President General of the Urhobo Progress Union (UPU), Olorogun Moses Taiga has said the probe of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) is just a token of the problems in the country.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Olorogun Taiga, who stated this in an interview with newsmen recently, said it is a shame to that the wealth of the nation is being abused.
He attributed the rot in the NDDC to the problem of leadership, stressing that if the leadership is firm and proper and contracts are given out properly, things would be different.
On NNDC Probe
Every problem must have a cause and effect. I think the NDDC probe is not the beginning, but just a token of the problems in the country. It is a shame that what we all fought for to improve the well-being of the people who produce the wealth of this nation is being abused. I don’t expect to see anything good from the issue of this probe as it is just a drama. We have seen this type of thing before. For us in the UPU, we are not just interested in the NDDC probe only, we are calling on the President to swear in our son, Olorogun Bernard Okumagba, as the Managing Director of the NDDC, as earlier approved.
On Niger Deltans being their biggest enemies
I don’t think that criticism is fair. What is the level of the contracts of NDDC that the indigenes of Niger Delta have taken? We don’t know, but we are waiting for the result of the forensic audit which I don’t believe anything good will come out from. But let us say we have a list of all the people that started taking contracts since the NDDC was formed. How many of those are from the Niger Delta and what is the level of the activities of all these people? What about the problems that happened at Ogoni with Shell? There are problems that you don’t accuse the people that produce the wealth of this country by saying they caused those problems for themselves.
The issue is that NDDC had always lacked good leadership. If the leadership is firm and proper and contracts are given out properly and educated people, who know how to run institutions take charge, things will be different. I am talking from experience because I started my career working for the Nigerian Industrial Development Bank, NIDB. Development institutions need to be run and organized by people who are trained in that direction. It is not so much about the beneficiaries who are Niger Deltans but leadership in the running of these institutions.
On Niger Delta being over pampered (13% derivation et all)
Well, I think 13% derivation became a reality as a result of the governors from that area that were very strong on resource control. If the Niger Delta got a share of that which they produce, why will it be over pampering? I think it was done at that time by President Yar A’dua to calm the area which had become restive. It is not an issue of pampering, but an issue of giving to them that which they are entitled to. The way I see it that the governors are supposed to be distributing it, they are distributing that wealth in proportion to the production derived from each area. So, I don’t see it as pampering.
On Infrastructure and Performances of governors
I am looking at what is happening with the Urhobo nation. I am calling on the federal government to provide infrastructure which is our fair share. I am not looking beyond the nation of Urhobo, the fourth largest tribe in this country…We are not being fairly treated. I am demanding infrastructural development for the Urhobo area. I am demanding adequate utilization of our resources – gas, to give us electricity, etc. All the oil companies operating in our area should come back. FG is even insisting that oil companies should go back to their areas of production. We are calling on Shell to come back to Urhobo land. We are calling on Chevron to expand its activities to include Urhobo land. We are calling on Seplat to continue production activities in Urhobo land and we are calling on Heritage to come to do same. Urhobo land had one time the largest facilities in the whole country. We want development from them.
On the (Niger Delta) governors, some of my colleagues and equivalent of UPU in other ethnic groups have cried out loud that the governors are not doing enough for our development. They need to do a lot more than what they are doing for us.
Reviving the Ports in Urhobo land
This issue was cardinal when we met the President in June, 2018. He said he was going to look at it. In the case of Uvwie and Ukpe land, he said if it is indeed true, he is going to reverse them back to us. But like most things in Nigeria, you have to keep knocking and knocking on the door until you get your answer. Same thing with the port. That Sapele port has nine bases, and the navy is only using one. They are under utilizing the ports. So, we said they can keep using their own but that they should restore the rest back to us so that we can get shipping companies to bring their products direct, to Sapele, instead of the congestion problem in Apapa.
Security
On May 19, 2020, the Delta state Governor, His Excellency, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, made a pronouncement and decided to set up a state community police committee and state community advisory committee. The Co-Chairman of the advisory committee was the Chairman of the council of Traditional Rulers and the state community policy committee was made up of various youth bodies, NGOs, etc. That is a background of the state government saying that it will establish a security outfit to be called operation Delta Hawk. It will work with vigilante groups, security agencies and other relevant stakeholders.
I know that there is the talk of setting up an Ámotekun’ which is the South-West concept. For now, let’s concern ourselves with Operation Delta Hawk for a place like Delta which is big before we expand to include other states in the Niger Delta.
The issue is, first, can we establish the operation Delta Hawk properly? We are conscious about security because we know that without it, there is no room for investors and investments. We do need adequate security. There is the issue of the herdsmen who are creating a lot of problems in our area. Only recently, the women in Oviri Olowu, in Ughelli South LGA took it upon themselves and decided that they were going to fight the herdsmen. Security is an item we should always put on the front burner.
On 2023 Governorship Elections and zoning
The reality is, though we are the largest constituting unit in Delta, we cannot win alone. Therefore, we need to work with our neighbours. Whether with the three Is-the ijaws, Isokos or the Itsekiris or go up north to the Aniomas, Ukwanis and Osiminis. Therefore, the UPU will work hard to coordinate the Urhobo nation, such that we will work in tandem with our neighbours. We will work with our neighbours. Urhobo has only eight local governments, and a candidate needs to score at least 25 per cent of the votes in three local government areas to emerge governor we cannot do it alone. also, though we are the major ethnic group, we do not want to be seen as dominating. These are the initial stages. We will work with our neighbours to unite the state and the UPU will liaise political parties to ensure that we select the best candidates in Urhobo land. We will showcase the candidates and get our neighbours to give us support to ensure a candidate of Urhobo origin emerges the next governor of Delta State. But UPU will remain a socio-cultural body
Youth Wing
By the nature of youths, there is always agitation for offices. We have settled the issue of the youth wing now. We have appointed Ovie Ebireri as the President of the Ukoko R’ Ighele R’Urhobo. He was the deputy president in the last regime. Once the President-General of UPU has appointed and anointed a candidate, I don’t understand any other group making noise in the newspapers. The Ovie Ebireri executive is the only group known to us and was legitimately sworn in.
Achievements
Some of the items on our campaign promises include the renovation of Urhobo college, establishment of an Urhobo University, setting up of a microfinance bank, etc. On the microfinance, we actually appointed a consultant, a management team, a three-man interim board chaired by Mr. Albert Esiri. At that time, the CBN stopped licensing of microfinance banks because it wanted to raise their capital base. For two years, we were waiting for the revised approval of the minimum capital for the establishment of a microfinance bank. Until the central bank approved late last year, we couldn’t proceed. From what we had set up before, we approached all the 24 kingdoms to set up a microfinance that is called the Okugbe microfinance bank. We asked kingdoms to nominate individuals in their kingdom that will own at least five per cent of the bank to ensure it is not owned by one person or few persons. We were moving well except for the delay of the CBN. Our initial plan of putting our microfinance bank is on. When Corona Virus is over, we intend to finish it up.
University
On the university, we set up a committee under Prof G.G. Darah that is doing the feasibility study and we have and we have had very good interest from Urhobo people. There are at least four communities in Urhobo land that have indicated interest in having the university sited on their land. Work is still on.