Niger Delta:The Victor Attah Message—Kanayo Esinulo

Why do many in the Niger Delta listen to Obong Attah when he speaks or advises on matters of the region and the nation? The former chief servant at Uyo is an important voice. Two, he speaks on the affairs of the region with profound insight and courage. Three, he demonstrated during his tenure as governor that peace and development are achievable, and must not be constrained by obvious limitations and bureaucratic obstacles from Abuja. Four, Attah has the advantage of seeing Nigerian politics from the inside, and his training as an architect and town planner gives him the licence to make the critical suggestions he often makes on how to tackle the problems of the region, so that “God will spare this nation, Nigeria, from chaos, anarchy and doom”.

In a recent intervention on how to halt militancy and restiveness in the region and get things moving again, Attah said, and I quote him: “It bears repetition to state that, in the final analysis, only three things need to be done in the Niger Delta to end all militancy and restiveness, and bring about permanent peace, and these are: massive infrastructural and human development, employment creation and restoration of human dignity….For me, the answer to the physical development of the Niger Delta Region, the creation of employment opportunities and the restoration of human dignity, is in the development of new towns under a coordinated regional plan.” Attah then went ahead to give examples of countries which, by sheer deliberate policies, created new towns, and these successes helped those governments to kill many birds with just one stone. He was specific in his suggestions on the four possible locations from where the infrastructural development could take off.

Attah knows and understands the temperament and the major aspirations of the people of the region, much more than I can perhaps make clear here. His position is that: “The normal growth and development pattern in any country is that the area with revenue resource at the time benefits the most and develops the quickest. Since every part of the country has got a revenue resource, the development shifts until the entire country is effectively developed. In America, during the gold rush, those areas with gold developed more rapidly than any others; with commerce, New York and other port cities boomed; agriculture helped the development of other parts of the country; oil and gas accounted for the development of New Orleans and, more recently, Texas. That has always been the pattern. It cannot be different in Nigeria “.

Yes, many informed indigenes of the region listen to Obong Attah because he speaks with the confidence and authority of someone who has done a good study of the Niger Delta environment. And he has. He pioneered the idea of marginal oil fields at a time the Emperor of Abuja would not give any brilliant idea a chance to fly. After initial skepticism, Attah’s historic initiative became an idea whose time had come. In Attah’s own words: “Today, the entire country is reaping the benefit because, as production by the major oil companies dwindles, the marginal fields, which are owned by the locals and other Nigerians, are beginning to add to our total volume of production.”

As the rulers of Nigeria continue in their search for solutions to the expanding frontiers of what is beginning to look like a liberation struggle in the Niger Delta, it seems to me obvious that they have very limited options: they should listen to voices like those of Attah, and to do the right thing for the aggrieved people of the Niger Delta or the existing chaos and uncertainties would continue. Yes, in the eyes of those of us who have been following this man’s career and strategic contributions to our dear country with some interest, Obong Victor Attah is the new elder statesman in town… Believe it or not!