Post Amnesty – the Imo State perspective

It appears there are some Nigerians who still do not understand the problems of the Niger Delta region. A typical example is the case of the Speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly who cried out loud last week that Imo State should be given the same treatment as other Niger Delta States in the post Amnesty deal of the Federal Government of Nigeria.

Chief Goodluck Opiah, Speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly was reported to have told reporters at the Owerri Airport that Imo State should be treated like any other Niger Delta State because “we suffer the same ecological, economical and mental problems as the other States”. I couldn’t agree more with Chief Opiah. Who does not know that, pretty much like Bayelsa State, Imo State does not have a single kilometre of Federal Roads, no Federal Secretariat, no Higher Institution, no Airport – in fact not a single project belonging to the Federal Government.

It is very sad that people like Chief Opiah can confuse the developmental problems of the Niger Delta with the ecological problems caused by oil prospecting companies in the Niger Delta region. They are two different problems, Chief. The first is as a result of the deliberate neglect of the Niger Delta by successive governments resulting in the Niger Delta region looking like another country – stuck in the stone age as it were. The second is a necessary bye product of the activities of oil prospecting Multinationals operating in the area.

Now I know why the problem of the Niger Delta has been treated with kid gloves till date. Many Nigerians do not travel around the country so they cannot imagine what the Niger Delta looks like. Chief Opiah will do well to ask other Nigerians who have been to the heart of the Niger Delta – it is hell in heaven!

Tata, everybody

Napoleon