from the 50% of
13% revenue on basis of derivation and the 10% of total monthly statutory allocation, the
Niger Delta states will subsidize the other states comprised in the Commission;
- That rather than restricting the contributions of oil companies to the funds of the
Commission to only those companies operating on shore in the Niger Delta area, all oil and
gas companies prospecting for and /or producing oil and natural gas as well as companies
dependent on the use of gas in the Niger Delta should be made to contribute to the fund of
a truly Niger Delta Commission;
In view of the foregoing therefore, our conclusions on the proposed NDDC Bill are as
follows:
- That the proposed Bill if passed and implemented will, rather than improve, worsen the
plight of the Ogoni and the people of the Niger Delta and it should therefore be
withdrawn;
- That after consultation with the peoples of the Niger Delta a truly Niger Delta
Commission (NDC) to address the problems of the Niger Delta should be set up. If so
desired, another Commission to address the problems of oil producing communities should be
set up.
- The Board of such truly Niger Delta Commission (NDC) should be made to consist of
representatives of each of Development Boards to be set up under the law by each of the
ethnic groups comprised in the Niger Delta as well as one representative each of the
Federal Government and Governments of the Niger Delta states;
- That the NDC as so constituted should co-ordinate the activities of the various
Development Boards which should be given unfettered powers of development of their
communities according to their respective priorities as well as the tackling of
environmental problems;
- That the NDC should also have power to monitor and ensure compliance by all companies
operating in the Niger Delta with an affirmative action that should ensure that not less
than 30% of their high and medium level and not less than 60% of their low level manpower
come from their respective areas of operation;
- That the NDC should also have power to receive and distribute to the appropriate Niger
Delta Communities Boards (referred to in C above) of all rents and royalties paid by all
oil and gas producing companies in the area;
- That the NDC should similarly be empowered to receive and channel to all Niger Delta
communities affected by the menace of the flaring of associated gas, all the penalty
derived and derivable from the enforcement of the Associated Gas Re-injection Act since
the impact of gas flaring primarily affects only such communities.
Finally, elected representatives of the Ogoni people in the National Assembly,
sympathizers of our cause and those who are genuinely interested in seeking for an
enduring solution to the Niger Delta Problem should oppose the passage of the bill.
Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) Nigeria, 27 Odu Street,
Ogbunabali, Port Harcourt, Nigeria:
Tel/ fax. [+234] 84 230 250 Tel.
e-mail: mosop@phca.linkserve.com
MOSOP International secretariat:
Suite 5, 3 - 4 Albion Place, Galena Road, London W6 0LT, United Kingdom. Tel. (+44) (0)181
563 8614 Fax. (+44) (0)181 563 8615 http://www.oneworld.org/mosop/
e-mail: mosop@gn.apc.org
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