Minority Questions And The On-Going National Conference

By CONCERNED OGONIS IN THE DIASPORA

Preamble:

Since Nigeria's independence in 1960, when the country adopted the Parliamentary system of government to 1979 when it switched over to the Presidential method of governance, no Nigerian knows if any transitional programs were put in place and what successes were achieved thereof. In the main, there have been interruptions in the nation's democratic process by the military, who inadvertently thought they were rescuing the nation; albeit, history will tell where such escapades have left the nation.

We, the Concerned Ogonis in the Diaspora (COD), do urge the National conference to leave on record such instruments of governance that will strengthen the nation's democracy, giving the various ethnic nationalities a sense of belonging, where justice will prevail, not the current jungle justice, where the smallest tribes are fed upon by the very federating groups that should protect the weak and the small in its polity.


We, members of the Concerned Ogonis in the Diaspora (COD) express our appreciation to the federal government of Nigeria for constituting the national conference following the demands of Nigerians at home and in diaspora to remediate the numerous injustices in the Nigerian society.

We have religiously followed discussions at the conference and with few days left to the conclusion of its assignment, we write to remind the conference of pertinent and lingering issues particularly the minority questions that are un-attended to although some are the sources of acrimony in Nigeria.

At the Centre of the agitation are the principle of derivation, true federalism, and autonomy. The Concerned Ogonis in the Diaspora emphatically supports a 100% derivation principle as enshrined in the Ogoni Bill of Rights (OBR) submitted to the Nigerian government in 1990. We believe that if the OBR is viewed objectively and adopted for national use by all ethnic groups in Nigeria (big or small) will bring about a conjugal arrangement that will breed trust within the federating states whereby co-operatives will emerge and the current reign of anarchy will stop. This arrangement will create development through adequate competition. States will then keep 100% of what is derived from their environment, pay it creditors, and pay taxes to the federal government. A Country that has no tax system is doomed.

To be able to arrive at the arrangement outlined above, the conference must abrogate the Land Use Decree of 1978 and the Petroleum Act of 1969 that gave all resources beneath the earth to the federal government. This we believe will diffuse all tensions relating to ownership of resources and will also help in solving the issue of indiscriminate apportionment and allocation of Oil Blocks to undeserving persons. It will also position Nigeria as a true federation.

The national conference on July 3, 2014 while deliberating on the creation of more states in Nigeria overtly omitted recommending Bori Stateon the list of 18 states earmarked for the federation. Bori State is of utmost importance to Nigeria economically as well as to the peoples of Andoni, Eleme, Nkoro, Opobo, Oyigbo, and Ogoni ethnic nationalities. These ethnic nationalities has enormous and sustainable resources (in oil, marine, land, and manpower) to support their population of over 1.3 million. We therefore urge the conference to treat their demand for BORI STATE as legitimate just as others that are recommended by the conference. Bori State would no-doubt speed-up the development of these areas.

In addition, we urge Nigeria to protect the minority tribes and smaller populations. The conference should knockout minority-majority syndrome from Nigeria. Pa Obafemi Awolowo was a fore-sighted and forward thinker who granted autonomy to the then Mid-West and Ilorin Provinces in the Western Region. It was on those platforms that those regions evolved into the states that they are today. Likewise, we should learn from The wisdom of the wise. There is no bloodletting among states of the old Western Region and Edo, Kogi, and Kwara States.

The question of environmental justice to the Ogoni environment has been met with complete and absolute silence since the inception of the conference on March 17, 2014. We are appalled and in a gravitating pain to witness a complete silence on the United Nations' Environmental Programs Report (UNEP) submitted to the Nigerian government in 2011 even when the alarming report drew the attention of the world to the possible extinction of the Ogoni people through benzene contamination. We urge the conference plenary to mandate Royal Dutch Shell Oil Company and the Nigeria government to implement all aspects of the UNEP report, clean up Ogoniland as soon as possible to avert the extinction of the Ogoni tribe. The conference should approve a plan whereby all mineral extracting firms in Nigeria are mandated to set aside 15% of operating budget per year for environmental remediation.

The conference should as a matter of justice, recommend to the Federal government the exoneration of Ken Saro Wiwa and eight other environmentalists who were wrongfully convicted and hanged by the Abacha regime in 1995. We are appalled and moved to question why convicted criminals who looted state treasury are honored and cerebrated and the likes of Ken Saro Wiwa without whose struggle Nigeria would still remain ignorant of the environmental effects of Oil exploitation and devastation still remain criminals in Nigeria's statutes books. This selective treatment of Nigerians based on tribal fault lines makes us believe that we are held to different standard because we are minorities who are outnumbered. The conference must right this wrongful treatment by exonerating Ken Saro Wiwa and his compatriots.

In the same vain, the COD are urging the national conference to intervene in the crisis in Ekporo, Eleme area of Ogoni created by PERSONS WHO ARE BLIND TO THE FACT THAT POWER DEVOLVES. Ogonis believe in peaceful co-existence with their neighbors, be they Kalabaris, Igbanis, Ikwerres, Okirikans or Ijaws. We consider this display of power and money as short-sighted and must be condemned in the strongest terms.

The conference should set up a committee of inquiry and grant security protections to the Ekporo people so that they could return to their community. This is the type of unwarranted distraction that has mindlessly wasted the nation's wealth and kept ethnic groups divided instead of united to build a vibrant nation. The ambition of blood thirsty hounds that have no fear of God or love for their fellow man must have no place in a civilized nation.

The causes of the conflict (remote or immediate) should be looked into and no one culprit should be spared.

We are aware that statistically 75% of Nigerians leave in the rural areas where there are basically no amenities. The conference should mandate the Federal government to reach out to these neglected populations. Hospitals, cottage industries, and adequate educational, preferably vocational institutions should be established in the rural areas across the country so as to reach out to all Nigerians. This will check a sense of alienation that has bred a monumental insecurity in the country.

The conference should therefore recommend the creation of community banks to grant loans to local populations as an immediate and cautionary measure in addressing the deplorable situation in rural Nigeria. The Scottish land Fund whereby communities participate in annual grants for community development should serve as a model.

We recommend to the conference that a 15% Youth development Fund should be mandated of the Federal government from the national wealth into an escrow account. This fund will insure the future of the youths when oil-boom would have waned. We recommend the Alaska Permanent Fund as a model.

In conclusion, we urge the conference participants to see themselves as nationalists and touch on the issues enumerated above without resort to class chauvinism, that way, their names will be engraved in gold and they and their progenies will be proud that they made Nigeria a better place than they met it.

Thank you for your attention.

Signed (On behalf of the Concerned Ogonis in the Diaspora): We are:



Sir James DornuBari Nalley - Chairman
(832) 785-3872
[email protected]


Benjamin Saro Olai - Vice Chairman
(703-475-5368
[email protected]


Mr. KorneBari L.G. Nwike - Secretary
(816) 746-5403
[email protected]


Terr Williamson Nwinee - Treasurer
(901) 690-7070
[email protected]


Leburah Ganago - Public Relations Officer
(404) 935-4146
[email protected]