President Goodluck Jonathan Shove Aside The Southeast On Greenfield Refineries; Another Injustice.

By Okey Iwuji

The Ibo’s of South East confidence on President Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan to be either expected Messiah or a forerunner to the Messiah is seemingly dashing to pieces, should the President out of pressure quits politics and concedes the mantle of presidency to the North following the activities of Boko Haram and it’s Northern element sponsors to cede power back to the region without meaningful projects in the southeast at this time.

  

 Some Igbo Leaders with President Goodluck Jonathan and Vice President Namadi Sambo

The Zone which mobilized their own unlike some other zones to vote massively for Jonathan in the presidential election that saw him through to the uppermost seat of government took the president as their own though hail from South -South zone. The Southeast choice for the President as against the wooing by the Congress for Progressive Change presidential candidate, General Muhammad Buhari who even promised to ensure that a president from the Ibo extraction mounts on the coveted seat after his tenure should he be supported by the zone during the April 2011 presidential poll is understandable, which reason bordered on the facts that the some South-South ancestral history roots from the Ibos through the great founder, King Jaja of Opobo and therefore, the nearest kinsmen of the Ibos of southeast. So, this justifies in the circumstance, a natural alliance with their brothers to vote for the president and especially when delegates from South-South Elders Forum met with their Eastern brothers to bury all hatchets and join forces together to support the presidential bid of Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. It is not unreasonable anticipation to believe that GEJ government will favour the southeast more than the Buhari’s government or any other government led by a Northern and Southwest candidates in a good politics permutation, having experienced long years of neglect from previous north/southwest led governments and by virtue of existing relationship. This anticipation is gradually becoming an illusion considering the fact that no visible transformation in the zone despite a hurricane-like transformation sweeping across the Niger delta states in terms of infrastructure and manpower development as dividend from Jonathan led government and Amnesty programme and some parts of the North where federal government is visibly engaged in road and dam constructions and other projects.

The fact that a good number of Ibo personalities are in Jonathan’s government cannot be denied, for instance, the Chief of Army Staff, Major general Ihejirika, a height which no Ibo man had been allowed to attain in military service, after forty years of civil war. This gesture of his is really commendable.

Minister of Finance, Dr.Mrs Ngozi Okonjo Iwuala, Secretary to the Federal government, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, Minister of power, Mr Barth Nnaji etc. Where as this is commendable effort of his, notwithstanding, it is not the type of reward expected from Mr. President for a zone that has been neglected by the Federal government since the end of Civil War. The people of southeast needs projects that will benefit it’s populous unemployed masses having been disadvantaged in this area in corporate institutions due to tribal sentiments. It is not new to say that Nigeria of present, skewed employment opportunities into government owned and public establishments to the favour of indigenes where the establishments are found and tribes where promoters and managers of the institutions are from.

Lt.General Azubike Ihejirika,Chief of Army Staff of Nigeria (COAS)

The appointments though good enrich the individuals’ bank accounts without positive impact on the citizenry of the zone who lined up in the scorching sun on polls day to vote for Mr. President. It tends to alienate these beneficiaries from identifying with the plight of the zone and to speak against the benefactors on the marginalization of the southeast zone. Sometimes these beneficiaries of appointments are children of political godfathers and friends invited from abroad to take jobs they never worked for. While this writing is not exhibiting jealousy for the privileged few but emphasizing on what the Igbo masses need more to make life better. Had these privileged few take advantage of the position to offer jobs to their own people like other ethnic groups of Hausa and Yoruba for instance unemployment would be reduced by that number empowered with the jobs.

Professor Barth Nnaji,Minister for Power

The vote from appointees in government alone could not have translated into a win for the president from the zone therefore it is unfair to count on political appointments to the zone as a befitting compensation for a people that trooped out in mass to endorse the president’s election bid. The zone needs to be compensated adequately by ensuring that the high –in- number unemployed youth who defied the heat of that day are given a platform for employment.

The Ibos thought that with Jonathan there could be a reversal of marginalization and sidelining schemes of events meted on the zone before now which left too many graduates unemployed being the highest churner of graduates every year and having education as the second best industry. Ibos also expected some economic policies that would help to restore the region as one of the economic hub of the nation especially now the government has began again to create presence in the zones of the federation. How long it will take the president to turn his eyes towards the Southeast zone is still unknown considering the fact that appreciable developmental balls have been set rolling in other zones by his administration.

No one will blame the president for any inherited projects in progress which were not signed by his office but will not be exonerated for excluding the zone from projects yet to be executed though signed by orchestras of Southeast marginalization and underdevelopment before him. For instance, the building of second River Niger bridge and West-East road have been projects of promise for political campaign purposes to gain votes from southeast for years now. Each successive government takes advantage of the importance of these projects to the people to woo the zone for support and never fulfill their promises to a logical conclusion despite the dilapedating state of the bridge.

River Niger Bridge,A gate way to Southeast zone.

Some States of the Southeast ( Abia and Imo) are among the Niger Delta States which suppose to be in the developmental plan of Niger Delta Development Commission and since Niger Delta projects kicked off in 1998 nothing visible has being done in these States. The much heard of Niger Delta Development Commission presence in the zone is the joint dredging of Nwaorie River with Imo state government and no other physical development has been recorded after some years of establishment.

This, the president is expected to start addressing and not to narrow efforts to Bayelsa, Rivers and Cross River States only though these are centers where agitation and militancy were highest. But no one can rule out totally the unlikely participation of youth from southeast in the defunct militant activities in the rich oil States for instance the notorious kidnapper and Armed robber, Osisikankwu and his group were said to be members of a militant group before the amnesty programme commenced and the group vied into the later activities of robbery and kidnapping or would the Federal government expect the youth from the region to take up arms for a turn of rampage to secure attention from the president. It is obvious that the Ibos employ uncommon zeal and determination to achieve an objective they are convinced of and this will greatly unsettle the president who is still grappling with insecurity caused by Boko Haram.

Osisikankwu's dead body displayed and inspected by Governor Orji

Nigerians are witness to the truth that youths from the axis have remained co-operative and cool headed to see the country move forward since after the civil war despite obvious maltreatment from successive governments and provocations from the North until lately when it appears that every hope to address injustice to the zone is ending in futility that enabled the emergence of Movement for actualization of sovereign state of Biafra to clamour for freedom from orchestrated injustice by the Nigerian state. If the imbalances are boldly address by this near kinsman there might not be need for further agitation from Movement for Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra.

 

Chief Ralph Uwazuruike,Leader of MASSOB.

Will it be appropriate for the zone to suffer another disappointment from one that was believed to identify with the plight of the zone once again in the Nigeria Entity?

What could explain better the choice by Mr. President to exclude the southeast zone from the proposed Greenfield Refineries meant to kick off in July this year being oil producing zone despite a concluded arrangement a state in the zone had with the Nigeria National Petroleum Company since 2010.

On Tuesday, August 17, 2010 NNPC and Imo State Government strategic partnership agreement to build a Greenfield refinery in the state to serve the south east zone need for fuel and provide employment for the teeming graduates was published in the newspaper. Here is the publication reproduced;

             Refinery Slated for Imo State

Date: Tuesday, August 17, 2010

According to NNPC the Nigerian southern state of Imo will have a refinery constructed there. NNPC and the government of Imo state said that the new refinery was being built to boost employment in the region and help reduce the country’s reliance on imported fuel.

“The Imo state government is to go into a strategic partnership with NNPC to establish a greenfield refinery in the state,” NNPC reported in a statement. The state-run firm did not offer any details on the size or cost of the project.
NNPC and China State Construction Engineering Corp (CSCEC) announced earlier this year that they were trying to secure $23 billion in funding to build three refineries and a fuel complex, which would add an additional 750,000 bpd to Nigeria’s refining capacity.

How come the state is now excluded when the refineries are to be built by Jonathan’s administration? Why will the Southeast not first be considered for test of pilot projects in Nigeria seeing that the zone has the population, market, capital and manpower for any kind of projects more than any other zone? Why the zone must be considered later which never come in Nigerian history?

It is obvious that the choice of Bayelsa and Kogi for the new refineries lacked equity, justice and fair play and needs reversal to reflect justice which the president can do if he chooses. The four existing refineries which the government promised to fully recover and made to produce to full capacity are located in the North (kaduna) and South-South (Rivers) zones, why another in both the South-South and North again instead of Southeast. Going by federal character which the Government has been adopting in sharing of offices and other things South East and South west need to get fair share of building a refinery each. This justifies the building of one in Lagos for South west which should have been the lot of Ondo state being an oil producing state. But for the abundance of labour force in Lagos, new located oil deposit in Lekki area, population and nearness to Ondo, the choice for Lagos can be understandable. That of Bayelsa could be primarily to impress his people which also Oil producing state but that of Kogi needs convincing explanations to be justified, though as the chief executive of the Nation he has right to take certain decisions.

The President is robbing the Ibos to impress the North by siting a refinery meant for the zone at Kogi state.

The South east contributes about 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day out of about 2,500,000 being produced in the country. Kogi is not Oil producing state like Ondo or Imo state.

Thanks to Shell Petroleum Development Corporation who recently announced a concluded plan to build a Gas production plant worth $3.5 billion dollars in Imo state of southeast to help in alleviating unemployment rate in the zone. Drawing a development plan for the zone and encouraging the multinationals to invest in the area will go a long way to open up the zone for greater commercial activities.

 

Ibos constituted a greater percentage of this 60,000 unemployed graduates scrambling for job test

at National Drug Law and Enforcement Agency in Lagos recently.

From Abia to Ebonyi states of Southeast zone are abundant deposits of oil which Federal government has discovered long ago before independence and has remained untapped since then according to publication by Sun newspaper. Colonial documents and evidences prove that oil was first found in Ebonyi, Anambra and Enugu States around 83 years ago and more than 20 years before the deposit found in Oloibori. In fact Shell Camp in Owerri, the State capital of Imo State was the first place settled by Shell Petroleum Company for exploration around the area before moving down to Port Harcourt due to some disagreement that ensued between the then Eze (king) Njemanze and the Company. The Sun newspaper of 26^th March 2011 in her write up entitled “Uncelebrated Oil find” took four pages to write about oil deposits in the Southeast which federal government willingly refused to explore and would not pass laws to empower States or regions to explore mineral deposits found in their own areas. At Edda in Ebonyi State the oil find was on February 1928 while Oloibiri in Bayelsa was in 1950’s. The file;No.OG/2003, Subject; Discovery of Oil in Afikpo Division by Mr. L. H. Shelton, then Divisional Officer (D.O) of the British Colonial government was deposited at the archives on January 15, 1956 according to Sun investigations. In Anam in Anambra State, the trigonometric Beacon, with which Shell marked the oil drilling point, still stands since April1972, as clearly marked on the concrete triangular datum point. The engraved mark reads; SBPC, AJIRE 1, April 1972. In Awgu in Enugu State the story of oil find is the same. Although the detail of the file content cannot be readily located but a file in the index written “Oil finds in the Southern Region of Nigeria” in a volume of the index marked ‘Udi Division’ was found. These are just few of the places with abundant oil deposits in the Southeast zone. Then the questions are; what does the federal government of Nigeria intends to do with these neglected oil fields since going by government’s purported expert studies, oil deposit in Nigeria may likely dry up within the next 35 years and for which reason campaign to explore none oil sector is aggressively pursued. What sense of hostility to deny the people a right to tap their God given resources to help their children out of unemployment scourge while refusing to explore the same to develop the area and in another hand expend billions of dollars yearly in search for oil deposit in the Chad basin to appease the north? Since 1977 the country has searched in vain to find oil in the Chad and with new resolve by the President to continue the futile search and recently a Senator from the north was justifying on the Tele, the 185 billion naira budgeted for further oil prospecting in the basin this year. This excludes billions of naira being invested yearly in the North to boost agriculture to encourage farmers who exercise right on their products to decide the prices. These, being good as it may why would the government continue to deny the zone least consideration of things that will benefit their subjects. In siting bio-fuel Industrial plants estimated to cost the government #414bn in order to boost electricity, manufacturing, create about 120,000 direct and 750,000 indirect jobs and attract foreign investments across the 14 pilot states on completion none of the states in the southeast is named a beneficiary of the said project. Named beneficiary States include, Ondo, Osun, Kwara, Kogi, Benue, Gombe, Bauchi, Zamfara, Kano, Kaduna, Nasarawa and Plateau. Kogi again benefited from Bio-fuel pilot industrial plant without any in the Southeast. Kano and Kaduna, big cities that have already been developed by the government at the center received consideration while the long forsaken states capitals remained where they are.

Since getting jobs outside one’s place of origin continues to get difficult because of tribal sentiments, it therefore means that the workforce from the zone will continue to suffer unemployment and also migrate out of the zone in search of greener pasture. In every big city in Nigeria especially Lagos and Abuja census has shown that more than ninety percent of street and highways hawkers are Ibos who are striving to make ends meet. Lack of employment for army of graduates from the zone on yearly basis has caused many others to develop cold spirit towards education. This decline of interest among boys from the zone have concerned citizens harped publicly to the hearing of the central government without intervention of the later. So, what will Jonathan’s administration do for the Ibos now that he is taking education to the door steps of Almajiris and infrastructures for sustainable development to other zones?

The emigration to other zone has continued to expose and endanger the lives of Southeast indigenes and left them at the mercy of the host communities. Evidence is the thousands of lives of Southeast origin claimed by various riots in the country and recently the Boko haram terrorist activities in the North. Also properties worth several billions belonging to people of the zone are torched from time to time in various places in Nigeria. This predetermined neglect and corner cutting by the federal government account largely the underdeveloped state of the zone while Ibos compelled by necessity becomes the vanguard of development of other zones.

The President should know that the Southeast deserve more than partnering with Imo state to build a cassava processing plant which cannot adequately offer employment to a few thousands from the southeast. The zone needs that refinery and other multinational companies’ presence that will attract other allied companies to create jobs in the zone. The children from the zone are becoming uncomfortable to live outside the zone for any reason since their security is doubtful.

If Mr. President be indeed an Ibo in the flesh or in the mind, then should make creation of jobs in the zone a priority by creating enabling government presence to harness the productive potentials of the region. The southeast needs only a little government assistance to bounce back to greatness which Mr. President has ability to do within his short choice tenure. Besides, the need for southeastern governors to team up and bid for oil blocks or seek for approval from the federal government of Nigeria to explore the neglected oil fields in the zone to better the life of the citizenry is here with us.