Believe it or not, the situation in the Niger Delta whereby indigenes have been stripped of their traditional means of livelihood is a major part of the reason that the region has been aflame.
To get to a solution, Government needs to interrogate the origin of the prohibition of indigenous oil refineries. Some say major oil companies, lOCs which wanted to dominate the market, advised government not to allow small scale indigenous participants, much the same way they capped small/ marginal oil wells over a long period until they were recently offloaded to marginal oil/gas players like Dubri, Muni-Pulo,Consolidated, Midwestern, Aiteo, Seplat, Seven Energy etc.
If that is the case, why did govt allow itself to be tele-guided by the IOCs and how come the policy has not been repealed same way that marginal oil fields hitherto capped,have now been spun-off to marginal players?
In the highly acclaimed negotiating book, GETTING TO YES: Negotiating Agreements Without Giving In, authored by Roger Fisher and William Ury and revised by Bruce Patton of Harvard Negotiation Project, a group that deals with all levels of negotiation and conflict resolution, a successful negotiator must keep the following in mind as objectives:
(A)Disentangle the people from the problem.
(B) Focus on interests, not positions
(C) Work together to find creative and fair options.
(D) Negotiate successfully with anybody at any level.
Bearing the above negotiation template in mind, let's try to address the seeming intractable conflict situation in the Niger Delta, which is the treasure trove of Nigeria and therefore deserve extra ordinary attention.
Now, indigenous people have always been innovative albeit in rudimentary ways and they may have poor attitude to adoption of technology, but before the advent of Western technology, life existed.
Amazingly, it is easy to forget that what was dubbed illicit gin by Westerners but known as ogogoro or KaiKai by indigenous people, was brewed in the same Niger Delta region from palm wine obtained from raffia palm,which grows widely in that region. Although, the locally brewed gin in the Niger Delta, was banned during colonial rule, it never stopped existing in the alcoholic beverage menu of the members of the lower rung of society who found it more affordable than the aromatic schnapps etc packaged and sold after being flavored by corporate distillers in the cities like Lagos.
After being put through a system of fermentation over a period of time, the local gin which is unflavored is produced and shipped to Lagos via rafts that sail through the creaks of Delta, Edo and Ondo states to get to Lagos, which is the main market and platform for further distribution down the channels.
Keen observers would notice the booming trade in local gin or ogogoro from the Niger delta between traders in Lagos and the Ijaw distillers who arrive the Akpongbon end of Marina every morning via their log rafts.
Although their equipment is crude like that of gin makers, all that indigenous oil refineries really do is cook the crude oil before passing it through all sorts of rudimentary filtration.
Obviously, the process is inefficient and the end products are below standard, so what in my view should be done instead of blowing up the indigenous refining facilities, is for govt to get involved in the processes with a view to helping the indigenous people improve on the local rudimentary technology for better quality of output and thus create an economy in the Niger delta which is currently lacking.
For crying out loud,most of today's cutting edge technologies were crude yesterday.
Think about the airplane when it was first introduced by the Wright brothers -Orville and Wilbur viz-a-viz what it is today.
Think about made in Taiwan and Korea products two decades ago?
Back in the days, products from those countries were derided, but today, Kia, Daewoo,Hyundai, Samsung, LG and other hi-tech products like Acer computers and HTC phones are from those countries that used to be sneered at.
I have proposed this remedy before but relevant top government officials in the out-gone regime who were personally benefiting from the largesse accruing from the crude oil-for-refined petroleum products swap, ignored it,and l'm proposing it again.
For a long lasting solution to the socioeconomic instability in the Niger Delta , Govt needs to set up a cooperative society to coordinate the legitimisation of indigenous crude oil refining in the region.
Operating under the aegis of a corporative society , modular refineries can be acquired and leased to the members of the cooperatives in the various kingdoms, clans or precincts.
At the peak of the militancy , it was estimated that about a million barrels of crude oil was being lost daily. At $50 per barrel, a million barrel could have fetched Nigeria $50m daily.
Correct me if l'm wrong, but I think it was Vice President Yemi Osinbajo that said something to the effect that Nigeria is loosing about $100m daily to vandalism stemming from militancy.
If a fraction of that amount is invested in acquiring modular refineries for the engagement of Niger Delta indigenes in processing crude oil into petroleum products , then a major part of the crisis in the Niger delta would have been quelled.
Again,there is nothing novel about the funding initiatives that's being proposed because government has been setting up several intervention funds through the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN and Bank of Industry, BOI for the textile ,cocoa , agriculture, aviation and automotive sectors of the economy, so why not extend similar gestures to Niger Delta artisans-who are indigenes of the treasure trove of the nation- and the goose that lays the golden eggs?
In life, there is no law or rule that is immutable because law/rule is made for man and not the other way round.
If the law/rule outlawing indigenous refineries has become obsolete, why not get it repealed?
In my considered opinion, the issue of indigenous refineries in the Niger delta is comparable to the challenge of bootlegging-illegal importation of alcohol into the US -when it was prohibited by Congress after overriding then president Woodrow Wilson's veto of the prohibition Act in 1920.
Applying brute force to extract the oil from a resistant indigenous population, to me is tantamount to attempting to kill a tsetse fly perched on a man's scrotum by smashing the fly and scrotum with ferocious force.
The blood sucking insect, would certainly die and the scrotum along with the owner too, would certainly perish in the process, which would be a dumb thing to do.
Clearly, the business of governance is not to wipe off the people that are supposed to be led to prosperity and higher standard of living, which is basically why govt exists.
Therein lies the dilemma. Shoot or don't shoot.
The choice is left to ex military general, Muhammadu Buhari, president and Commander-In-Chief of the armed forces of Nigeria , to shoot or maintain the peace in the Niger delta.
Its a zero sum game.
As a soldier and in a military govt , the choices might have been easy for Mr president,but as a reborn democrat and politician, l doubt if it would be a walk in the park. So we watch.
Magnus Onyibe, a development strategist and futurologist is a former commissioner in Delta state Govt and alumnus of Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Massachusetts, USA.
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