OIL EXPLORATION AND EXPLOITATION IN EGBEMA: HOW WELL HAS IT BENEFITTED THE EGBEMA MAN?

A LECTURE PRESENTED BY DARLINGTON NWOKOMA AT THE EGBEMA YOUTH SUMMIT ON 3RD JUNE 2009 AT THE OHAJE/EGBEMA LOCAL GOVERNMENT HEADQUATERS. All protocol observed. I feel opportuned and honoured to speak on this subject matter at this all-important gathering of dignified Egbema sons and daughters. In this discourse, I will attempt to assess oil activity and its overall impact on the economic and infrastructural development of Egbema Community and its people. I will look at the constraints and solutions to Egbema development vis--vis Oil activity in the land. Egbema is an ethnic kingdom comprising sixteen communities. It is located in the Southern Nigeria, precisely in the lower northern area apex of the lower Niger Delta system. It is balkanized and placed into the present Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area in Rivers State and Ohaji/Egbema Local Government Area in Imo State. The traditional mainstay of Egbema people, prior to discovery of oil and gas, were farming, fishing and animal hunting. Oil was struck in commercial quantity in Egbema in the late 1950s. Presently, there are over forty producing oil wells and pocketful of Transnational Oil Companies in Egbema Community. Nigerias economy depends greatly on the production of crude oil, which accounts for 98.5% of Nigerias total exports and 90% of her foreign exchange earnings. Prior to the crisis in the Niger Delta region, Nigerias daily output of oil varied between 1.8 and 2.4 million barrels per day, with Egbema contributing about five percent or more of this production. Oil exploration and exploitation in Egbema, like every other Oil bearing Community in the Niger Delta region, have led to dearth of infrastructure, heightened environmental and natural resource degradation, pollution, displacements and loss of traditional means of survival, immense penury and hopelessness in the land, while the Government and the Oil prospecting Companies bloat in affluence. Oil activity has afflicted Egbema people with avoidable bequest of hunger, soaring rates of unemployment, communal conflicts, youth restiveness and all manner of social insecurity. As Mr. M. M. Okiro puts it in his address to some representatives of SPDC in 1982, For Shell, the exploration of oil became fruitful but for our people it was the culmination of biological and botanical destruction and exploitation. With large percentage of the farmlands laid waste by a criss-cross of oil locations and access roads, and the fishponds either blocked or polluted, we are thrown into abject poverty. We have experienced the complete incarceration of our economy and the eternal amputation of our only source of livelihood stories that could have been a taboo to our forefathers; that an indigene of Obiakpu [Egbema] will not see where to farm during the farming season has never happened, but sad enough it is happening now. Will this hardship continue till tomorrow? Will it last for ten years, or one hundred years, or forever? These are questions we fear to ask ourselves because we know that the answer is bound to be sorrowful.

As pathetic as these observations and questions posed 27 years ego, the hardship has lasted for more than fifty years and may continue for a hundred and even forever, if nothing pragmatic is done to arrest it. The exploration and exploitation of oil for over fifty years, which is done without recourse to best standards, has resulted in oil spills and gas flares which has devastated fishponds, rendered farmlands barren, precipitated air and water-borne diseases, skin and eye infections, acid rain and rust of roof-tops. The local people are suffering serious natural resource exploitation, ecological devastation, dislocation and decimation of traditional means of livelihood, usurpation, depravity and political manipulation. The vulnerability is more pronounced in recent times. Frequent oil spills; gas flares and seasonal flooding characterize the indigenous people. Despite over five decades of Oil exploration and exploitation in Egbema Community, basic amenities such as electricity, potable water, health facility, roads, housing and schools are inadequate and in most cases non-existent. Government owned schools and hospitals are ill equipped and staffed. There is neither Federal nor State presence by way of federal establishment, except sophisticated military check points and mini-barracks where harassment, torture and extortion of indigenes prevail with impunity. The only sources of light are the flare stacks and the impervious caste of the Transnational Oil Companies exploiting the resources of the area. Saddening also is the fact that employment into these Oil Companies, which could have served as alternative means of survival, is still a mirage for the Egbema man. Whenever employment opportunity exists in these Oil companies, the quality graduates from Egbema are either ignored or underemployed as causal staff with sub simian benefit. A situation the Preacher sees as servants riding on horses, while princes walk as servants upon the [land] [Ecclesiastes 10:7]. Judging from the high level of penury, misery, disease and hardship in the land, it is apodictic that oil activity has done the Egbema man more harm than good: How can one be living in abject poverty in the midst of plenty? How can one be in the river and bathe with spittle? Such parlous states could only be caused by: 1. The legal but illegitimate frameworks controlling Oil and Gas operations in the Country. The prime perpetrator of neglect and underdevelopment of Egbema Community is the legal but illegitimate frameworks controlling oil and gas operations in the Country. While the Petroleum Act of 1969 barred individuals from mining petroleum resources, Decree No. 13 of 1970 authorized the Centre to acquire all federally collected resources and Decree No. 9 of 1971 ceded all rights to offshore rents and royalties to the Federal Government. The Land Use Act Decree No. 6 of 1978 appropriated all lands in the name of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. With these illegitimate and unpopular mechanisms which were transformed into Acts in the 1999 Constitution, the oil producing Communities were dispossessed of their land and God-given resources. The Egbema people, like other Niger Delta families have not received a fair share of the Oil income gotten from their land, despite the enormous income realized from oil export by the Federal Government. The Land Use Act, the Petroleum Act and their siblings are Acts aimed at stealing oil from the Oilrich Niger Delta. These Acts are ill-conceived, oppressive, unfair and unjust to the people whose God-given resources are carted away with impunity, while their means of livelihood are facing

extinction without any alternative survival strategy. Using the Preachers word: . I observed all the oppression and sadness throughout the land - the tears of the oppressed, and no one helping them, while on the side of their oppressors were powerful allies [Ecclesiastes 4:1]. 2. The derivation principle The derivation principle specifies that a considerable percentage of the revenue generated in the jurisdiction of regional government should be returned to that government. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, all export duties on agricultural commodities, and import and excise on tobacco and other allied products were simply returned to the region of production or consumption. This principle witnessed downward slide immediately oil and gas became the major sources of revenue for the nation. The percentage of oil revenues allocated on the basis of derivation declined from 50% of mining rents and royalties in 1969, through 2% of the federation Account in 1981, to only 1% of mineral revenues in the Account between 1989 and 1999. Then in 1999, it was raised to 13%. This systematic decline of the derivation principle is a clear reflection of injustice and oppression. Jacob puts it this way to his greedy uncle, I served thee [for] years and thou hast changed my wages [several] times. [Genesis 31:41]. Even 13% derivation appropriated by the 1999 Constitution to the Oil bearing communities is not commensurate to the negative impacts of oil exploration and exploitation on the environment with their attendant dislocation of communal means of livelihood. 3. The balkanization of Egbema into two different States (Imo and Rivers States) The balkanization of Egbema into two different States (Imo and Rivers States) is another constraint to infrastructural and economic development of Egbema Community. Making a case for the reunification of Egbema into one State, the Nzeobi of Egbema, HRM, Eze S. N. A. Uzor (Late) at the 1975 Justice Irikefe panel on the creation of new States and boundaries adjustment stressed that, it was suicidal as well as criminal to split the inseparable and indivisible Egbema just to satisfy the whims and caprices of politicians. The backwardness of Egbema kingdom is an aftermath of this divide. While tangible indices of development exist in Egbema Rivers, that of their kith and kin in Imo state are sordid. On many occasions, Egbema in Imo State - a bona fide member of the lower Niger Delta have been excluded from beneficial schemes given to the Niger Delta region. During the passage of the NDDC bill in 2000, Egbema in Imo State almost lost its inclusion in the NDDC bill, but for painstaking and cost involving efforts of prominent politicians and power moguls of Egbema extract. Worth mentioning is the legislative dexterity and tenacity of Hon. Tony Okere Eze and the Oguta-breed Senator Arthur Nzeribe, who were at the then National Assembly. 4. Underfunding of/Corrupt Practices in Intervention Agencies At various times, Intervention Agencies have been set up by the Federal Government to address the underdevelopment issues of the Niger Delta Region. Such Agencies include the 1961 Niger Delta Development Board (NDDB); the 1976 Niger Delta River Basin Development Authority (NDBDA); the 1992 Oil Mineral Producing Area Development Commission (OMPADEC); and the 2000 Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). Presently, complementary Agencies at the States level, such as the Imo State Oil Producing Area Commission (ISOPADEC) are also established. The funding of these agencies is derisory and irregular. The funds are further fractioned by sharp and corrupt practices in these Agencies. Therefore the delivery of meaningful and people-oriented developments is shortchanged.

5. Insensitivity of Oil Companies to their Corporate Responsibility Oil Companies deliberately refuse to provide amenity to their host community because they are not under any legal obligation to do so. However, as Corporate and Responsible Organizations whose activity impacts negatively on the peoples means of livelihood, it is morally right for them to give back to the people, part of what they have gotten from them, as a way of remedying the harm they have caused the people. Unfortunately, the Oil Companies have been insensitive to this corporate and social responsibility. Such delivery has been inadequate and in some instances non-existent, except on newsprints and bulletins. Most times, community projects are Greek gift awarded in favour of blatant egocentric cabals. Also, there are cases where Oil Companies failed to deliver on promises made to their host communities. 6. Pronounced Corruption at Local Government Level: In the 1980s, the Local Government Authorities were responsible and responsive to provision of certain basic amenity to their people. Those days my Local Government provided us electricity, pipeborne water, etc. In recent times, our Local Government Councils serve as suck pipes of huge funds that would have been used to ameliorate the suffering of the local people. Today our Local Governments administrators are no longer accountable to the people, but to whosoever that appointed or selected them to that office. He who pays the piper detects the tune. Local Government allocations and treasury, meant for developmental projects and administration, are misappropriated with reckless abandon. 7. Greed and Selfishness of Community Leaders and Rulers Other contributories to the sordid state of infrastructural and economic development of Egbema Community are greed and selfishness on the part of Community leaders and rulers; the excessive pressure for PR and stay at home by indigenous youths on contractors handling developmental projects in Egbema and sharp practices by these contractors. When fund meant for certain project is spent on PR and stay at home rather than the project itself, the profit-oriented contractor may be left with the option of abandoning the project halfway or delivery poor quality job. Also some projects like pipe-borne water, hospital/schools building, market stalls, roads and drainages that are awarded to our brethren are often not done, half done or shoddily completed. In this kind of circumstances, we are bound to continue in the vicious cycle of underdevelopment and lack of basic amenity. Having enumerated the causes of neglect and underdevelopment of Egbema Community let me also proffer holistic solutions to this wahala, which include: Repulsion of illegitimate laws surrounding Oil production: The Land Use Act, Petroleum Act and their siblings that rob oil bearing Communities of their inheritance should be expunged. Any policy or law, which violates the right to own ones endowed resources, especially persons facing vicious depletion and displacement of survival strategies, is empirically inhuman, unfair and tyrannical. Such repressive tendencies should be repelled. Oil producing Communities should be allowed to control their resources and pay taxes to the Federal Government. Oil bearing Communities can then be economically empowered to carter for their infrastructural needs. It will also ensure best

practice in oil production, thereby reducing environmental pollution due to double standards that prevail in the industry. Reparation for Oil exploitation in Egbema: For us as an oil-bearing community to have a meaningful progress and stamp out poverty in our land, we must request for reparation for oil exploitation in Egbema for over half a century. Then, and only then, shall these mournful years be pacified. Upward review of the derivation component/Increase funding of Intervention Agencies: The second solution should be an upward review of the derivation component from 13% to not less than 50%. This will provide the much-needed fund to tackle the developmental challenges of the oil producing areas. There should also be increase funding of the Oil producing Areas Intervention agencies. The funds for these Agencies should be made available very promptly. Massive industrialization and Skill Acquisition Programmes: There should also be concerted effort by both the Federal and State Government to invest massively in industrial and infrastructural development of Egbema Community. The proposed Refinery and Petrochemical industries, by the Imo State Government, to be sited at Egbema should not just be one of those political gimmicks. Such projects, which are capable of creating massive employment and transforming the economic and infrastructural fortunes of the people, should be realized. The people whose resources are exploited and means of livelihood dislocated should be empowered with alternative survival means through technical/vocational skill acquisition, scholarship within and outside the country and gainful employments. Social and Corporate Responsibilities: The Multinational Oil companies should not only be interested in milking the oil wells dry, but should do their corporate responsibilities to their host communities. The community engagement policies of these Oil companies should have human face and the implementation of 45% local content proposed for the industry should also be effected. Checks on Corrupt Practices: Current effort to stamp out corruption at all levels of Government must be encouraged. Fund managers of Intervention Agencies must be asked to give account of funds entrusted to them for provision of amenity and other services in the Oil bearing Communities. The Local Government council should be made more responsive to the local people. This can be achieved by the enthronement of democratically elected leaders. Egbema leaders should avoid greed and clandestine interest. They should place the Community above their own interest. Also, we should have a project monitoring team at our community level. Town/Community Development Unions should have access to the nature and scope of job executed in their domain. This requires partnering with the donor agencies. Finally, in this renewed call for disarmament by the Federal Government, all stakeholders should strive to especially empower the youths politically and economically, so that they can add positive values to the economic and social progress of the Nation. After all, VIOLENCE DOES NOT PAY!! Egbema people should approach, dialogue/partner with the Government, Oil companies and Intervention Agencies on the challenges bedeviling their existence as a people. We should not keep silence: nwa shii-shii kpuchia ol, ile- kpayaraa. ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, and give him no rest, till he establish, and make [Egbema]a praise on the earth [Isaiah 62:6-7]. As key player in oil production in Nigeria, Egbema people should desire and demand for a

place in the day to day affairs of Oil companies exploiting their God-endowed resources and in the Intervention Agencies. This will enable us to be directly involved in developing our great Community. The oil in Alinso is a blessing that must be enjoyed by ndi-nso Egbema to glory of the endower, the Awesome and Almighty God. WE MUST ACT RIGHT. With special regards to the organizers of this timely initiative, I thank you for the audience. God bless you all.

Darlington Maduka Nwokoma (MICCON)