On
the
strength of these robust achievements, why on earth will anyone
question
the competence of Hon. Kingsley Kuku? Is someone somewhere waging a
propaganda war against Kingsley Kuku and his office? Why this mindless
transport to this unedifying practice? Who in Ijawnation is conjuring
this weird feeling of dejavu of delusion because of some demonic
ambition? WHO?
At the wake of 2009, militancy in the Niger
Delta had reached its apogee and had virtually crippled Nigeria’s economy. Investment inflow to the upstream sub-sector
of the oil industry had dwindled drastically. The frequency of hostage taking
and violation of oil facilities had reached a frightening dimension.
Invariably, foreign investors felt that since Nigeria’s capacity as Africa’s
highest crude oil producer had been threatened, Angola and Ghana and South
Africa were preferred as investment destinations to Nigeria. Intense militancy
reduced Shell Petroleum Development Company’s production drop from one million
bpd to about 250,000 bpd. Other oil majors such as ExxonMobil, TotalFina Elf, and
Nigerian Agip Oil Coy also experienced heightened violation of their
facilities. Apart from sabotage, oil siphon oil siphoning rackets and
kidnappings Oil workers unions often embarked on strike to protest to protest
insecure working environment or the release of kidnapped workers. In 2008
alone, it was estimated that Nigeria lost over 3 trillion Naira as a result of
militancy in the Niger Delta.
Accordingly, the late President of Nigeria,
the Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua on June 25, 2009, proclaimed and granted
unconditional amnesty to combatants in the Niger Delta. The principal terms of
the amnesty included the willingness and readiness of militants to surrender
their arms, unconditionally, renounce militancy and sign an undertaking to this
effect. In return, the government pledged its commitment to institute
programmes to assist the disarmament, demobilization, rehabilitation and
reintegration of repentant militants.
In
Nigeria, the hitherto popular trend whereby certificate was seen as a meal
ticket is no longer in vogue. This is largely due to massive
unemployment. There are three categories of unemployed people: those who have
no marketable skills and talents even at the rudimentary level. The second
category comprises people who are educated but have no skills that can fit with
the dynamics of the economy. This has resulted in a mismatch between the
educational system and the economy. While the economy is not funding the
educational system adequately, the products of the system cannot function
effectively in any sector of the economy. The third category consists of people
who have skills that are needed by the economy but most of the real sectors of
the economy are moribund hence such skilled workers are often unemployed or at
best under-employed. With the passage ot time, unemployment poses a grave and
growing danger to the stability of Nigeria.
For the past couple of years, the unemployment
scenario has been worsened by the global economic recession. Under these turbulent times, a successful
economic development strategy must focus on improving the skills of the
workforce, especially the task of raising a formidable army of intermediate
manpower, reduce the cost of doing business through the massive provision of
infrastructure, entrenching a favourable tax regime and utilizing the
distinctive advantage at the disposal of the State to compete and thrive within
the context of the global economy. Again, the system should have built-in
checks to ensure that it is running in the right direction. As Winston
Churchill rightly said” However beautiful the strategy,
you should occasionally look at the results” It does appear that getting the
strategy right is the most crucial component in any policy implementation
process.
There is a critical
perspective of the Amnesty Programme in the Niger Delta scholars and analysts
have inadvertently omitted namely the Sustainability component of the programme. SD is a pattern of resources
use, which seeks to meet human needs of the present, but also for generations
to come. As popularized by the Brundtland Commission, SD is
defined as development
that "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs."
In fact, ‘sustainability" was employed
to describe an economy
"in equilibrium with basic ecological support systems." Translated
into human capacity building, sustainability is taken to mean endowing people
with skills, abilities and competences capable of manipulating economic
processes and at the same time providing a mechanism for employing such skilled
manpower to increase productivity.
In Nigeria, one of the programmes that need
built-in sustainability criteria is the Amnesty Programme of the Federal
Government. I am now convinced beyond any reasonable doubt that the Kingsley
Kuku administered Amnesty Programme, AP, has created tremendous impact in terms
of training Niger Delta youths and enhancing their capacities for a
re-engineered economy in the Region and by extension Nigeria. I have clear evidence that more than any
programme, the AP has been the most aggressive in terms of human capacity
building in all its ramifications.
Niger Delta youths have inundated the
training institutes in Ghana, South Africa, the Philippines, Russia, Ukraine,
India and so many countries around the world. Soon, the Niger Delta will produce
lots of pipeline and Under-water Welders, Pilots, Boat Builders, Seafarers,
Marine Engineers and ICT gurus among others. The most critical question then
would be: Where are we going to get these skilled youths either gainfully
employed or enable them employ themselves to deliver value for and enhance
productivity? This question has become all the more necessary because most of
the hitherto existing industries in the Niger Delta such as the Aluminum
Smelting Company at Ikot Abasi, scores of Industries such as Michelin, WaterGlass
Boat building Company, West African Glass Industries, Pabod Breweries, the
Cement Company at Okpella, National Fertilizer Company of Nigeria, NAFCON, to
mention just a few, have either gone underground or driven out of the country
by the excessively high operational costs due largely to the absence of needed
infrastructure. Perhaps, the only industries that would provide a short-term
buffer are the Liquefied Natural Gas Companies, the Refineries – which at
present are operating at less than desirable capacity, aggravated by policy
flip-flops, failed privatization attempts, worsened by the empire building
tendencies of the privileged few.
From the aforementioned scenario, what should
occupy the mind of the Federal Government is to revamp some of the moribund
industries, revitalize ailing ones and build new industries that are capable of
creating jobs for the skilled youths. Indeed, the Niger Delta people has to
pursue entrepreneurial capitalism and urgently too.
In economic sustainability, the key building
blocks are information, integration, and participation and inter-dependence. It
is a process which advocates the development of all aspects of human life
affecting sustenance, which involves the acquisition of skills, employment
generation and sustaining the productive capacities of industries. I share the
views of a Briton I met recently in Port Harcourt, who has worked in Nigeria
for 54 years now. He holds that the talents of all African countries put
together cannot match the huge talents in Nigeria, but according to him, the
missing link is entrepreneurial leadership. Absence of entrepreneurial capitalism
is one of the broken bridges we need to reconstruct, for that is the gap
between Nigeria’s enormous natural endowments and development.
Planning
requires that the Federal Government should provide an enabling environment for
private investors to use cutting
edge technology to invest massively in agriculture with specific emphasis on
our comparative advantage such as rice cultivation, shrimp cultivation, deep
sea fishing with trawlers, and other agro-allied industries, but this can only
happen when there is uninterrupted power supply, good transportation system,
which presupposes the existence of good road infrastructure. With the basic infrastructure and investment
security, the President does not need to embark on a trade delegation to scout
for investors; Foreign Direct Investment would be a natural corollary. The
implication is that for the AP to achieve its overarching objective, the
Federal Government in synergy with private investors and other international
development partners must consciously invest in the Amnesty Programme,
especially the post- skills acquisition period. The States should not be left
out in this endeavour.
In the
wake of 2009, militancy in the Niger Delta had virtually crippled Nigeria’s
economy. Investment inflow to the upstream sub-sector of the oil industry had diminished;
foreign investors who persevered to stay on became so exasperated that they had
to leave for Ghana, Angola, as crude oil production reached its nadir. In fact,
Nigeria’s capacity to grow meat its quota of oil production faced acute threat
such it had become obvious that peace, security and sustainable development was in
the region.
As pointed
out by the Amnesty Chief Hon. Kingsley Kuku, in 2008 alone, it was estimated
that Nigeria lost over N3 trillion as a result of militancy in the Niger Delta.
I think the successful management of the programme by the Presidency through
the Office of the Special Adviser on the PAP is one of the strongest statements
the Jonathan administration has made towards his commitment to developing the
region. Little wonder, that the office of the S.A. has sent more than 5,000
youths to both formal schools and various vocational training centres both
within and outside the country, with several others lined up for placement in
various reintegration centres in Nigeria. Through meaningful partnerships and synergy
between the Amnesty Programme operators on one hand and the Local Governments
Councils, States and international development partners on another. In the
Niger Delta Region, the establishment of the fish industry and the agric-sector
will create direct impact on the youths who are now acquiring various skills.
As pessimism gives way for robust optimism, the ingenuity of Hon. Kingsley Kuku
in monitoring and tracking the progress of the programme in the various
training institutes is commendable. Kuku’s uncanny ability to supervise the youths
is satisfactory and his ingenuity to navigate through conflictual turfs
demonstrates his passion for the job.
Every job and whatever success that is
achieved is a portrait of the person who does the job. When I compare the
early, turbulent of the programme and the strides now, I can only lavishly
concede that some measure of success has been achieved. I am persuaded to hold
the view that if performance is the sole criterion to autograph ones name in
excellence, Hon. Kinsley Kuku is doing just that. Ultimately, adequate funding
coupled with government’s political will are critical success factors that will
determine the sustainability of the PAP.
In discussing the fruits of the PAP, most
people point at the primacy of economic benefits of increased oil production
and relative peace in NDR. However, there are other intangible benefits that
far outweigh the economic boom heralded by the PAP. The transformational
activities offered by the PAP have extinguished the belief of the ex-agitators that resort to violence is
more powerful than nonviolence. Ex-combatants have been relieved of the
burden of violence and now, youths
have been given the opportunity of ccareer guidance to realize their aspirations
in terms of education, vocational and entrepreneurial skills.
With peace restored in the Region, oil
companies and associated companies reopened shut-in wells. The result is that Nigeria’s oil production increased from 800,000 Barrels
per day to 2.7 mbpd. With cessation of hostilities, government has assured the
international community fill its OPEC quota and be trusted by major consumer
nations to meet its contractual obligations. Oil bunkering reduced Signs that
the process would succeed accelerated economic development across the nation. With renewed confidence in the international oil market,
Nigeria has started to exercise enormous influence in OPEC. The increase in Nigeria’s quota of
oil production is a result of reduced incidence of kidnapping, which provides the right environment for the repairs of
oil and gas infrastructures damaged during the period of militant agitation. It
has also provided ample opportunity for contractors handling developmental
projects a lee-way to fast-track sustainable development in the NDR.
Now,
the amnesty programme has a limited mandate –that of disarmament,
Demobilization and Rehabilitation. Addressing newsmen in a press conference in
Abuja on Feb 9th 2012, the Chairman of the Presidential Amnesty
Programme Hon. Kingsley Kuku outlined the benefits of the Amnesty Programme to
include: entrenching peace in the Creeks, drastically reducing the menace of
kidnapping, destruction of oil facilities and increase in the nation’s quota of
oil production. He attributed the success achieved in the PAP to the
determination of President Jonathan to sustain peace and security of lives and
property in the Country, while at the same time creating a conducive environment
for oil production and foreign direct investment.
The
PAP boss made it clear that the programme has accommodated more than 26,000
youths from the Niger Delta Region, adding that although some youths vehemently
advocating for inclusion, the programme has closed. Only a proclamation by Mr.
President can open a new phase of the PAP. I have vehemently and consistently
advocated the need to accommodate more ex-combatants because most of the
potential beneficiaries were not enrolled because of the wide spread skepticism
at the time of initiating the programme.
Idumange
John
8/8/12
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