Niger Delta needs positive action to address crisis -ERA

The Head, Legal Resources of the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), Prince Chima Williams, has admonished stakeholders in the Niger Delta region to be precise on their demands for the advancement of the region so as not to fall into the trap of demanding for too little in their haste.

He made the admonition in an exclusive chat with Daily Times in Warri, Delta state, on Tuesday. According to him the problems being faced by the people of the Niger Delta region requires a holistic approach and not the piecemeal method some of the stakeholders are inadvertently adopting in the cause of making their demands.

“The problems confronting the people of the Niger Delta are gargantuan in nature. They should not be handled with kids’ gloves. We are talking of problems of environmental degradation.

“The resort to dialogue is a good development. It is good that we iron out the Niger Delta crisis through dialogue and roundtable discussion.

Jaw jaw is much better than war war. When we fail to discuss we create a situation of anarchy. All war fare has ended up in discussions on a roundtable. The opportunity that the Federal Government has provided for discussion with the Niger Delta elders is welcomed.

“However, you may have a good case but the way you present your case can destroy its genuineness. That is exactly what we are seeing in the demands by the elders. The major problem in the Niger Delta is the environmental destruction occasioned by oil production and other related activities in the region.

“One would have expected the elders would have put their thoughts together in terms of a white paper on the challenges and the solutions to issues in the region. In this wise, what should have been paramount is how to restore the region to its glorious agrarian past where food production and fishing sustained the economy of the region before the advent of oil.

“That should have been the number one demand. Restoration can only be achieved through the cleaning up of the environment. The cleanup of Ogoniland should have been a good prototype. Without doing the cleanup the people will continue to live in poverty.”