[allAfrica.com] [AED_Fundraising_Gala_Dinner_2004] 'How to Achieve Peace in Niger Delta' This Day (Lagos) NEWS October 29, 2004 Posted to the web October 29, 2004 By Donald Andoor Port Harcourt And Onwuka Nzeshi in Warri Traditional rulers and leaders of thought from the Niger Delta region yesterday unanimously said there could not be law and order in the area unless there is justice. They also re-echoed their call on the Federal Government to convene a sovereign national conference for the purpose of discussing the future of the country and relationship between its ethnic nationalities. Also yesterday, the British government expressed concern over the safety of its nationals and investment in the oil rich Niger Delta region with the growing agitation by ethnic militias in the area. The stake holders individually canvassed their position at a one day workshop with the theme: "Law and Order of the Integrated Master Plan of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), held in Port Harcourt. First governor of Rivers State, King Alfred Diete Spiff who opened the flood gate of rejection on the law and order section of the NDDC integrated master plan noted that "without justice for the Niger Delta people there cannot be order." He said as far as there is injustice arising from the unfair distribution of the resources accruing from the oil wealth of the Niger Delta region "people will continue to agitate for their rights..." "This will come in the form of what others term as restiveness...and this will continue until they are given their rightful due," he said. Dr. Elechi Amadi who reviewed the situation in the country concluded that Nigeria has comprehensive legal statutes for dealing with every situation but that what is lacking is justice and fairness. He wondered why the people of the Niger Delta region should suffer depravity when 90 percent of the wealth of the nation comes from oil that is being drilled from the region. According to him, "the issue of resource control is the main issue. You cannot oppress a person and not want him to ask for his right even when he is due for that right." He warned that as far as the people are denied access to good roads, water, good health system and they remain hungry, "you cannot tell them to maintain law and order." The Amanyanabo of Kalabari Kingdom, Prof. Theophilus J. Princewill, called on the Federal Government to call a "national conference" of all the ethnic nationalities in this country to fashion an acceptable constitution that will take care of all grievances from different sections of the country. He recalled how since independence, the various constitutions were in one way or another foisted on the people without their representatives making aceptable inputs. He was of the view that unless that was done "there will be no law and order because the people are not satisfied with the present arrangement." Former Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Chief R. R. Briggs said federalism should be fully implemented and not in bits and pieces. He recalled how in those days of the "groundnut pyramids in the north, cocoa in the west and palm oil in the south, it was 50 percent derivation. But why is it now that is oil in the South-south we have only 13 percent derivation?" he asked. "So if government wants law and order and peace then it cannot impose injustice and still think there will be law and order," he said. In Warri the British government through its Deputy High Commissioner in Nigeria, Mr. David Wyatts, called on the Federal Government to halt the growing incidents of terrorism so as not to jeopardise bilateral economic and political relations between Nigeria and Britain. The deputy high commissioner said his country is worried for its over 1,500 citizens working in the oil industry in Nigeria especially with the recent acts of violence in Port Harcourt. Wyatts who led a delegation from the High Commission on visits to key personalities in Delta State said working in the volatile region had become more problematic for Britons after many of them fled from Warri to Port Harcourt due to ethnic violence in Delta State only to fall into the midst of militant cult groups in Rivers State. Wyatts said British nationals would only work and contribute their best to the Nigerian oil industry when the safety of their lives is guaranteed. He also said British oil firms would be willing to invest more in the country when the security of their investments could be guaranteed. The delegation visited Chief Edwin Clark, an Ijaw leader, at his Kiagbodo country home. On the entourage were the Head of African Department at the High Commission, Mr. Tim Hitchels; the Political Adviser, Mr. Alisadair Walker and Melvyn Herthron, a consul at the High Commission. Clark, a former minsiter for Information told the visiting diplomats that the Niger Delta would have been the most peaceful place but for the feelings of neglect, marginalisation and impoverishment of its people. He admitted that inter-ethnic feuds which sometimes heat up the region were the products of a climate of frustration brought upon the region by the Nigerian State. According to Clark, the inter-ethnic crises were like brotherly squabbles, but the bigger quarrel was between the aborigines of the Niger-Delta and the Nigerian State on account of the sharing formula of the multi-billion dollar proceeds the nation earn from oil. Describing the sharing formular as inequitable, unjust and unfair, Clark said it was a paradox that those whose lands bear the oil are excluded from the oil industry and denied the benefits accruing from the resource. He, however, gave assurance that the various ethnic groups especially the Ijaw, Itsekiri and Urhobo in Warri are now resolute in the pursuit of peaceful co-existence. "We won't fight again. We want to assure you that all the warring tribes are now prepared to live together because we actually are victims of the same state oppression. We will ensure we live peacefully to allow the oil firms operate freely," Clark said.   =============================================================================   Copyright © 2004 This Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). =============================================================================