SOUTH-SOUTH DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION: GOOD FOR THE REGION, NOT THE BEST FOR IJAW NATION

By Tobouke JEMINE

My recent intimation with a video clip of the
the immediate past Governor of Bayelsa State and current Senator Representing Bayelsa West, Chief Henry Seriake Dickson, in which he was advocating for the establishment of a South-South Development Commission, chased the natural guest of the night from my bedroom — an issue I’ve often pondered.

Sen. Dickson eloquently clarified that Commissions like OMPADEC and the NDDC were established to meet the demands of resource-based areas, and went on to cite states like Abia, Imo, and Ondo, which are not part of the South-South region, but are beneficiaries of commissions like the NDDC.

Our legislators may give their stamp of approval to this Bill. But I do not think that, at this point, South-South Development Commission should be prioritized by the Izon-blooded Legislators in the national halls of lawmakers. I see something better, and I hope, they will see something far better.

I take this diversion from the Templates of Our Socio-Political and Economic History. HISTORY is replete with the enormous sacrifices the IJAW NATION has been making on behalf of the ethnic nationalities in the SOUTH-SOUTH and the NIGERDELTA as a whole, right from the days of anti-colonialism. Our revered father, Chief Harold Dappa-Biriye was in his twenties when he began to fight the cause of the minorities of the Niger-Delta.

Pa Dappa-Biriye was a prominent figure in the fight for minority rights in the Niger Delta region. He founded the Niger Delta Congress, a socio-political organization aimed at uniting the ethnic nationalities of the Niger Delta to achieve economic and political autonomy . In response to the agitations he spearheaded, in 1957, the British Government appointed Sir Henry Willink, a British lawyer and constitutional expert to look into the concerns and fears of the minorities of the emerging nation.

The establishment of the Niger Delta Development Board and the creation of Rivers State in 1967 were offsprings of the sweats and blood of the Harold Dappa-Biriyes, and the Isaac Boros of the Ijaw Nation. They championed the rights of all the ethnic groups in the Niger Delta.

Adaka Boro did not call his Fidel-Castroic dream Ijaw Republic, but he called its THE NIGER-DELTA REPUBLIC, giving emphatic facts to the Fact that the IJAW MAN is accommodating, hospitable, and inclusive in his socio-political orientation. But have we being receiving symbiotic responses for our age- long brotherly kindness?

Consider the civil and environmental rights movement of Kenule Saro-Wiwa! His legacy is tied to the struggles of the Ogoni people. His identification with the plights and agonies of the Ogonis, rather than the broader Niger Delta region did immense justice to the Ogoni Bill of Rights. The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), gained international recognition because Saro-Wiwa was visionary, focused, specific and single-coloured in his strides for the Survival and Liberty of his people.

That Ogoniland is still in the wilderness is not the making of Saro-Wiwa, but the making of men and women who are not brave enough, who are not willing to respond to the mantle of Ken Saro-Wiwa.

But my main task here is to point out that the IJAW NATION SHOULD PRIORITIZE SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT UNDER THE IJAW IDENTITY, rather than solely associating with the broader Niger Delta or South-South regions. This distinction would allow the Ijaw people to address their unique challenges and advocate for their specific interests.

Today, we can tell that all the agencies that the Nigerian government has been creating to address our challenges and plights, even before the British flag was hoisted, have yielded no sustainable results in our lives and lands; our neighbours who did not identify with our lethal agitation for freedom and development are now fighting to occupy the Oval Office of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, and We’ve been mocked and relegated to the back pew in Rivers — a state that flowed into existence through our rivers and rivulets of sweats and blood.

Caution: shouldn’t we re-assess our actions, retrace our steps, return to our ancestral harmony, ocean of sagacity and put the IZON HOUSE inorder before we continue to play the Big Brother role in the affairs of the Niger Delta and the South-South?

WE SHOULD AGITATE FOR RIVERINE NIGER DELTA DEVELOPMENT MINISTRY.

Or better still, to be more specific, RIVERINE NIGER-DELTA INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION.

To the Ijaw Nation, I say this, and you do not need to be told that 95% of Ijaw People live in the aquatic, marine, littoral, and coastal regions of the earth of Africa.

But establishing Aquatic Niger Delta Development Commission is a first-layer solution to the developmental challenges of Ijawland. The lack of infrastructures in our communities cannot be effectively tackled by the realities in the Nigerian system. STATE creation and the implementations of the Recommendations of the Mitee-Led Technical Committee on the Niger Delta are the PANACEA to our plights.

If, in this nation, a people are clamouring for a Separate Sun for the East, what strong reasons do we have not to seek and knock for the righteousness of Toru-Ebe and Oil Rivers States? But we are here in the name of Development Commission…

Hence, we appeal to the Sen.Seriake Dicksons of Bayelsa West, the Hon. Donald Ojogos of Ilaje/Ese-Odo Federal Constituency in Ondo State, the Sen. Ipalibo Banigos of Rivers West Senatorial District, the Hon. Julius Pondis of Burutu Federal Constituency in Delta State, and their legislative comrades across the creeks and wetlands of the Niger Delta to work in unison and bring this Great Bill into fruition.

Justice!Peace!!! Progress!!! for Ijaw Nation.

© Tobouke Jemine
October 4, 2024