Nigeriaworld Feature Article - Suggestions for Mr. President

FEATURE ARTICLE

Tuesday, September 10, 2002

N. H. Ibanga
[email protected]
Nigerian Publius

Suggestions for Mr. President

Dear Mr. President

reetings from the populace whom you govern. There is no need to ask you how things are with you because you have told us you dey kampe. As for us, well, please read on.

Since you are a very busy man, I will get straight to the point. I have been commanded to convey certain things in a very frank manner to you. I will be frank but with the utmost respect for the Bible commands us to respect authority. Those in position of authority were put there for our benefit. So please Mr. President, do not be angry with either the messenger or the message. You NEED to HEAR and HEED this message.

The reason for this is simple. This message is from those who are under the laws that you promulgate and pass. Unlike some of your ex-military colleagues, we the citizenry are under the law while they are above the laws of Nigeria. We want to tell you how these laws feel when you are under it.

Mr. President, it is no longer fun to be a Nigerian - in or outside of Nigeria.

It is an open secret that the foundations of Nigeria have gotten weaker, rather than stronger in the last three years. But for the grace of God, the country as we know it would have ceased to exist. Here, I am supposed to ask you a question. Must Nigeria continue her evil ways so that grace might abound the more? The answer is a definite NO! For God draws a line at some point and keeps His word which He said that "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay" Mr. President, we in Nigeria do not have infinite time to begin to do right.

Mr. President, you will admit that God has been more than good to you. You have led a stellar life with accomplishments unmatched in Nigerian History. To top it off, God has given you another opportunity to raise the bar of stellar accomplishments such that it will be difficult in a long time for anyone to duplicate your record. This final opportunity also has the possibility to tarnish or reduce to mediocre whatever else you had done if you do the wrong things.

We applaud the President for finally beginning to feel the pulse of the populace and realize that all is not well with Nigeria. In particular, we applaud your efforts to rectify the evil and unjust verdict of the Supreme Court on resource control and to render account of your stewardship (even though it took an impeachment threat to obtain accountability from you). You are encouraged to do it right this time. Hence the following suggestions:

You should have a Bill that abrogates your land use decree of 1978. It was immoral! Return ownership of mineral rights to the owners of the land where God located the minerals. He had intended those owners to eventually benefit from it. This will illustrate your born-again status and the fact that you have repented of the injustice that your decree visited on the people. Ditto for all decrees by military governments since 1966.
If you are not persuaded by the moral arguments, may I remind you that the UN Declaration of Indigenous Rights (quoted below) grants us ownership of our land:

Article 25.
Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and strengthen their distinctive spiritual and material relationship with the lands, territories, waters and coastal seas and other resources which they have traditionally owned or otherwise occupied or used, and to uphold their responsibilities to future generations in this regard;
Article 26.
Indigenous peoples have the right to own, develop, control and use the lands and territories, including the total environment of the lands, air, waters, coastal seas, sea-ice, flora and fauna and other resources which they have traditionally owned or otherwise occupied or used. This includes the right to the full recognition of their laws, traditions and customs, land-tenure systems and institutions for the development and management of resources, and the right to effective measures by States to prevent any interference with, alienation of or encroachment upon these rights;
Article 27.
Indigenous peoples have the right to the restitution of the lands, territories and resources which they have traditionally owned or otherwise occupied or used, and which have been confiscated, occupied, used or damaged without their free and informed consent. Where this is not possible, they have the right to just and fair compensation. Unless otherwise freely agreed upon by the peoples concerned, compensation shall take the form of lands, territories and resources equal in quality, size and legal status.

Article 28.
Indigenous peoples have the right to the conservation, restoration and protection of the total environment and production capacity of their lands, territories and resources, as well as to the assistance for this purpose from States and through international cooperation. Military activities shall not take place in the lands and territories of indigenous peoples, unless otherwise freely agreed upon by the peoples concerned. States shall take effective measure to ensure, as needed, that programmes for monitoring, maintaining and restoring health of indigenous peoples, as developed and implemented by the peoples affected by such materials, are duly implemented;

The prosecutors of the current global war on terrorism no longer desire to have any areas that foment and gestate social, political and economic instability which adversely impact global investments.
Your Bill to get rid of the onshore/offshore dichotomy should specify that derivation will return to the 1960 formula for the Regions - 50% to the State of origin, 30% to the Federal Government, and 20% shared between all the States of the Federation. When Cocoa, Palm oil and groundnuts were the economic underpinning of Nigeria and there were three Regions, this formula was used. It should not change simply because minority areas of the country have been endowed with crude oil - a non renewable and finite resource.
You should convene a conference of the nationalities so that the terms for continuation of the union can be worked out. This time around, the setup will favor the Nigerians rather than the British or their surrogates.
You should without delay, bring to book the murderers of Bola Ige. No foreigner is going to invest in a country whose attorney General was murdered in his bedroom with impunity. It will not matter if you pitch a tent in the countries that you would want to invest in your country. This occurred under your watch. It cannot be treated like the murder of Dele Giwa under a despotic military regime.
You should send a Bill to NASS that would create State Police. We no longer have any confidence in the Nigeria Police.
Order the immediate cessation of gas flaring in the Niger Delta. The technology for accomplishing this is available and it has been done elsewhere where the government actually cares about their people. Otherwise, you should consider moving to Port Harcourt to get a feel of what it is like to live in the Delta.
Order the immediate commencement of oil spill cleanups in the Niger Delta by the Oil companies so that local fishermen can continue to make a living the way their ancestors did. Mr. President, Exxon wasted no time to spend billions of dollars to clean up Alaska. A fraction of that amount can clean up the Delta.
De-militarize the Niger Delta. The war has been long over. Do right and you or the Oil companies do not need to look over your shoulders. Again I quote from the afore mentioned UN Declaration:
Emphasizing the need for demilitarization of the lands and territories of indigenous peoples, which will contribute to peace, economic and social progress and development, understanding and friendly relations among nations and peoples of the world.

Conduct the ID card project without further delay. Nigeria needs accurate statistics to do accurate planning.
Conduct local council elections as soon as possible. It is a sign of gross incompetence that you were unable to conduct these elections at the time prescribed by the constitution. You knew on your inauguration day that the constitution requires you to conduct these on August 10, 2002.

Mr. President, you may be tempted to argue that you do not have much time to accomplish these things. We disagree. Our patience has been exhausted. These are the things we advised you to tackle at the onset of your administration but you did not. These demands are our right and not negotiable.

For a final word, I am commanded to remind you and those individuals and nations within Nigeria that are scheming behind closed doors to steal the resources of the minorities that the Flying Roll is in the air. What does this mean? Read Zechariah Chapter 5, verses 1 - 4. We have invoked God's word. It is done. Believe it or not! Best wishes on your campaign. September 2002 N. H. Ibanga Nigerian Publius