PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria, 3 October 2004 — As Nigeria marked an independence anniversary Friday, people living in the oil-producing Niger Delta lamented their deplorable living conditions despite the wealth around them.
Nigeria is Africa’s largest oil producer and OPEC’s sixth biggest oil exporter, accounting for some 2.3 million barrels per day. The bulk of it comes from the delta region, where multinationals have their bases in Port Harcourt.
As the West African country marked the 44th independence anniversary, people told AFP there was nothing to celebrate, since the vast majority still live in abject poverty.
“Much of our oil wealth is stolen by government officials and their cronies. Nothing in terms of development can be felt or seen by the people,” said Kingsley Ihua, a 40-year-old rights activist from Ogbakiri, near Port Harcourt.
“The situation is more pathetic in the delta. The people in Lagos and Abuja take our oil, develop their areas and leave us in abject poverty,” he said.
“The discovery of oil has been a curse rather than a blessing. The government and oil firms will come, extract oil from our soil and pollute our environment without giving anything in return,” Jonathan Kobani from the restive Ogoniland told AFP here.
Rivers State Governor Peter Odili said during the independence day rally Friday that the gang leaders have been arrested, without giving details.
“Government is worried about the growing incidence of cult and gang violence in the state. I want to inform you that those disturbing the peace of the people have been caged and arrested,” he said.
Prominent among gangs is the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force (NDPVF) led by Mujahid Dokubo Asari, who on Monday threatened to destroy oil installations and warned workers of multinationals to quit the region.
Asari has since Wednesday been in the capital Abuja for talks with President Olusegun Obasanjo and government officials to resolve the issue.
But Obasanjo, a former military head of state, on Friday warned that his government will not tolerate any “undue militancy” in the volatile region or any action that could compromise the majority interest.
Officials say Nigeria has earned over $360 billion (290 billion euros) since oil was discovered at Oloibiri in southern Rivers State by Anglo-Dutch giant Shell in 1957, but today the country’s external debts stand at a staggering $32 billion.
Despite the billions earned from oil, Nigeria is listed among 25 poorest countries in the world and placed 146th out of 162 on the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) index of social indicators.
On the World Health Organization index the West African country occupies 186th position out of 192 member countries for the state of its health infrastructures.
At independence in 1960, poverty affected only about 15 percent of the Nigerian population, according to official figures. By 1980, it has grown to 28 percent and further rose to 46 percent in 1985 and 66 percent in 1996 when the population was some 110 million people.
The poverty level in 2003 was about 80 percent of the country’s 130 million people, while an average Nigerian lives on less than one dollar per day, according to a UN figure.
“People are low now on hope. They see wealth and see dictatorship, plundering, obstination emanating from the leadership. Masses see the government of the rich to punish the poor for no reason,” Lagos-based human rights lawyer and critic Gani Fawehinmi said.
Writer and environmentalist Ken Saro-Wiwa was executed in November 1995 after he led a campaign against environmental degradation and destruction of ecosystem in Ogoniland, an oil-rich area in Niger Delta.
Kobani said hundreds of his people have been killed in confrontations with security agents employed by oil multinationals in the past years, while many more have died as a result of gang and cult violence.
According to Amnesty International, up to 500 people have been killed since August when two armed gangs battled over the control of oil resources in Port Harcourt and its environs. Government officials admitted that only 13 died. To stem the fighting, government sent troops to the region on Sept. 4 to dislodge the militant gangs causing troubles and stealing crude oil from pipelines to fund their armed struggle.
