Joseph Eva to President Jonathan:Pay ex-militants what you promised them

you were one of those who hailed the amnesty for militants. With the renewed violence at the moment, what is your take? Well, we condemn the new spate of violence and we appeal to the boys in the creeks to be patient with the amnesty. Some of them are saying that they have run out […]

you were one of those who hailed the amnesty for militants. With the renewed violence at the moment, what is your take?

Well, we condemn the new spate of violence and we appeal to the boys in the creeks to be patient with the amnesty. Some of them are saying that they have run out of patience and that the amnesty is not working. The situation is rather getting worse instead of improving. But we have been telling them to be patient, that  we have confidence in our son. We are also talking to our son, despite the fact that he knows all the problems. We are also appealing to the government that we want to see physical things. While training of amnesty is going on, we are not seeing industries which they are begging people to site in the Niger Delta. With oil companies, people can clear forests if they are serious. But we are not seeing what is happening in Lybya, what is happening in Dubai and Saudi Arabia, being done by the oil companies here. Even in Angola the oil companies there are about providing industry. Industry could provide secondary businesses, apart from oil industry. It could produce household products, even tyres for their vehicles, even foam industry. Foam industry can provide jobs for a large number of people in our area. Amnesty training alone cannot take us anywhere when there are no industries to absorb people. Why is the government finding it difficult to solve this problem-what is the problem? Is it a spiritual problem?  Why are there no industries in the Niger Delta when even the oil companies can provide over 10,000 industries and can employ over 500,000 people. What is the problem?

You are talking of establishing industries. How do you think government could create industries within this short period, when the people are not patient?

We are appealing to them to be patient, but at the same time, we want to see the signals that these things are coming  let there be signals that these so-and so industries are coming to the Niger Delta. We have rubber in Niger Delta; they can establish rubber industry, tyre industry, textile industry and so on. We want to see practical evidence to show that necessary foundations are being laid for the industrialization of the Niger Delta.

Don’t you think it is the private sector that should be doing this instead of the government?

Who are the private sectors?  The oil companies are private sectors but they are the not interested in doing this. When militants kidnap them they would be crying, when they blow the oil pipelines, they cry louder, saying they have lost millions of dollars. Can’t they use a little percentage of such money to create industries to engage the people? We are holding the federal government for the industrialization of the region. We need industries in the area.

You have been saying this for a very long time. Why is it that nobody is listening, including the present government?

Well the current government told us that it is in election process. Besides, that there are a lot of saboteurs here and there, but we are assured that with patience, industrialization of the region would take place. We hope that by next year, we shall see things happen to engage, at least, over 20,000 people.

Don’t you believe that your son can do that if he wins election in 2011?

That is why we are calling on everybody to be patient because the president has assured that he cannot run away from the Niger Delta problem because the problem is his problem. He is presently operating on a borrowed power. This power is not for him, its Yar’adua’s power. We believe if he wins election next year, he would make better plans for the Niger Delta problem. Let us give him the benefit of doubt and cooperate with him to ensure that we have a successful election and then see what would come out. I believe the Niger Delta issue would be a cardinal focus.

John Togo, one of the repentant militants who is now back in the trenches claims that the government has not met his  demands, hence the renewed hostility. Have you ever met with him to know their grievances?

We have been looking for him and we can’t trace him. We have been waylaying him, and everybody knows that he was one of the militant leaders who publicly surrendered his arms and his boys are even training in Obubra. We are looking for him. We told him to be patient because if you want to solve a problem, you need the support and cooperation of other persons. During the South African struggle, there was partnership between South African community and the Mandela group; ANC, so you can’t go into a struggle without considering the general feelings concerning your agitation. So we have been looking for him to talk to him.

This man you are looking for, you have been talking to him but would not listen. Do you consider him a saboteur?

We are still looking for him, we can’t call him a saboteur now but if he refuses to listen to us when we get him, then we can consider him a saboteur.

This John Togo appears to be doing the same thing Henry Okah is doing. What is their relationship?

I don’t know their relationship. But the only thing common to them is that they are in the struggle for the Niger Delta. But we had resolved to embrace amnesty to give peace a chance, but if the government is not ready to respond to what we are doing then we can confront them. But now such situation has not arisen that is why we are all calling on them to be patient.

There is this general opinion that Jonathan is not implementing the amnesty the way Yar’adua intended. What can you say about that?

You remember while Jonathan came into office some militants protested to Abuja that they were not included in the amnesty. So it is the managers of the amnesty who should tell us what their frustration is in the present situation. Some of them are saying that the money they are given  now was released during Yar’adua and that Jonathan didn’t release any money. The managers should tell whether it is true the way the boys are complaining.

Have the amnesty managers told you anything?

Well, the managers are saying that with the available money, they cannot include any new ex-militants. You heard of Itsekiri people complaining on African Independent Television (AIT) that they were sidelined in the amnesty programme. When we called the coordinator of the programme he said some of the people did not come out to register when registration was on. It was when the registration was over that some of them came out to be registered. He said the figure that the former minister of defence gave to them as working document  was difficult to alter. But we are now telling the president that he has to go beyond the  working document because 99% of the youths in the Niger Delta are unemployed; in fact they are all militants. Let me tell you something-while amnesty was about to start, I personally addressed a world press conference in Lagos and told   government what I had expected. If you are telling someone to drop a gun, they should have gone from local government to local government to write names of unemployed Masters degree holders, first degree holders, HND holders, NCE and diploma holders. I said oil companies should be part of the amnesty programme because they have the financial muscles to back up the programme. But the Yar’adua government refused to make oil companies part of the amnesty. If they were part of the amnesty, then let them tell us how many people they can absorb outside the drilling jobs. But because they are not party to the amnesty, they are not interested in finding solutions to the problem. They brought papers and wrote names of people, and that is the problem we are seeing now.

Are you aware that militants were promised huge sums of money when they were made to drop the guns, but the promise is not being fulfilled till date?

Some of the ex-militants were calling me that they promised them housing allowance but the government has not come up to refute that. Let the government come out to tell the public whether it is true or not. If you ask the militants to leave their camps in the forest to come out, where is the accommodation for them?

Let the federal government come up to answer that.